Happy New Year and Thank You!

Dear family & friends,

Happy New Year! 2007 was a year of many ups and downs and since we see some of you less often than others we thought we’d give all of you an update on how things are going here in the great state of Minnesota.

This past year we completed our first triathlon with Team In Training (TNT). Thank you so much for your support both through donations and with well wishes. It’s hard to believe we’ve been involved with TNT for over 6 years! We thought we’d take a look back.

As most of you know we got involved with TNT back in 2001 after the father of Julie’s friend Kelly lost his battle with leukemia. It was a devastating loss for her and her family and after making a donation in his memory to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society we received information in the mail concerning this program known as TNT.

We went to the information meeting and signed up on the spot. We were very nervous about completing a marathon and even more nervous about having to raise over $7,000. However, we had seen the brutal effects of blood cancers and knew we had to take on something larger than ourselves.

That first event was the International Marathon in Bermuda in January 2002. It was a tough marathon and we learned a lot during those months about training, fundraising, and about blood cancers themselves. Along with doing the marathon in memory of Kelly’s father we also had an honoree, Brian, who was in the midst of his battle. He was so thankful for what our team was doing, for the hope we were providing to him and his family. We were the last ones to finish the race but we were determined to complete it. We had worked very hard to get there and we knew if our honoree could go through chemotherapy we could finish a marathon. It was a tremendous experience.

In July of 2002 we moved to Minnesota and in January of 2004 we began training for our next event. The team we trained with, the staff, and the coaches were incredible. The event we chose to do was the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon in San Diego. We again struggled with the fundraising but we not only met our goal but surpassed it! Again, thank you! At the event we shaved 90 minutes off our Bermuda time and had a blast listening to the 26 bands that lined the course. It was an even better experience this time and we were hooked on this great program.

Following the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon in June of 2004 we immediately jumped into the next event and this time decided to be mentors within TNT. We signed up for the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n Roll Arizona Half Marathon in Phoenix. Our good friends Julie and Chuck joined us for this one and we had a great time in Arizona. Who wouldn’t want to be in Arizona in January?!

In the fall of 2004 a TNT position became available and Julie jumped at the opportunity to work for the organization that had inspired us in so many ways. In October she accepted a position as a Campaign Coordinator and her work has been challenging and rewarding. With her working at the Society and Pat assuming a role as Mentor Captain we have been busy but so blessed to be able to work with such a great organization.

In the summer of 2005 we participated in the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco. This event was created by Nike to specifically benefit the Society and to honor women. The ratio of women to men for this event was around 15 to 1 so to say Pat was outnumbered is an understatement. We became very good friends with many people on the team, as we have with each team we’ve been on.

One of those good friends we made during our training for Nike is Jim. He was a cyclist who did the half marathon with his wife Sandy who is a cancer survivor. He didn’t much care for the marathon training and told us that since he did a half marathon we had to do a century ride with him in 2006. We were nervous and hesitant at first but decided to join him for the Sea Gull Century Ride in Salisbury, MD, in October 2006.

It was exciting to get involved with a new sport and a majority of the team was alumni of TNT. Our dear friend Louise (who is a marathon walker like us) did the 100-mile ride with us. We were the slowest on the team but we finished in around 9 hours, in terrible weather conditions – it was the first nor’easter of the season. When the Weather Channel is televising live from where you’re going to be riding you know it’s going to be a tough ride!

When we finished Sea Gull and started thinking about our next event we decided to go for the Triple Crown award – a special TNT award for those participants who have fundraised and completed an event in all three sports – marathon, century ride, and triathlon. The one of the three we were missing is the one that scared us the most – the triathlon.

In January of 2007 we signed up to fundraise and complete the Olympic distance course at the Life Time Fitness Triathlon here in Minneapolis. We would swim 0.9 miles, bike 24.8 miles, and run 6.2 miles. The bike and the run we weren’t as concerned about, but the thought of swimming nearly a mile in open water was a little daunting.

By the time event day came in July we were prepared and excited, definitely nervous but determined to finish. It seems rather appropriate that at our first TNT event nearly 6 years ago we were the last to finish, and for our 6th event and first triathlon we were nearly the last ones on the course as well.

We may never look the best or be the fastest while we’re out there doing our events, but we’re out there anyway. We’re out there not just to challenge ourselves but most importantly to raise money for cancer research, for patient aid, and to increase awareness of what the Society does every day. We’re very proud of the work the Society does and of our involvement with TNT.

Over the last 6 years, thanks in large part to the generosity of folks like you, we have been able to raise nearly $36,000 for the Society! Thank you! We continually hear of the benefits and advancements this money provides and we are forever touched and inspired by the many – too many – cancer patients, young and old, that we’ve met over the years. On behalf of them we thank you as well.

But sometimes the ending isn’t what we hope and pray for. We’ve had to say goodbye to far too many people who fought courageously but in the end lost their battle with cancer. One of those people is McKenna Johnson, a beautiful and brave 10-year old girl, who fought a rare form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for over 7 years of her short life. After receiving her second bone marrow transplant in September she had complications and on her 10th birthday was put into an induced coma and placed on a breathing machine.

Before being sedated her mother asked her is she was scared and she just shook her head “no”. It would be the last time she was awake. She earned her angel wings on her mother’s birthday. We attended the funeral, her celebration of life, on one of the snowiest days this winter. Never has the song “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know” moved us to tears like it did that day. She was an amazing little girl, and it’s for children like McKenna and for patients of all ages that we continue to fundraise for the Society.

It’s been a long journey these last 6 years and it’s one that has changed our lives. We’ve made life-long friends, pushed ourselves in ways we never thought we would, set and surpassed numerous goals, and been part of something that is so much bigger than ourselves. We look forward to continuing this journey with the Society and thank you again for supporting not only us but also those that truly need our help – the patient heroes.

2008 is the 20th Anniversary of Team In Training. It has grown to become the world’s largest endurance training program and is the biggest fundraising program of the Society. In those 20 years TNT nationally has trained over 340,000 athletes (80% of them beginners) and raised over $800 million for cancer research and patient aid. By the end of their 20th year they hope to pass the $1 billion mark, thanks to so many generous people like you! If you would like to get involved with TNT and change your life while saving another, then please visit their website at www.teamintraining.org.

We hope this Christmas season was everything you hoped for. We wish you all the best and that you have a happy and healthy New Year.

Love,

Julie and Patrick, Molson and Gracie