I want to thank everyone who has generously supported my fundraising efforts to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as I train to cross that finish line at the Portland Marathon next Sunday morning. Together we've raised - after adding in the $551 from fundraisers - $1,895.00, more than 50% of my goal of $2,900.

What? Not in that group I just thanked? There's still time! That commitement has to be met one way or another, and whatever I don't raise through fundraising comes out of my own pocket - and that pocket is empty. If you haven't donated yet, PLEASE help me get as close as possible to that goal within the next few days before I have to start making payments on the balance.

I committed to raise that goal by walking more than 100 miles, along with my teammates who are doing the same, in training to prepare for walking the half-marathon next Sunday at the Portland Marathon. However, as I've observed here before, no matter how many steps I take, how many miles I walk, not one penny is directly generated by that effort. Coins and bills do not fall out my pant leg, jump from my pockets, or magically appear in my fundraising account simply because I walk. It takes all of us, not must me, to get the money into the kitty.

I'm stil counting on you, my friends, family, and even strangers, to contribute whatever you can to show your support for the miles I'm putting in on my feet, the Saturday mornings I'm up at the crack o' dawn to be out walking as many as ten miles before lunch.. Reach into your pockets, won't you, and help me cross that finish line all paid up. My mother thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you. From the bottoms of our hearts.

While I will be crossing a literal Finish Line in Portland, OR, two weeks from today, that accomplishment itself doesn't bring us any closer to effective treatments that bring about cures for blood cancers. And it's that Finish Line - meeting my fundraising commitment - that is in sight tonight.

I've got another "Cary Quote" for you today:

"I have come to believe that beating cancer doesn't mean surviving, but living each day as I see fit, not as cancer would have me live it. So, I have already beaten cancer."

One reason for Cary's up-beat attitude is YOU! You, my friends, family, and a few strangers. You, who have by association become Cary's friends, too. Your warmth, generosity, and support has reached all the way to Klamath Falls, OR, and mingles with her family and friends there to wrap her in a loving coccoon that keeps her head above water, no matter how high the waves get.

Tonight, a whole new set of friends embraced us. People who, two weeks ago, didn't know we existed.

They are the "karaoke family" at Malone's Grille in Scotts Valley, CA. Two weeks ago, I showed up at their regular Saturday Night gathering, slapped some flyers on their tables and invited them to participate in a Karaoke party and contest to benefit LLS. I told them about my sister, and about how I was walking a half-marathon to raise money beat blood cancers for my sister, and millions of others fighting this family of cancers.

The contest was today. It was short notice so I didn't expect a big turnout, and it wasn't big, as far as numbers go. We had 9 contestants. And the hearts of the people who turned out overwhelmed me. These people are no longer strangers, but are now part of my family. We had Cary there on Skype, and they welcomed her with open arms, just as they had done with me.

I don't have the final tally yet, but these generous folks donated around $600 in the form of cover charge, raffle tickets, and food purchases.

I can't thank them all enough for being there for me. Many of the friendships started tonight will last a lifetime, so I have many things to be grateful for.

Thank you my friends. My commitment goal is much closer than it was yesterday, and YOU are the folks who are making that possible. Please continue your generous donations and support a short while longer, won't you?

This is my sister, Cary, and our mom - guess which is which! This photo was taken around 2 years BC - Before Cancer - at Mom's 80th birthday party.

As you all know, Cary has Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (not lymphoma as erroniously stated in a recent email). We all know that research often takes a long, LONG time to bear fruit, so we often think we have all kinds of time to get around to making that donation. But here's something Cary shared with us on Facebook just a few minutes ago:

"And it can't be said enough ...thank you to you and the team for doing so much to help find a cure for blood cancers. I just received a stipend from LLS that made it possible for me to catch up on the!bill for my oncologist. Even with insurance, cancer treatment is expensive. LLS is there to help, but they can't do that without donations.'

We did that. All of us. Me, putting one foot in front of the other mile after mile, when all I really want to do is sleep in. You, making sure my efforts bear fruit by clicking that button right over there to make it happen: ==========>>>

Remember - I'm walking to raise money for things like the help my sister just got in covering her medical expenses. But my work doesn't produce money - there are no coins or dollar bills falling out my pants legs or erupting from my pockets when I walk.

That part comes from YOU. I count on my friends, relatives, even strangers, to put their money where my my feet are, and donate $1, $5, $10, $25, even $100 if it's in their budget. Donations that make a difference in the life of a cancer patient, not just years down the road when a breakthrough happens, but TODAY.

Please donate.

(Amy said I need

a pic of me here...)

Well, it's a long haul. My part in this is over soon. I've shaved my one-mile marathon pace from 18 minutes to 16 minutes, and my goal is to drop another 2 minutes off that pace and finish my half-marathon in about 3 hours (they give you 4 hours to get it done).

