When you join Team In Training, it is for more reasons than one. You train for a purpose, you train for a cure. TNT brings together people of all different backgrounds and athletic abilities, yet by the end of the journey, you find that you are all the same. You've sacrificed social outings, you can't remember what sleeping in feels like, and you find yourself spending your Saturday nights mending your blisters and bonding with your foam roller. You've asked everyone you know to support you, carrying fundraising letters around with you for months, your fundraising link burned in your brain. When crossing that finish line and hitting your fundraising commitment, you feel like the champion that you are, and knowing that what you've done is making a difference in the lives of many. However, sometimes the end result of everything you worked for during your training season is not so transparent. Perhaps your best friend is still going through treatment after you complete your first TNT event, or maybe you completed an event in memory of a loved one, wishing that a cure had been discovered a decade ago. We wish that completing our event could solve all of the problems immediately, anxiously awaiting the day when we see headlines read "Cancer Cured."
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| {An excited Maya on her last day of chemo!} |
Oftentimes we overlook the fact that each and every one of our efforts are an essential puzzle piece that make up the bigger picture. You are the unsung heroes of advancements in blood cancer research, you are a part of the cure that is so close to being discovered. And what keeps us motivated? Success stories, tales of great spirit and strength, of survivorship and tough battles won. Every TNT event you complete helps more and more patients cross their own finish line, and last week, after a two-year battle against leukemia, TNT honored patient Maya Spadano crossed the finish line into remission!! The treatments Maya underwent and the support she received can be traced back to every single TNT participant who ever signed up for an event and dedicated four months out of their life to save the life of another. Maya's mother, Sherri, recently wrote a post to announce the family's exciting news, and below is an excerpt from her post that filled us with hope and inspiration here at TNT:
We were given her port to take home. It is purple!! Crazy! Only Maya would have her favorite color port in her chest! Looking at it signifies so much......our journey, our blessings, Maya' amazing fight for her life and our strength as a family!! It is the culmination of the end and the start of a new, brighter beginning!!! We are so blessed!!!
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| {Bob with Teammates Nikki and Linda after the Disney 1/2!} |
Maya's father, Bob, ran the Walt Disney World Half Marathon with TNT in January, making it in the top ten fundraisers nationally in honor of Maya, raising over $9,000 for LLS! His positivity and drive throughout the season left us in awe of the strength and determination possessed by a family affected by blood cancer. The TNT purple runs deep, much deeper than we thought, as evidenced by Maya's port. When you cross your own finish line, know that what you accomplished made a difference. Know that incredible patients like Maya can return to a normal, cancer-free life because of those of you who wear the purple.
This fall we have an exciting new opportunity for you to help us get one step closer to a cure for cancer; the Chicago Marathon!! Realize your dreams of accomplishing a marathon while helping heroes like Maya live healthy and happy. You may think that there is no better feeling than crossing the finish line of a race, but there is. Crossing the finish line of a race while wearing your purple is the best feeling in the world, hearing shouts of "Go Team!!!" coming from all sides, hugging fellow TNT finishers and high-fiving because you just completed 26.2 miles in hopes that,someday soon cancer will be a thing of the past. Join 40,000 runners and walkers in Chicago this year, as we paint the windy city purple and race for a cure!
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| {Join us in Chicago on October 13, 2013!!} |
Email Alexandra.Hollenbeck@lls.org for more information or to submit a post!
http://www.teamintraining.org/ri/
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