Misson Monday: Zach Baccari

Each season, Team In Training honors a hero who has battled blood cancer to serve as a beacon of hope and inspiration to all of our participants. Our honored patients help remind participants why they train day after day: to find a cure for cancer. Just when the going gets tough, at the end of the long weekend run, going up that mountainous hill while cycling, getting through the final mile when walking a marathon, the stories of our honored patients and all those we train in honor and memory of is what gets them to the finish. This season, we are so privileged to have Zach Baccari as our honored patient, a brave young man who’s positivity and strength has inspired us all here at TNT.

Zach Baccari was 15 years old, going into his sophomore year at Hendricken High School, when he was diagnosed with Burkitts Lymphoma. This type of non-hodgkins lymphoma is rare and aggressive; doctors in Rhode Island say they normally only seem two cases per year. Zach was in the hospital for 112 consecutive days with many complications. Due to the Burkitts Lymphoma Zach had to have his spleen and part of his pancreas removed. Luckily, he was released from the hospital on December 23^rd, 2011, just in time for Christmas! Zach was never afraid and had the attitude of "you can’t let it control you". After 12 long rounds of chemotherapy, the Baccari family is happy to report that Zach’s last day of treatment was on June 6, 2012! Zach is now back in school, enjoying being a kid again!



{Zack and his sister enjoying a day out!}


The Baccari family has been a part of Team In Training for nearly a year, showing incredible spirit and perseverance through the completion of the Cox Providence Rhode Races in honor of Zach last May. Zach’s mother and grandmother, Lisa and Peggy, went on to complete yet another TNT event in the same year at the Nike Women’s Half Marathon last October! Zach and his family embody the mission of LLS, and we are thrilled to be honoring him this season!

See Zach's incredibly powerful speech here given at our summer season kick-off. Introduced by his nurse and TNT particpant Tammy Poission, Zach reminded us all that why we train: for a world without cancer.

Go Team!

From 5k to Marathon

Running a marathon is a common find on the average person's bucket list, but the idea of running a marathon is much easier to grasp than actually beginning to train. Where do I start?? 26.2 miles?? Four months of training?? For many of our beginner TNT participants, the 5k is recommended as an excellent starting point, where our supportive coaches and teammates will help you learn to love to run before attempting to tackle the marathon. The 5k training plan is manageable and basic, it is a shorter time period and provides participants with the confidence that they can accomplish anything they set their mind to. In 2012, TNT participant Jo-Anne Serydynski began with the 5k Race for a Cure in May and went on to cross "marathon" off of her bucket list by October. Read Jo-Anne's story and be inspired to start your journey to the marathon distance!

I am a non-athlete, and was nearing my 50^th birthday. The round of family and friends celebrating this same milestone had begun and I found myself searching for a more meaningful and significant way to mark the occasion, beyond the customary celebration of over indulgence of course.

Team in Training is the best, providing me with a great cause to request birthday gift donations to, while training me to become an athlete. I set out to run the Cox 5K, using the training plan developed by my coaches, and with the support of team members. By May I was runner, and still only 49, I set my sights on a marathon. After the Cox 5k, I rejoined the team as a marathon hopeful.

With the guidance of Coach Doyle, and the support of the team and everyone in the LLS office, I finished the Nike Women’s Marathon in October. When I fell behind in my training, Coach Doyle provided me with individual attention, and was right there to help me alter the plan to catch up safely.

A marathon is a huge undertaking, but with TNT, I was able to go from a non-athlete to a 5K runner and then to a marathoner in just a year’s time.

~Jo-Anne Serydynski

Go Team!!!