Alex and Ani Charm Bangle Designed to Support Light the Night

An announcement from the Leukemia & Lymphoma society: "Alex and Ani has designed a charm bangle to support Light The Night! For every bangle sold in store or online, LLS will receive 20% of sales to support the Light The Night Walk campaign! The Lighthouse Bangle officially launched on Monday, September 9th. The Lighthouse design was chosen because Light The Night and LLS lights the way for patients and provides hope to families battling cancer. It is a reminder to all to be optimistic and keep strong through difficult times."

Purchase here: Alex and Ani Lighthouse Bangle

Light the Night - Movie Tix Raffle Winner 3

And the winner of today's pair of movie tix... Patrick L., who donated to my brother, Jeff, for the Wisconsin walk.
 

Light the Night - Movie Tix Raffle Winners 1 & 2

The first two winners of a pair of movie tix are...

I have five more pairs of tix to raffle off as a thank you to those who are supporting Team Life's a Beach in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walks. Each evening next Monday through Friday, we will be drawing another winner. (Talk about a "win-win," as Michael Scott used to say on The Office.)

More on the good news front, my dear friend, Sarah, who's a "creative" at an advertising agency is designing the Life's a Beach logo for the T-shirts. She has tremendous talent, and I can't wait to see it. All who walk and/or donate will receive a team T-shirt.

And... more good news... Sheila's and Lauren's Southern Cali walk site is now up:
October 27, Woodland Hills, CA (Warner Center Park)

In retrospect, this post is more of a win-win-win-win. Have a great weekend!

Light the Night Update: Friday, 9/7 @ 5pm - Movie Tix Raffle

At the end of the day on Friday, Katelyn will be drawing two names from those who have signed up to walk and/or donated to Team Life's a Beach in 2012. Also, I am working on team T-shirts. Details to come...

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has become so important to me not just because of my personal experience, but because of all the friends I have made over the past year who have also been afflicted with a blood cancer.

One of my friends, Dona, just received her bone marrow transplant last week (please say a prayer for her). The day of the transplant is commonly referred to as the patient's birthday, because it literally is a new chance at life. She was diagnosed with AML last year on Mother's Day. We met her at the bone marrow donor drive, where Ryan joined the registry (Be the Match). Her daughter started kindergarten today, while she recovers from the transplant in a sterile wing of a hospital because she does not yet have an immune system. She is a brave, kind person and embodies the Life's a B**ch! attitude.

If you would like a shot at winning the movie tix, please check out Team Life's a Beach Details. We are in the process of adding a Southern Cali walk to our team, thanks to Sheila and Lauren!

Dona and her Big Kindergartener!

 

A total stranger's gift to Dona and her family: LIFE (a.k.a. bone marrow)

 

Light the Night 2012: Team Life's a Beach

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's annual Light the Night campaign is approaching. Events take place across the country to honor survivors and the memories of loved ones lost. Walkers carry illuminated balloons-- white for survivor, red for supporter, and gold for in memorial.

For anyone who would like to join the Life's a Beach Team, please click on the appropriate link below.

We greatly appreciate the support that's been given already this year. It means a lot to our family, and to all the patients and their families whom it will benefit. To show our appreciation, we will be raffling off movie tickets (# TBD) in early September. All who have donated to our team this year or signed up for the walk will have their names entered.*

Life's a Beach Team Home Page

Life's a Beach pages by walk site:
(On the day of the walk, registration begins at 5:30pm and the walk begins at 7:00pm.)

September 13 - Milwaukee, WI (Veteran's Park)

September 23 - Minneapolis, MN (Target Field)

October 3 - New York, NY (Basketball City)

October 20 - Verona, NJ (Verona Park)

October 27, Woodland Hills, CA (Warner Center Park)

* Unlike your typical big contest, family members will be eligible, since Katelyn, who can't read, will be drawing the names.

50 Miles for 50 Days

One year ago, on May 5^th, 2011, we cheered my wife's accomplishment of pushing herself to walk 14 laps around the nurse's station outside her hospital room. Nine days later, she came home to us. On May 5th, 2012, I plan to push myself in her honor.

Shelley's story started with a routine, 20 week ultrasound for our daughter, Lily.  The checkup kicked off a series of events that led to her diagnosis of and treatment for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).  The grueling hospital stay entailed chemotherapy, blood transfusions, hundreds of needle pricks, fevers, mouth sores, and intense nausea.  That’s the short list.  The only time she left her room for an extended period of time was to spend Easter Weekend in the Intensive Care Unit to battle bleeding in her lungs and a blood clot in her liver. 

We said goodbye to Lily during that time. 

Nearly 50 days passed between the ultrasound and her departure from the hospital.  During this time, Shelley endured each blood and platelet transfusion, needle prick, and treatment protocol with the steady calm of a person looking beyond the hospital bed and the oncology floor with the thought, “I will get through this.”  Maybe her attitude came from the years of mental and physical conditioning for competitive swimming.  Maybe it was a combination of her inherent character and the invisible hand of her parents that taught her to never give up.  Likely, a combination of many factors built her deep resolve. 

Her fight during her hospital stay--and now during her maintenance treatments--is inspirational. 

On May 5^th, nearly one year from my wife's departure from the hospital, I will participate in the 50 Mile Northface Endurance Challenge ultramarathon at Bear Mountain, NY, to both raise awareness for Leukemia and raise money for research.

50 miles: nearly one mile for each day before Shelley achieved remission status.

May 5^th: nearly one year from the day she left the hospital. 

Although the race is called an “endurance challenge,” the endurance required to complete the distance is immeasurably small when compared to the endurance of body and spirit my wife exhibited during that time and the treatments since.

She is why I wear orange.

To donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through Shelley’s Light the Night event Life's a BeachTeam Page: Shelley's Light The Night Team Page

To learn more about the 50 mile race: North Face Endurance Challenge Ultramarathon

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's 2011 Light the Night Awards Party

This evening I will be attending LLS's 2011 fundraising awards party. I have been invited because of the generous donations that were made in my honor last year.*
I have been forunate enough to be a recipient of something much greater than a party invite-- other people's benevolence over the past several decades. If it were not for the funds raised for leukemia research in the past, I would not be alive today. Without ATRA and Idarubicin, I would have been dead within a week of my diagnosis.

My objective this evening is to thank the current generation of fundraisers and donors, and to clap really loud when the folks who raised the big bucks are called onto stage to receive their plaques. If the mood of the event so moves me, I may even hug a few random strangers as well.

* To those of you who donated last year, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Light The Night - October 5th

 

 

If you'd like to join our family this Wednesday evening for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, please see the Event Details, and let me know, so we can coordinate meeting up.

Check-in begins at 5:30 p.m., but the walk doesn't start until 7:00 p.m. If you'd like to come but can't make it until 7:00, I can either check-in for you, or you can join us without having registered.

** A special thank you to Mary Lou and Craig for their donation, and to Lauren, who is organizing a team with her school friends to walk in the October 29th event in Santa Clarita, California.

 

Light the Night - Brooklyn Bridge, October 5th



The Brooklyn Bridge Light the Night Event, from the official website

Next Wednesday evening is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's annual New York City "Light the Night" event. It is the organization's fundraising alternative for those who would prefer not to run 26.2 miles or bike 100 miles.

Since it will take place during the one week I should be feeling well, before I start the next round of chemotherapy, we've decided to make the fundraiser a family outing.

I don't have the energy to actively fundraise for this, and I have no desire to ask for more from those who've been so good to us, but if any local friends (families welcome!) want to walk with us, we would love the company.

To join us, register at the bottom of the page at the following link: Team Shelley

Event Details: