Team in Training
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Team in Training |
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My wife and I originally signed up to walk the Dublin Marathon on October 28, 2002. We never got to the race, not because we couldn't handle the training, but for other very good reasons. One of which was that we learned that we simply aren't very good at fundraising.
Our initial commitment was to raise $8000, but we soon decided that we had little chance of doing so, and decided that only one of us would participate officially, and the other would simply pay their own way to go along. We were then on the hook for only $4000, and all the money we had raised together could be applied towards that total.
Of course, neither of us are very good at asking folks for money, and most of our friends are either poor or cheap, so we set our hopes on putting together some fundraising activities. Two concerts and some e-Bay auctions later, we had achieved only moderate success. Our totals:
So, as much as we had fun doing it, we're getting out of the fundraising business. We just aren't very good at it. The tremendous investment of time and money for little return just doesn't seem to be justified. We've decided that we are better off just making our own donations, rather than mounting a large effort to get other people to contribute. Nevertheless, we encourage others to support these causes, and to participate in similar fundraising efforts (if they are comfortable pushing people for contributions and/or very entrpreneurial).
There are pictures from both concerts available. To see pictures from our first concert (Terri Hendrix) click here, or for pictures from our second concert (Sister Blue, Nancy Falkow, Tom Cooney, Christine Moll, Christine Havrilla, Laura Shay, Ten Spiders, Something Black, and David Scott Smith) click here,
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is the fastest-growing voluntary health organization with a nationwide presence. The Society's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Since its founding in 1949, the Society has provided more than $240 million for research specifically targeting blood-related cancers. The Society is one of the top-rated voluntary health agencies in terms of dollars that directly fund their mission. The Society supports research, provides services to patients and their families, sponsors public education programs, and supports advocacy efforts with government and private organizations.
The Team in Training program is designed to raise awareness - and money - through team participation in various athletic events around the world.
All participants in the Team in Training compete in the name of a "patient hero,"
who is battling, or has battled, leukemia or lymphoma. We chose to participate
in honor of Sara Weaver, lead singer
of local band Swisher.
Sara lost her battle with leukemia on June 7, 2002, almost two years
after she was diagnosed.
She chronicled her ordeal with the disease
(and its treatment) online in her
LeukemiaLand Diary and, with a
little help from her friends,
Weave Report.
A fund has been established in her honor, to raise money to help recruit
bone marrow donors. It is a now being managed by the Philadelphia Foundation
as a Donor Advised Fund (you can learn more and donate from the
Swisher
website).
If you want to get a sense of what it is like to live with leukemia, go back and read through Sara's story from the beginning. The (almost) daily ups and downs and even worse downs are sure to leave you stunned and exhausted. If you want to increase the likelihood that people like Sara Weaver will not have to suffer like that in the future, then please give generously to support The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's attempts to find a cure.