Mission Monday: Where is my Money Going?

This serves as the first post of 2014 so....Happy New Year!

I've got 3 things I want to share as we dive fast and furiously into the year...and everyone gets so busy:

1) First and foremost...Georgia, our honored hero and friend, wrote the most beautiful end of year post on their family blog.  Please take a moment to read it and see what life is like through the eyes of a teenage cancer warrior and survivor.  Georgia and her family are never far from our hearts and always on our mind!

For the second and third item, I wanted to showcase to our family, friends and donors why we are so passionate about LLS and where those donor dollars are going that everyone so generously gives us:

2) Today, LLS announced that it awarded four new grants and one of those was given right here in Texas! LLS spends millions of dollars every year supporting the work of the best and brightest blood cancer researchers around the world. To learn more about the Texas-based researcher meet her here.

3) LLS-funded research has led to the discovery and development of lifesaving therapies, including targeted therapies that selectively kill cancer cells and immunotherapies that help a patient’s immune system destroy cancer cells. Watch one of those cutting edge therapies. Since 1954, LLS has invested almost $1 billion in blood cancer research. Some of the therapies first approved for blood cancer patients are now helping patients with different types of cancers and other serious diseases. New effective therapies, once unimaginable, are saving the lives of blood cancer patients today.

This is where your DONATIONS are going...this is the life-saving research you are helping LLS fund...not someday but TODAY!   

Emma, the little girl in the above video, is now 18 months cancer free. Over the holiday she was featured on the TV show The Doctors and you can visit her website to read more about her and the amazing team of researchers and doctors that made it all happen!

If you haven't had a chance to donate and would like to do so now...please click this link or the donate image in the right banner.  I'm currently fundraising and training for the Nike DC Half Marathon and Will is coaching the spring marathon season.  


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PEDIATRIC RESEARCH NEWS: Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act

Earlier this month, the House passed the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act which would increase funding for childhood disease research, including childhood cancer. This bill has been renamed after 10-year-old Gabriella Miller, a patient who lost her battle with a brain tumor in October. In her honor, groups from across the country are trying to increase funding for pediatric disease research – and it's working! 

This bill got strong bi-partisan support in the House. As it faces a potential vote in the Senate, we need every advocate to stand together in memory of Gabriella and in support of kids across the country who are fighting cancer and other childhood diseases.

This bill will reassign money from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund to expand pediatric disease research. Instead of paying for massive political party conventions, this much-needed funding will be redirected toward a 10-year study at the National Institutes of Health where it will be used to support research and improve treatments for childhood cancer, diabetes, and many other pediatric diseases – all without costing taxpayers a penny more.

Take two minutes right now to ask your Senators to support the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act >>

Since the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society was founded in 1949, survival rates for different blood cancers have doubled… tripled… and in some cases, even quadrupled! This is the result of innovative research – including studies that were funded by supporters like you – and it's proof that these efforts are working.

Imagine what a difference this new research could make for children and their families across the country. And if we can get this bill onto the President's desk, it can become a life-changing reality – but first we need the support of your Senators, now!

Thank you again for speaking up for kids with cancer!

(written by Scott Riccio, Office of Public Policy for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society)

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Road to Ironman Cozumel

I have started this blog post at least five times in the past half hour...I have so much I want to say to Will before we head to Ironman Cozumel.  YET nothing comes out right or it doesn't come out at all because I'm afraid I might say the wrong thing.  We leave Friday morning and the event will take place on Sunday, December 1.

I'm almost giddy, like a kid on christmas day, just to simply be at the event but knowing my husband is racing in it...puts a whole different edge on it.  I'm hopeful, excited, confident in his ability and nervous all rolled into one...and those are my emotions...I can only imagine his!!  The only thing he has said this week is, "thinking of this event consumes me...consumes my entire day, every thought, every minute...I can barely think of anything else."

This morning I watched the special of the GoPro Ironman Championship in Kona.  I sat in amazement for 90 minutes...to see pro-athletes pushing their bodies to the brink is absolutely incredible. But then to see everyone else...that really grabs your attention and it is SO inspiring.  What makes someone want to complete a 140.6 mile event?  I think for most people it is a sheer test of will. But in actuality, there's a story behind each one of those Ironman finishers!

What I'm asking today is that our friends & family post a message, prayer or even inspiring quote to Will on this BLOG in the comments section below...he doesn't check it often so I can show it to him Saturday night and let him read all the posts before the event.

  
If you want to track Will on Sunday you can by visiting the Ironman Athlete Tracker. His Bib #141.  I will also do my best to update facebook periodically throughout the day.  

Love & Thanks!



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