A Special Gift

Dan and I ordered new bikes from an online outlet store a couple weeks ago. I got the absolute cheapest bike we could find since we are trying not to spend an arm and a leg getting into this triathlon thing. In my mind, that seems to defeat the purpose of fundraising!  

Our bikes arrived last week and we set up an appointment with Reed Cycle in Eagle to have them assembled. After talking with Bill at the shop about our bikes, he suggested that we hold off on assembling mine for a day.  He had a line on a used bike that was about 10 years old, but of much higher quality that would probably be about the same price as I had paid for my new one. If I wanted to buy it, I could still send back the new one I had bought online.  

We let Bill know that we were training with TNT to raise funds to fight leukemia. That’s when he told us that the previous owner of the used bike had passed away from leukemia. 

Jason was 39 years old and had been through more than one bout with leukemia. He had undergone at least one stem cell transplant, but lost his battle recently. He was an active athlete and had four bikes that his widow, Jessica, was looking to sell. 

I came in the next day to have a look at the bike. Bill spent most of the day cleaning it up, rerouting the brake cables, tuning up the components, retaping the handle bars and even replaced the seat and tires. He spent a long time familiarizing me with the bike, adjusting everything to fit me and answering my newbie questions. I felt like Bill treated me just as well as if I had come in and bought a brand new $2000 bike! 

When I got her home, I parked her in front of my fireplace for a picture. Then I had a good cry and thanked God for the gift of this bike with such a special history. I thought again about how important the work is that Dan and I are doing, how much I miss my mom every single day and how hard these days must be for Jessica as she is now having to go through life without Jason. I hope he is pleased to see what has become of his old road bike and that the miles I put on it will help get us one step closer to a cure.

-- JAM

Rosie

Blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma don't just affect people. They unfortunately also affect animals like dogs, cats, cows, etc. This is a picture of Rosie who was one of my very sweet patients for a while last year. Just like it happens in humans, Rosie started to develop a lump under her chin that caused her owner to take her to the doctor. That doctor was me. I had to break the news to her owner that Rosie had lymphoma and that she probably would not live long without a lot of medical care.
Luckily, many therapies have been developed that can eradicate disease or at least cause the human and animal patients to go into remission for many years. In a dog's case, 6 months to a year of extra life is a lot, and Rosie ended up being euthanized 7 months after her initial diagnosis since her quality of life had decreased too much.
Julie and I are doing our event in the hope that life can be lengthened for all who are affected by cancers like lymphoma.

- Dan

Andrew

At the Y last night for our team swim, I found myself in conversation with a gentleman named James. I told him why I was at the Y trying desperately to learn to swim. Then he then told me about his son, Andrew.

Andrew is 8 years old and was diagnosed at age 7 with ALL, acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He has undergone over a year of chemotherapy so far and, because of his condition is also at a high risk for other cancers later in life. I learned last night that when children are diagnosed with blood cancers, their treatment plan stretches over a period of years. Unlike adults who typically undergo months of treatment, children are in for a much longer ordeal and often experience much more severe side effects. Andrew and his family have been through a laundry list of emotional, physical and financial struggles over this last year. We will add Andrew to the growing list of special people we hope to benefit through our efforts.

Thank you, James, for sharing your family's story.

UPDATES

Wow! So much has happened the last few weeks we haven’t even had time to catch our breath and report! Here’s a quick rundown:

Swimming:  You know, when you start from rock bottom, any improvement in significant. I’m at least feeling like I will learn to swim a little someday. Our first coached swim was last night and I have a little homework to do – one baby step at a time! 

Biking:  First step is to actually purchase bikes. After a lot of research, we finally found bikes that we think will do the trick – without breaking the bank! It’s incredible what you can pay for a road bike. Yikes! We ordered our bikes from an online outlet and they are currently in Colorado somewhere.

Running:  Through our team, we were given the opportunity to have a video gait analysis performed by Rob Barnes, a local physical therapist with Therapeutic Associates. So I’m thinking I have a lot of work to do to learn to swim, I’ll need to practice to become a cyclist, but running is in the bag. I mean, I’ve run a marathon! Sigh… more homework. Rob was able to pinpoint through slow motion video the main problem that likely caused my knee injury back in 2007. So now I have some new techniques to implement when I run as well.

Fundraising:  Of course, the whole reason we are putting ourselves through this is to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and, in turn, patients and families dealing with blood cancer. We printed, signed, folded, stuffed and labeled well over a hundred letters that should be well on their way to our friends and family. If we didn’t have your mailing address, fear not! You can still donate to our efforts! Click on the link to the right “Dan and Julie’s Fundraising Website” and give generously to fund research for treatments and cures!

-- JAM