Riding for Roses

Spencer had the honor of being invitied to participate in Team in Training for Central Texas as an Honored Hero. The Team in Training concept is straightforward: Participants money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and get to participate in a run, walk, cycle, or triathlon event as part of the Team in Training. Extra benefits for participants include a training coach, training plans, regular group training events, fundraising support (tips and a web site), travel to the event, support at the event, and a sense of accomplishment both for having raised the money and completed the event. Participants include novice athletes attempting their first long distance event, and seasoned atheletes buffing up. Some have deep personal experience with blood cancers and others have very little – that last is one of the primary motivations for the honored hero program. Spencer, and the other honored heroes, works with the team and gets to know them, and they get to see a little bit of what it’s like to deal with a blood cancer.

Available events this year are:

• Country Music^TM Marathon & 1/2 Marathon, Nashville, TN, April 29, 2006
• Capital of Texas Triathlon, Austin, TX, May 29, 2006
• America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride, Lake Tahoe, NV, June 4, 2006
• Rock ‘n’ Roll^TM Marathon, San Diego, CA, June 4, 2006
• Philadelphia Triathlon in Fairmont Park, Philadelphia, PA, June 25, 2006

If you live around Austin, please consider attending one of the orientation sessions. There is a January 26 orientation in Austin, the 2006 Kickoff meeting at the Hyatt on February 2, or you can visit the web site and register online (or call for more information).

We attended the meeting at the south location of Bicycle Sport Shop and met people who want to sign up for cycling and triathlon events. Before the meeting, they asked if we’d mind standing up and introducing ourselves and speaking for a minute. I spoke without notes, but the gist of what I said was

Spencer was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia on October 22, 2004. He was in remission after seven days of treatment and will continue treatment until the end of 2007. His prognosis is excellent, but sixty years ago this same disease was basically one hundred percent fatal and the treatment was to make patients comfortable while they died. Thanks to research, Spencer has an 85% chance of surviving five years without relapse. Other blood cancer patients aren’t as lucky. My father had multiple myeloma and his treatment choices were palliative medication (make him comfortable) or intensive therapy that had a very small chance of extending his life and would result in hospitalization for much of his remaining life. Even patients with excellent prognosis have strong emotional and sometimes financial support needs. Thank you for considering Team in Training to help fight blood cancers.

Please visit the Team in Training for Central Texas site today and attend one of the information sessions.