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Racing to Save Lives

In Memory of Ivor Nanette Garcia

December 15, 1982-June 13, 1998

In June 2007 I joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team In Training cycling team to train and raise money to stop Blood Cancers. I raised $4550 and participated in el Tour de Tucson 109 miles in one day. Since then I have helped others train for their events as a Training Captain.

This year I will race to save lives again at el Tour de Tucson (109miles) in November 2009. With your help I can reach my goal of $5000.

Where does the money go? Your donations which are tax deductible goes to funding blood cancer research and providing patient services. When you make a donation on this secure website the money is put to good use immediately.

I dedicate my training and fundraising in Memory Of Ivor Garcia-the little Angel in Heaven who was just 15 years old when she lost her battle against Leukemia.

In just a short time Ivor was able to accomplish more and touch more people than most people do in a full lifetime. She was a full vegan, an animal rights activist, a member of the FFA and in ROTC at Madison High School and she gave back to the community as a member of the Sea Cadets and City Year.

To say the least she was an active teenager. As the school year drew to a close in 1998 Ivor began to feel very fatigued and tired. Her friends thought that this was probably just due to the stress of finals. Little did they know that Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) had developed in her blood. As the days wore on her symptoms only became worse. Upon going to the doctor and having a blood test, Ivor was diagnosed with APL. She was immediately admitted to the hospital and had a stroke the first night. She was left with partial paralysis on the left side of her body. From there she was started on massive doses of chemotherapy. Unfortunately the cancer was too strong and one week from the day she was admitted Ivor slipped away in a coma. She had a brain aneurism. She was taken off of live support on Saturday June 13, 1998 in the mid afternoon. The doctors predicted that she had only had Leukemia a max of 2 1/2 weeks.

A few months before her death, Ivor wrote a poem about her name sake, Great Grandma Ivor. In the poem she described a wonderful woman that had a huge impact on others. The last line of the poem reads "Many souls go on having been touched by a life well lived".

Little did she know that she was describing herself. Those words are now etched in below Ivor's picture on her headstone and to this day Ivor is touching others in a positive way.

Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer amongst young people under the age of 20.

Every 10 minutes, another child or adult is expected to die from Leukemia, Lymphoma or Myeloma. That means nearly 145 people each day, or 6 people every hour.

I do not know about you but I do not like those odds. Please help me in the fight against blood cancer. A cure is needed before more lives are taken away from friends, families and people we love.

Thank you for your much needed support.

Kelly Sile

(210)601-2919