On February 22, 2013 Brian Shaw (a.k.a. Little Man) - then 4 years old - was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL; a note on the disease can be found below). In 2014, his father Lance participated in a 100-mile bike ride around Lake Tahoe as part of the Team in Training program to raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS).

     Lance's goal was to raise $37,454.13, equivalent to the average charge of a single chemotherapy injection the Little Man received. His son received 12 of those injections in about a two-month period. The 2014 fundraising campaign was successful, raising $56,310 toward the mission of curing leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improving the quality of life of patients and their families. That journey has been consolidated into a short ebook which you can download for free here.

     This year, Lance is returning to Lake Tahoe with a team of cyclists - Eric, Paul, Mark, and Nana - to continue the fundraising effort. The goal this year is to raise an amount equivalent to the balance of those 12 shots: $393,193.56. Hence the team name: 12 Shots.

     You can visit the team website and make a donation here. From this website, you'll be able to keep up to date on the adventures of the Little Man, the misadventures of Team 12 Shots, and meet some of the people who have helped save and improve Little Man's life over the past two of years. You'll also be able to link to individual team member websites for additional material.

     If you'd like to join the team or otherwise support us, please send an email to: 12shots.lance@gmail.com

A note on Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia:

     ALL is a rare disease, but it is the most common form of childhood cancer. "Acute" refers to the rapidity with which the symptoms present themselves and are followed by death if left untreated. As recently as 40-50 years ago, the disease was 100% fatal. Death usually occurred within several weeks to months of diagnosis and was particularly horrific - lots of bleeding, pain, reports of bones literally fracturing due to the strain of rapidly dividing leukemia cells struggling to escape from the marrow into the bloodstream, etc.

     These days it's very treatable and someone like the Little Man, who is considered a "high risk" case, has a 5-yr Event Free Survival rate of ~90%. (The story of how the treatments were developed is quite interesting and speaks to the courageous and heroic efforts of the pioneering clinicians, pathologists, and researchers - not to mention the patients and their parents - who had a real sense of urgency about their task.)