Making Strides Towards The Cures
Two years ago I participated in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program, achieving a personal goal of running a marathon all the while raising money to help find a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. With the generous support and contributions from many of you, I was able to raise over $5000, well above my $1500 commitment.
While I continue to run regularly, I miss hiking through the mountains as I did while living in Northern California. With the Sierras being within a few hours’ drive from the San Francisco Bay Area, I absolutely fell in love with the beauty and grandeur of the area and frequented it often. Yosemite National Park, in particular, holds a special place in my heart. Not only have I done a bit of camping and rock climbing there, Jennifer and I were married there almost 7 years ago and it’s where I started my 230-mile hike along the John Muir Trail in 2005.
When I received the brochure for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Hike for Discovery program and saw the local chapter was organizing a trip to Yosemite, I knew it was time to start fund raising again. The hike I have chosen will be challenging, taking me from the floor of Yosemite Valley (~4000 ft) before dawn, up 4800 feet over the course of 9.2 miles to the top of Half Dome (~8800 ft) and back down again before dusk.
This year, in addition participating in memory of Dorothy Andrews, Jennifer’s grandmother who passed away in December of 2004 of a blood cancer, I will be hiking in the name of two others: in memory of Jennifer’s other grandmother Barbara Pugsley, who passed away of a blood cancer less than two months after I completed the marathon, and in honor of Anil Arora, a friend from college who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in February this year.
In exchange for the experience and training for the hike, I've committed to raising a minimum of $3700 for the organization, 75% of which will go directly toward finding a cure for these blood cancers (the remainder goes toward administrative costs, travel and accommodations). My efforts will help the Society cure leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. More than 712,000 Americans are battling these blood cancers. Your support of my participation in Hike For Discovery will help bring them hope and support.
Want to keep track of how my training is going? I've set up a blog at http://brahm2008hfd.blogspot.com/.
Want a unique idea for how much to donate? Here are some suggestions:
- $33: ~$2 for every mile of the hike
- $48: $0.01 for every foot of elevation change
- $75: $1 for every hour of group training hikes
- $88: ~$0.10 for each foot of elevation at Half Dome's top
- $95: $1 for every individual training day
- $111: $1 for every training day
- $480: $0.10 for every foot of elevation change
- lots more: the sky's the limit!
Thank you for your support. Hike On!
-brahm
Update: I've reached my minimum commitment goal thanks to your generous donations, but I still plan to raise as much as I can for this cause. I'm setting my new goal to $5200 to top what I raised during my Team In Training fund raising amount. If you haven't donated yet, I would appreciate your support!
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