5/19/09 update: The concert went quite well and was enjoyable for all. Thank you for supporting me through this process. I had over 20 friends help with the concert in a multitude of ways and I appreciate every minute they donated to the cause. We'll definitely do it again (next year, after we've all recovered) and build on what we have learned. Thank you to those who donated to be with us in spirit. Together with those who were with us in body, we've almost reached $2500, once all the checks are processed.

After the concert, I rode 82 miles on four hours of sleep, so the body is ready for Tahoe!

5/12/09 update: Donations are coming in for the concert on Saturday. Thank you all! Please feel free to make the donations online in advance, so you don't have to wait in line on Saturday night. You'll be on "will-call" for donating in advance.

Music of Hope LLS Benefit Concert is Saturday, May 16th at 7:30 pm

at the Lincoln Glen Church, 2700 Booksin Ave, San Jose, California

5/10/09 update: Susan is home from the hospital and recovering from her bone marrow transplant. Her Facebook posting sounds positive, though she and her husband have a long recovery road ahead of them. Please keep them in your prayers.

4/7/09 update: Found a venue! Benefit concert will be Saturday evening, May 16th, at the Lincoln Glen Church at 2700 Booksin in San Jose.

Mom is done with treatments. Her blood cell counts are where they should be and she's feeling stronger. Haven't seen Susan on Facebook for awhile, so keep her in your thoughts and prayers, as I'm assuming she's recovering from a stem cell transplant.

3/13/09 update : working on getting a venue for my benefit concert.

I have an additional honoree in my friend from grad school, Susan Asbjornson, who is fighting Leukemia. Since both my honorees are classical singers, I am planning to sing in a benefit concert this spring to aid my fund raising efforts. Check back as I line up the venue and finalize the date.

Mom finishes spinal chemo next week!

Riding to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

Many of you know that my mother, Bonnie Rowland, has been fighting non-Hodgkins lymphoma since July of 2008. The tumor showed up as a painful sinus infection in May. It took two months and a third course of antibiotics to realized this was not a normal sinus infection. That's when the cancer diagnosis was made.

Bonnie began chemotherapy in August and finished by Thanksgiving. She had daily radiation treatments while we were in Michigan for Christmas, 22 sessions over 30 days. She is currently undergoing spinal chemotherapy, just to be sure the lymphoma didn't cross the blood-brain barrier, and will finish spinal chemo in March. Her doctors are confident they'll be able to give her a clean bill of health before summer.

Nonetheless, lymphoma patients look to celebrate remission for life, not being cured. There is no cure, just a state of remission where you watch and wait to see if the cancer will come back. That's a frightening thought as a daughter. You see, twenty-five years ago my mother beat breast cancer, a battle her own mother had lost twenty years earlier. I never expected to hear "the C word" in connection with my mother again. No child should have to face the possibility of losing their parent to cancer twice. But even as I fear for my mother's life, I think of the young children fighting blood cancers. No child should have to grow up in the hospital and no parent should have to say goodbye to a five-year-old.

Let's find a cure and non-invasive treatments to save the lives of these children.

My mom is an incredibly strong and positive woman. And she will live many more years because of drugs like Rituxan, that has been around for just over ten years. Rituxan was discovered, thanks to research funded by LLS and many other organizations that help give lymphoma patients a fighting chance, a chance for remission. That's why I support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Ten years ago, I rode my first 100 mile bicycle ride with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. On the ten year anniversary of that first century, Kevin and I are riding again. After all my mom's been through in the last year, training and fundraising is our way of supporting her.

Please support me, my mom, and all those children and adults fighting blood cancers in the San Francisco Bay Area by making a tax deductable donation.

Be sure to check my website frequently to see my progress in both training and fundraising.

Thanks for your support!

Blessings,

Barbara