On Sunday October 11th, I will run my final marathon. This has been such a hard decision to make because I love running marathons. I have very mixed emotions about this decision but I know my body is telling me something. The peripheral neuropathy from the blood cancer and osteoporosis are just making running not that much fun anymore. It keeps getting harder to clear the roots and rocks along the trail because the legs are like concrete and do not lift very high. 
Should I continue what I love doing in pain, or should I retire?
I love the marathon.................a lot!!

I will be running my final marathon in Chicago with my Team in Training Team.
The Chicago Marathon Sunday October 11th, 2015.

It will mark my 55th marathon overall and 46th marathon since wrapping up the original rounds of treatments for my blood cancer. Since January of 2010, you have all helped me personally raise over $80,000 dollars in the fight for new cures for this disease. I have lost some very special friends to this disease over the last six years, and I know so many that have beat the disease also. I have such a great passion to continue to run and raise funds for this cause, yet my legs and body are just not happy with what my heart and spirit are put it through.
Pretty intense pain 24 hours per day/ seven days a week  

Where ever God needs me next, I will follow his lead. I have been blessed over the last six years to have met so many incredible people along this journey through life. I will miss running with all of you so much!!!!!!  My marathon chapter might be coming to and end, but God will guide me into where he needs me next.

Psalm 32.8  
" I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you"

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path.

This decision and all the events that I have participated have been an act of faith. I pray that you all follow Gods lead in your lives too. He created us and sent us into this world with a purpose and to do what pleases him. 

I ask that anyone who has not donated to this cause this year to please do so. The goal is to raise another $5250.00 before the Chicago Marathon. This will bring our total contribution to the cause to $15,000 dollars this year. 

Thank you father in Heaven for the last six years. Our world has been blessed by amazing researchers you sent our way. Thank you for all the new cancer drugs that have been developed, and for incredible doctors and nurses that are here to care for patients. Thank-you for all the wonderful people that have been apart of this portion of my journey. I look forward to where you lead me next.

Please Give!!
God Bless all of you!!!
David

 

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Hello Everyone!!!!!!
 

In the year 1955, it was considered hopeless and impossible to cure leukemia. 
Hopeless!!
Impossible!!
Well, that was 1955!!!
Today, it is a whole new story because of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
That Someday.........is today!!!

Thanks to generous support over all the years, it's a whole new world in 2015.
People are now living normal, productive lives and are beating this disease. LLS is celebrating a momentous milestone: since its inception, over $1 billion dollars have been spent in research to fund cures and to ensure access to therapies for all blood cancer patients.  

The money raised has enabled LLS to fund millions of dollars of research to help advance new treatments and cures for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, and provide critical education and support to cancer patients and their families. Nearly 50% of all cancer drugs approved by the FDA during the past decade were for blood cancers. And they are helping other patients as well. Five of those drugs have been approved for patients with solid tumors also. Survival rates for children with leukemia have improved from 3% 40 years ago to 90% today; Hodgkin lymphoma patient survival rates have more than doubled to 88% since the 1960s. And the survival rate for myeloma patients tripled in past decade.

It is no longer hopeless!!
It is no longer impossible!!

Why does David Bevilacqua want to cure blood cancers?

In the year 2006, I was diagnosed with osteoporosis throughout my entire body and a non curable  form of blood cancer. I do not believe in the term " non curable " nor do I believe in the word impossible. When I hear the word impossible, it only motivates me to prove something totally different.

My oncology doctor said that I had a very rare form of Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma called Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia. The odds are 4 people in a million would get this form of blood cancer. If you were one of those four individuals, you have a 20% chance of getting something called Cryoglobulinemia also. Well, I ended up with the both.

The prognosis was to watch and wait and check for symptoms. We monitored my blood about every six months and watched this one marker called an IGM as well as the viscosity. By 2009; I had severe nights sweats, bloody noses, head pressure and horrible peripheral neuropathy. I was always frozen and could never get warm enough. My hands and feet would turn opaque in color or blue. That was from the cryoglobulinemia in my blood. My oncology doctors started treatment in July of 2009 and we completed in January of 2010. We did treatment again in 2011 to keep the Igm level at a normal range. At this time ( March 30, 2015) my Igm and cryo still remain at a normal level. 

One of the drugs that I was given during treatment was a drug called Rituxian. The drug was partially funded by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. In January of this year, another new drug was developed for the treatment of Waldenstrom's patients. The name of that drug is Ibrutinib.
Again, It was partially funded by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
One of my team of doctors that I see ( Dr Steven Treon at Dana Farber Cancer Center) was the pioneer of that drug. He is very thankful to LLS and for funding his research. 
 

What is it like living with blood cancer?

 Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia is extremely, extremely painful. The doctors are able to control the cancer cells in my body with all the new drugs made available by LLS. The doctors have not  found a cure for the Peripheral Neuropathy. The nerve damage is severe!!!  It is miserable to say the least. The only way to fall a sleep at night is by taking a pill for sleep. 

Sitting in traffic or walking into a refrigerated area of a store is horrific! Cold weather or cold air conditioning sends the pain level skyrocketing. Daily pain level remains 8.5 on a scale of 10 unless I feel a blast of cold air.

My legs feel like concrete and as if they were ran over by a truck. My toes feel absolutely crushed and I try not to move them at all. It hurts bad to wiggle your toes. 

Head pressure is constant and I've loss over 50% of my hearing.

I make myself totally available for researchers to test any new drug to cure peripheral neuropathy. I take no medicine for pain so I can remain at baseline for a study. 

Waldenstrom's Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma and Cryoglobulinemia are horribly painful blood diseases and I look forward to their cures and treatments. By donating to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society you are helping us put and end to all forms of blood cancers. I lost my Dad to cancer in 1990 at only age 61.  When I watched cancer take its toll on my Dad in just four months time, I knew that God gave me a mission in life. I will see my Dad again in Heaven along with many dear friends that I have lost to this disease. I will fight a good fight and help bring and end to cancer.  
With your financial support we will prove the possible!!!

Donations are tax deductable and a receipt will be emailed to you when donating online.
If you wish to send a check,
David Bevilacqua
948 Wildcat Lane
Brentwood, CA 94513
Checks made payable to : The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

Thank-you 
David
 

Luke 1:37