The end of this leg of my fight is known. But for Cary, it's just beginning, and we have no idea where her finish line is, if there ever is one. So I walk, and I ask my friends and family for money to make my walking count for something. I get exhilarated, enthusiastic, and encouraged. I get humbled and overcome with awe at the courage our honorees show in the face of their cancers, and sometimes, I get discouraged.

I want to share an insight about me that happened on my first 10-mile walk, when "discouraged" was my primary mood.

For those of you who don't know, I live at the beach on the Central Coast of California. Which means the team I train with does a lot of walking along the beach, where cormorants, seagulls, and pelicans hang out. On this morning, we even got to watch a pod of very large dolphins heading northward along the coast!

Now, it seems I'm always bringing up the rear when we start out as a group. The last one in, and often on my own. It doesn't usually bother me, but this particular day I was kind of feelin' it. I had company the first half of the walk - down along the coastal cliffs of West Cliff in Santa Cruz, then a sharp left onto Bay up to The Barn at UC Santa Cruz, then back again. I stopped at The Barn for some stretches and hydration, and when I headed out again, I was on my own.

By the time I got down to the beach, I was feeling like there must be something wrong with me, not keeping up with "the pack." Not on this morning's walk, and not in those numbers over there on the right. Discouraged. A failure. Not good enough.

But as I was going northward along the coast, I watched a flock of about 15 pelicans flying southward in a "V" formation.

Now, on the ground, pelicans are mighty ungainly birds. Certainly not attractive, with a form and face one might say only a mother could love. And that's kind of how I'd been feeling, putting out all this work with, as yet, not much to show for it other than the 8 or 10 pounds and two belt notches I've dropped since May.

But on the wing - oh, my, they are breathtaking! They barely ruffle a feather or flap a wing, but instead just glide along on the air currents with grace and speed you'd never guess at when you see them sitting around. A few minutes later, here comes another large "V-formed" flock of 30 or more.

Then, when they'd gone overhead and were behind me, a lone pelican, floating, dipping, gliding, followed in their wake. Every bit as graceful, agile, and swift as the crowds who'd come before, not in the least concerned that it hadn't quite kept up. It was going to end up in the same place, with the same amount of effort as its teammates.

And it struck me that all of us in Team in Training, along with the support team we talk to in these pages, are pulling together for the same thing. We are all headed toward the same goal: stopping cancer any way we can - running, biking, swimming, walking, or supporting. And we are all just as beautiful, just as special, and just as valuable, whether we're out front, in the middle of the pack, or trailing along behind on our own.

And we will all end up in the same place in the end - as winners in this fight to stop cancer. Join me in the fight, won't you?

As you've all read here, my sister, Cary, has chronic lymphocytic leukemia - CLL - and is the reason why I'm torturing my body to make it able to walk 13.1 miles in less than four hours. Try it some time - it ain't easy! LOL

The whole point is to raise funds for cancer research and for the support of cancer patients in many ways beyond their actual disease. You may wonder if all this money I'm asking you to give toward that goal actually does any good.

It absolutely does! A new study based on a Phase I trial of a genetically-modified T-cell treatment for CLL was released this past Thursday, August 11th, and has resulted in TOTAL REMISSION for two of the three cancer patients in the study, and partial remission for the third. While it's early in the trial phase, this is amazing news - it's the first time CLL has ever gone into total remission, and it happened not once but twice! Read the press release here, http://www.lls.org/#/aboutlls/news/pressreleases/081111_genetherapy, and the full report here, http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2011/08/t-cells/. And you might find this Perspective From a Trial Participant an interesting read, as well.

This is not a poisonous chemotherapy chemical, which is the way the FDA and pharmaseutical companies want cancer to be conquered because it's big money for pharma (with whom the FDA is too close for comfort). This is modified T cells - gene therapy that won't use any chemical warfare or pharmacuetical process in order to accomplish it's goal - to elminate cancer cells from the blood of CLL patients.

While this is an exciting breakthrough, it is likely to be years before this treatment is found to be as effective as these first tests promise, and even more years before it's allowed to be ued to cure cancer. I hope Cary lives to see it. In the mean time, though she - and thousands of others like her - will continue to receive uncomfortable chemotherapy treatments and go in and out of temporary remissions until this cancer takes their lives.

We can speed up the process by supporting this line of research. You have the opportunity to provide financial support to this, and other, promising gene therapies as well as finacially easing the burden on cancer patients by clicking the "Donate Now" button on this page. If you've been putting it off, waiting for the right time, or just plain forgetting you intended to donate, now is an excellent time to "Ger 'Er Done!"