What I'm Doing

Now for what I am doing to try help prevent this story from repeating itself in other families.

I learned about Team in Training when I was biking as part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's "SS 150" - Scenic Shore 150-mile bike ride, which was in July 2008. Ben had found out about this awesome bike ride, and enlisted my dad, Amy, his cousin Mike, and his friend Cody, and my friend Toby to join him. It went from Mequon to Manitowok the first day, and from Manitowok to Potowotomi State Park in Sturgeon Bay. (See http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_page?item_id=57271 for more details!)

We all biked that weekend with Stephanie on our mind. Stephanie was to be there to support us, but unfortunately got some type of cold that landed her in the hospital two days before the ride. Talk about not wanting to bike. But, she encouraged us to be there and bike, and that's what we did. She was about to get out the hospital later that week - it was nothing serious and she since hasn't had to be re-admitted for anything.

As part of the bike ride, we each had to fundraise at least $250. Guess what? I discovered that I have such wonderful friends and family, and all of your generous donations added up to $1,585! Wow!!

The bike ride itself was awesome! I learned that I need to get a "big girl" bike, because a mountain bike is not made for long bike rides! But, I also learned about Team in Training (TNT)!

TNT is a group of people that train for either a marathon, 1/2 marathon (walk or run on both), triathalon, or 100-mile bike ride and fundraise for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). So far, TNT has raised over $800 million for life-saving cancer research and patient support. One of the things that I was impressed about with LLS is that they offer medical bill assistance to help cover the cost of what insurance doesn't cover. LLS provides other types of assistance, including detailed phamplets on treatment, and information on a specific type of blood cancer. For more information, please visit: http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_toplevel.adp?item_id=4184.

One of the major components of being a member of Team in Training is the fundraising. We have a minimum goal of $3,800. I have been extremely fortunate to have some fantastic donors!! Thank you all SO MUCH for all of your support!! If you would like to contribute, but haven't yet, please visit: http://pages.teamintraining.org/wi/pfchangs09/kudell.

Another bonus with being in TNT is the support they provide. We are only a month in, and have already had: (1) a shoe and apparel clinic (very important), (2) a fundraising clinic, (3) a stretching clinic), and (4) and strength training clinic. We have a wonderful support team of one coach and 4 mentors that we can go to with any questions! The team itself is about 15 people, all dedicated to wiping out blood cancers $1 at a time. You never know when the next dollar will fund the study that finds a cure!!

I love training with the team - it is an awesome experience to be training in honor of Stephanie, Uncle Todd, and in memory of Uncle Tom (these thoughts always keep me going), but also to be part of a greater cause to end blood cancers. To raise this much money for LLS is a first for me, a big challenge, but I knew that with your help, we can do it! Thank you again, for all of your generous support!!

I am currently a month into training, and the next blog will discuss what I've been up to!

To learn more about TNT, please visit: http://www.teamintraining.org/.