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Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

I'm training to participate in the California Death Ride as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. This is a tough one day ride - we'll ride 129 miles and climb more than 15,000 feet during the event. Why would someone willingly sign up for this kind of torture?

Well, all of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I am completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

On June 19, I will be co-hosting a comedy night fund raiser to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The location is the new Bunjo's Comedy Club in Dublin, which shares space with the Willow Tree restaurant on Regional Street. Our headliner is Robin Cee, a very funny and well known SF comedian. The cost is $15 per person, half of which benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. More information is available, and tickets can be ordered at

http://www.bunjoscomedy.com/index.html

This fund raiser is capping off my fund-raising with Team in Training for the 2009 Death Ride. Once again, I will take on a 129 mile ride with more than 15,000 feet of climbing (kind of like climbing Mt. Diablo 5 times, but at altitude!). I have had the pleasure of training for and riding this event with several cancer survivors, and it always amazes me just how much joy they find in every day life, and how they can take an event that's downright painful to most rational people and turn it into a celebration. This event may be called the Death Ride, but it really is a celebration of life for those of us privileged enough to know and ride with these very special people!

This year's fund raising has taken on an even more personal meaning for me. In January, a close friend and someone that I've done a lot of work with in the past was diagnosed with CML - Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy with a drug called Gleevec. This drug is very effective for many CML patients, and was developed under a grant from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society - a grant that in large part was possible because of all the donations made over the years to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society via Team in Training! We are making a difference - and you can too by participating in this event.

So far, her treatment is progressing well and she has not suffered serious side effects. We are keeping our fingers crossed that she will be one of the lucky ones. However, with continued support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will achieve it's goal of wiping out blood cancers, so there won't need to be lucky ones. I'm honored to be in a position to help the society make progress towards that goal.

My friend's experience has also highlighted another, equally important role the LLS plays. They provide a stipend to patients who are undergoing treatment, and are unable to work, or to those who have used up all of their insurance benefits (those multi-million dollar lifetime maximums really don't go far when you consider the cost of some of these treatments!). They provide counseling and other forms of support. In short, they are a lifeline, a ray of hope, while these patients are undergoing some of the most trying and painful experiences a person can go through. Knowing how strong each of these patients has to be helps keep me going when I'm suffering on those long, steep hills (and I always suffer on those long, steep hills!).

So please, come out and help us celebrate another successful season - great training with a great group of teammates, and lots of fun while raising funds for a great cause. I look forward to seeing you on Friday the 19th!

If you can't make the comedy night, please consider making 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. I'll also have more detailed updates on my blog at http://jbcycling.blogspot.com

Thanks for your support!

Jonathan Buckley