Weeks 9 and 10

Weeks 9 and 10 (10 weeks till race day)

This week I would like to give you some information about Team in Training and their Honored Hero's.

Team Honored Heroes are very special people who have battled and survived, or who are currently battling, leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, and who have agreed to share their experience to inspire and motivate Team In Training ® (TNT) participants. TNT participants train for and complete a marathon, half marathon, hike in a national park, century (100 mile) bike ride, or triathlon in honor of these extraordinary people.

By honoring a member in their own community, and hearing their story firsthand, TNT participants are able to understand the extreme value of their fundraising efforts.

Kensington's Summer Team's Honored Hero is Mike Larson (my team). Here is Mike's bio.

TYPE OF BLOOD CANCER: C-cell follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

DATE OF DIAGNOSIS: May 29, 2009

CURRENT STATUS: Watchful Waiting, with scans every 3-6 months

My wife, Jane, and I live in Brighton, MI with our 3 children, Ellie, Katie, and Tommy. Our house is usually pretty hectic with homework, playing, and extracurricular activities for the girls, cleaning up toys and removing Cheez Its from the heating vents for the boy, with mom running the house and volunteering, and dad working and doing fantasy football research.

On Memorial Day weekend, I was camping in the backyard with my daughters and woke up in the middle of the night with some severe discomfort in my chest. During the subsequent trip to the emergency room, I was first told that the discomfort was probably indigestion induced by sleeping on the cold ground in a tent. During the examination, several masses were discovered and, after several additional days of testing, the diagnosis was C-cell follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This type of lymphoma is not particularly aggressive, but is fairly advanced in my system. The doctors advised me to delay treatment for awhile to better assess a treatment plan.

After a few weeks of coming to terms with the hand we have been dealt, Jane and I decided this “watchful waiting” mode was an ideal time to do something to fight the disease — not on an individual level, but on an overall cure-the-disease level. We are both just completed our first Team in Training event in Orlando in January (Jane for the half-marathon, and me for the marathon). We are “hooked” on TNT and hope it continue to be a regular part of our family’s life.

Mike is an inspiration. He has been training with our team. He comes out almost every Saturday to run with us. He shares his "story" and give us that extra push to run the distance - because when the miles seem hard we have to remember that we are running for Mike and people who are also in Mike's situation. The fundraising we are doing goes to research which might find the cure so Mike and his family no longer have to face this disease.

This Saturday was a big training day for the Spring team (their 20 miler for the full marathon and 12 miler for the half marathon - I only did 15 miles, my 20 miler will be in about one month). At the round up in the morning our Leukemia and Lymphoma staff member Sally told us that Mike would not be there to run with us.

Mike had been in the "watchful waiting" phase of his disease. Mike has C-cell follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Follicular lymphoma is the most common type of slow-growing NHL and is the second most frequent type of lymphoma, accounting for about 20 percent of NHL cases. Most cases of slow-growing lymphoma are chronic illnesses that are treated when indicated. In such cases, there is no known initial treatment that fundamentally alters patients’ survival rates. Deferring initial treatment is often a very appropriate treatment option. Many physicians consider observation (watch and wait) to be an active form of therapy, which involves careful monitoring of the disease status and follow-up.

As we learned on Saturday, Mike is no longer in the "watchful waiting" period of this disease. Mike began chemotherapy treatments on Friday. This brought the team right back into reality. Although I am here for myself, and to get into shape and meet new people, what drew me into TNT in the first place was losing Jeff - and wanting to do something to help so that others don't lose the "Jeff" in their life. I am here to help find a CURE. I am here to help so that Mike's family do not lose him.

People constantly ask me questions about why I am doing this: what keeps you going? How do you run that much? Isn't it boring? How do you get up on Saturdays at 6:45? I think my Coach summed it up in his weekly email:

"What keeps you running when it gets really hard? What gets you out of the house early on Saturday mornings to run? What brought you to this program? These are the things to remember when the miles get long and the going gets tough. Also remember that pain is temporary and the discomfort that you feel is nothing compared to the what our Honored Hero's go through each and every day when dealing with this disease. If they can deal with that EVERY SINGLE DAY, then we can put up with some discomfort during our run."

Thank you again to everyone for your generous donations. With all of your help I hope that we all cross the ultimate finish line - A CURE.

Also, please remember to take the time to appreciate the ones around you and be thankful for your life and your health.

Happy Easter!