Team in Training

Eric and I have decided to do something we are very excited about. We signed up for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. We have formed a team and will be running in the Savannah Rock 'n Roll 1/2 Marathon on November 9. We will be running in honor of Hannah with all proceeds going to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to fund research. Does anyone want to join us and be a part of our team? Let me know if you are interested and I will give you more information. The LLS explains it better than I can, so here is the description from their website:

About Team In Training

Our athletes have walked away with new friends, amazing accomplishments and the sense that they did something even more important than getting in good shape.

How serious is blood cancer? Every four minutes, someone new is diagnosed with blood cancer. Every 10 minutes, someone dies.

In exchange for training and support, you help raise money towards cures for blood cancers like leukemia -- the No. 1 disease killer of children -- lymphoma and myeloma.

The Reason

• Coaching and training
• Travel to a major marathon, half marathon, century, hiking adventure or triathlon in exciting locations
• The opportunity to make your athletic goals a reality (an unbeatable offer with great personal rewards)
• A connection with an honored patient so you know just who and what you're doing it all for

As the largest endurance sports training program in the world, we will provide you with the experience of a lifetime.

Team In Training Benefits

Join the thousands of runners, walkers, cyclists hikers, and triathletes who will participate in the world's major marathons,half marathons, centuries, hiking adventures and triathlons this year.

And if you're looking for a program to fit your busy schedule, now there's TNT Flex, a flexible, customized, online training option developed by TNT's renowned coaches.

If crossing the finish line after running or walking 26.2 miles or 13.1 miles, cycling 100 miles, completing a triathlon or hiking adventure while helping cure deadly diseases are things you've always wanted to accomplish, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training ^® will make them happen.

LLS's Team In Training (TNT) has become the leader in endurance sports training for charity, funding significant therapies like chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants, which have a significant impact on blood cancer patients.

Today, LLS funds only the most promising advances; targeted therapies like Gleevec^®, Velcade^® and Dacogen^® take aim at cancer cells, and destroy them. Immunotherapies use a patient's own immune system to kill cancer. And the repurposing of existing drugs for arthritis and antifungals to fight specific leukemias are breakthroughs that allow patients to live their best life, today.

TNT and LLS fundraising efforts through marathons, triathlons, cycling and hiking really are making cures happen. Coaches will expand your fitness level with workouts, nutrition and hydration clinics. And you'll have staff members to help with fundraising support.

www.teamintraining.org

June

I am once again late posting on here. For what is supposed to be a relaxing summer, this month has been very busy for our family. Hannah had a good appointment for this month. She had to have her sedation where they insert the chemo into her spinal fluid. Her favorite nurse who usually does these procedures had a baby, so Hannah was sad that she wasn't there. But there was another wonderful nurse to fill in for her. This picture is Hannah before she woke up from her sedation. For as "normal" as all of this hospital stuff has become for our family, Eric and I will never like seeing all of the tubes and wires hooked up to her.

We stopped at Callaway Gardens on our way back from Atlanta. The kids loved the butterfly house.

While taking pictures, a butterfly landed on Evan's leg. Don't you love how Lauren doesn't let the butterfly distract her from posing for the camera! :)

One Year

Today is one year since Hannah was diagnosed. It seems like yesterday. It has been interesting, today, to think back over what we were doing on this day a year ago. It hit me that I remember the details leading up to and following her diagnosis more vividly than I remember the details of our wedding or the births of our children. I think that must be because events like births and weddings are happy, natural things. I asked the kids what they remember about it. Lauren remembers crying with my mom when she told her that Hannah was very sick and had to go to the hospital in Atlanta. Evan remembers Aunt Maria explaining to them what Leukemia is. Hannah said she remembers everything, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. I'm hoping that she will forget most of the yucky stuff.

We are not quite halfway finished with her treatment. It feels like forever. But if she keeps handling everything as well as she has been, we're not going to complain! Most of all, Eric and I are just thankful. Thankful to have her with us, thankful that she feels good most of the time, thankful for friends and family, and thankful for access to good doctors, nurses and medicine.