Please or please help me. I know several of you have been watching my running and weight loss blogs. Well I have 10 days to raise $1500. Please donate $5, $10, $25, or what you can afford. Challenge your friends to match your donation....spread the word.
If I don't make it to my the fundraising amount needed I will have to drop out of Team In Training and the idea of that has got me really depressed as I have already made some great friends.
I want to raise this money not only so I can run in NWM with Team in Training BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY.....If it wasn't for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society my mother wouldn't be here today. The money I am raising, 100% of it goes to LLS to help stop blood cancers.
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If you haven't yet, here is the letter I sent to friends and family as well as posted earlier. The story about why I am raising the money and want to run the NIKE Woman's Marathon.
I guess to really understand why I really want to run in the
NIKE Women's Marathon, you need to understand just how much my mom, Barbara Ott
(Shepherd) means to me.
I have two beautiful kids, Lucas, 3 years old and Amee,
1. My mom comes over almost every day,
since she lives next door. Everyday Amee
is learning new things and my mom doesn’t want to miss a new word or
accomplishment.
Well, my family is very lucky to have this opportunity. Back in 2001, my mom was diagnosed with
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. For quite some time
my mom wasn't feeling well. She had pain
in her joints and she just figured it was just part of getting old. She started wearing magnet bracelets that
were suppose to help with pain. They helped at first. However, as time went by the pain just got
worse. So after about a year and a half
of living with the pain, my mom found a lump in her lymph nodes. So she decided to go see the doctor.
Now when most people have been diagnosed with cancer they
normally get a call from the doctor or they have scheduled a follow up
appointment where the doctor tells them the results of any lab work. Well, my mom’s doctor was gone on vacation after
he did a biopsy of the lump. My mom
called the doctor’s office to find out the results. It was on that call when the nurse told her
she had Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. My mom
got off the phone and felt relieved, since she thought that “NON” had to mean
it was NOT cancer. It wasn’t until my
dad googled “Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma” that they both realized it was cancer, and
not good news at all.
I will never forget the day my mom sat us down as a family
to tell us she had Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.
I had never heard of that before.
I immediately had the same assumption as my mom. It can’t be bad. Quickly my mom put the kibosh on that, and
explained that she had stage 4 cancer.
At the time my mom didn’t even have health coverage that was going to
cover treatment. So she explained to her
3 kids, my sister, Karen, 20 years old, my baby brother, Brian, only 11 years old,
and me, 27 years old, that she wasn’t going to be getting any treatment. We all knew what that meant, but no one said
it.
Thankfully after a few weeks my mom got new coverage and was
able to get treatment. My mom had the
best oncologist ever. I say this from
the bottom of my heart because she told my mom she was giving her a treatment
that wasn’t the “normal” treatment Kaiser used.
My mom was given 6 chemotherapy treatments of the new drug Rituxan. It was a long and tough road for my
mom. She worked the entire time she was
sick and losing her hair. She was self
employed, working with my dad so their business was the only source of
income. During her treatment she got a
skin infection. Because her white blood
cell counts were down from treatment, she got so sick and was admitted to the
hospital for a week. Throughout her
treatment I would call her almost daily just to check on her. Most of the time when I would ask how she
was, she would lie to me and tell me she felt fine. She really wanted to stay strong for her
kids.
Thankfully she is strong.
Even after being told she had stage 4 cancer, that it was also in her
bone marrow, she NEVER gave up the fight.
My mom only had the original 6 treatments of Rituxan and has been cancer
free now for over 10 years.
When I think that so much of this story could have ended
differently, it really makes me thankful for so much. Had my mom never seen the doctor, had my mom
never found coverage that allowed her to receive treatment, had her oncologist
stuck to the “normal” treatment, my mom might not be here today.
Since my mom kicked cancer’s ass she has seen her youngest
graduate middle school, high school, and grow into a smart, strong man who is
now serving our country. She seen my
little sister grow so much into the beautiful woman she is today with her body
building accomplishments and meeting the man of her dreams. And
thankfully, with my mom still here today, she was able to see me get married to
the man of my dreams and the joy that comes with becoming a grandmother.
Now all of this is also possible in large part of The
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. If it
wasn’t for the many years and millions of dollars that LLS donated to research
and testing of Rituxan, it would not have been available to my mom in
2001. Every year LLS donates millions to
research. Last year they funded over $70
million to blood cancer research.
Cumulatively since they were founded they have funded $875 million to
research. But LLS also helps those who
can’t afford treatment or the cost of their medication.
Please help me, help LLS.
Please go to my fundraising page to make a donation to LLS.
Your donation will help so many people who currently have a blood cancer
and help those years from now by funding research going on today. It will secure me a spot in the upcoming 2013
NIKE Women’s Marathon so that I can run in my mom’s honor.
THANK YOU
Christine Sells (Ott)
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/nikesf13/christysells
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