Racing to Save Lives

We did it! After 20 weeks of training together, myself and my fellow Team in Training teammates completed the marathons! Some of us ran in San Francisco and some ran in Denver. Mason's family is pictured above - his mother Catherine ran the Denver marathon. It's for Mason, his family and so many other families living with blood cancers that we trained and raised money. 20,000 runners in the San Francisco Marathon raised over $18 million!!

Thank you for your contribution to this amazing amount! I'm still accepting donations untill November 18th. Every dollar helps the mission!

How will you be helping?

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. 75% of every dollar spent by the Society goes towards research, patient aid, advocacy, and public education programs. Did you know that every 5 minutes someone learns they have a blood cancer and every 10 minutes someone dies from a blood cancer?

Team in Training provides endurance training for participants who wish to compete in marathons, century bike rides or triathlons. In return, the endurance athletes raise money and awareness for cancer research and valuable patients services such as outreach, support groups and patient co-pays.

Mason Bernard, the oldest of three kids, is a 5 year old boy who has been fighting Leukemia for almost 3 years. As you can see in the photo, his constant smile masks the fact that he is fighting for his life. He looks forward to the end of his scheduled treatment in 2010 when he'll have more time for riding his motorcycle and his bike, swimming and jumping on his trampoline. Of course, no one looks forward to this more than his parents, who thank all of the participants of Team in Training and all those who support the mission to fight blood cancers.

This is why I run - because I know that I am not accomplishing a personal feat of an endurance event, but I am helping to raise awareness and support for people like Mason. With our help and donations, we can continue the research towards ground breaking discoveries that continue to allow children and adults who suffer with cancer the opportunity to achieve remission from their cancer - and stay there!

To learn more about the mission, visit http://www.teamintraining.org/rm

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission.

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!

A message from Mason on June 13, 2008:

Hi:

I just wanted to say hello and tell you all good job on your training

for the Fall Team in Training events. I just got out of the hospital from a 4 day stay for chemothreapy. My mom says I did great. I am just excited to go play outside and go to my t-ball game tomorrow!

Thank you for running/walking and raising money for people like me who have sick cells in their blood. I appreicate you! I hope to go out on the trail with some gatorade and meet some of you during your training this summer.

Go TEAM!

Catherine Bernard on behalf of Mason (age 5 Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia)