By clicking on my fundraising page, this means you already know about my quest to fundraise for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as part of Team in Training.  What you may not know is exactly why I have decided to be a part of something so big.  On August 11th 2016, I walked into a Patient First with symptoms of chest tightness and 24 hours later learned I had cancer.  I have never felt more scared as I begged God for my life.  While I laid in that hospital bed waiting to get a biopsy, an Oncologist walked into my room to talk to me.  He said "Without even looking at the biopsy, I can already tell this is something cancerous".   He said he thought it was probably a type of Lymphoma or something worse. My heart stopped.  Then he looked me straight in the eyes and said "If it is Lymphoma, we are dealing with a type of cancer that is cureable".  Six days went by until I got the call that informed me I had Lymphoma, but it was "highly cureable".  When I heard those words, I could finally breathe for the first time in what felt like an enternity.  If this doctor was telling me I was going to be ok then I believed him.  

One thing I thought about a lot when I was going through my treatments was how thankful I was for all the "smart people" who figured out how to cure my cancer and all the other cancers out there.  Sadly, they are not all cureable but there are a many that are.  It's amazing the amount of people who shared their cancer stories with me.  It was hearing about their journeys that helped me get through mine.  There is no way to say "thank you" to my Oncologist, Dr. Lee, and the many people who helped me along the way.  The only way I can think of to show my appreciation is to help give back by fundrasing for this organization.  

It's because of donations made by good people like yourselves that make it possible for an Oncologist to fuse the word "cureable" in a sentence.  Due to the research and clinical trials completed by the National Institute of Health, they were able to come up with a highly successful chemotherapy regimen that destroyed the mass in my chest.   These research grants and clinical trials help save lives.  They helped save mine.

Thank you,

Karen

l 

Running a half marathon after my 2nd round of chemotherapy.  People say "I can't believe you did that!" but I say "I can't imagine not doing it".  Running was what kept me sane.