Shifting Gears and Putting On My Running Shoes

This is my teaching blog.  So many of you read my posts hoping to gain a teaching tool, a lesson idea, or a quick tip to make your life a little easier in the classroom.  Thank you all for reading my posts and leaving me such encouraging comments.  I know you don't even know me, and yet you so faithfully check in here as you strive to become an even better teacher.  Well, today, I want to shift gears a little.  I want to share something very near and dear to my heart.  I hope you all know that I just want to see cancer annihilated.  My dad lost his battle to cancer in 2007, and since then I've been running with The Leukemia & Lymphoma's Society Team In Training as a way to help others who are in the same situation that my dad was in.  You can read more about my sweet daddy and his story here.  Please allow me to take my teaching shoes off and my running shoes on...

Yesterday was an exciting day for me!  My devotion to helping to fight cancer in memory of my dad was reaffirmed, and my dedication to training for my fifth marathon was reignited.  Why?  My running buddies with Team In Training met for our first run at the lake, and this little guy's mom is in my pace group.  May I please introduce one of the cutest little itty-bitties ever...Bennett!

Oh my goodness!  What a cutie pa-tutie!

Bennett is 18 months old.  He is A.DOR.ABLE!  He is a future Longhorn.  He has leukemia.  Of course, if you ask his mom, Kirsa, you'd never guess that he's in his 5th month of treatment watching him scramble around with that precious smile on his face.  On April 9, 2011, Bennett was diagnosed with high risk B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).  As Kirsa and I were running, we were talking about how he was diagnosed.  Unbelievably, Kirsa told me that just five days before his diagnosis, he had passed his one-year check-up  with flying colors.  Over the past several months, Bennett's parents have had to witness him endure countless pokes to his body, blood transfusions, lumbar punctures, bone marrow aspirations, several rounds of chemotherapy, associated side effects, treatment for blood infections, and many nights in the hospital.

Bennett is "pole-surfing" while his body receives his current protocol of chemotherapy.

Bennett's treatments will conclude on July 28, 2014.  He will be four and a half years old.  He will have gone from baby to toddler to little boy, all while fighting cancer.  I can't even imagine the celebration his family will be having on that glorious day!  Please pray specifically that Bennett's body will remain strong through the next 60-day protocol.  According to Bennett's doctors, this next protocol will be a tough one.

You can make a difference in Bennett's and all of the other patients' lives who are fighting against this horrific disease by making a donation.  The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society uses your dollars to help find cures and better treatments for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. With your support, LLS can help improve the quality of life for Bennett, other patients just like him, and their families as well.

Kirsa, Jessica (my other running buddy whose story I will share next time), and I will continue to train as a way to do SOMETHING in the fight against cancer.  While we do the training, we will be praying for healing, comfort, peace and that His love would invade the hearts of those who hear our stories.  May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in Him, so you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

Kirsa, me, and Jessica...a force to be reckoned with!

So what are you waiting for?  Click here.  Make a difference.  Save a life. 

Thanks so much and keep on keepin' on!