Your support will make a difference to the thousands of people who are diagnosed with blood cancers every year.

What a painful education – I’ve since learned that someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer every five minutes, and every ten minutes, someone dies of a blood cancer.

Jared’s leukemia returned multiple times, despite frequent chemo treatments. He had a bone marrow transplant in October 2007, weeks after his second child was born, and a stem cell transplant in January 2008. Both transplants were from the same anonymous donor who was the best possible match for him, medically.

He processed his struggle with cancer - and with dying - on a CaringBridge blog. When he was too weak to post, his wife Anne posted. His honesty about his faith journey and the process of dying struck a chord with many, and comments to Jared on his blog reflected that. After Jared posted his final message about how he was preparing to die - and that he was at peace with dying - hundreds of comments poured in from friends, former classmates, and people who had never met him. Many shared a favorite memory of him. My parents, sister-in-law, and I took turns reading these comments to him, which he enjoyed.

Watching the leukemia transform Jared’s body in such short order – and so quickly rewrite his life plans – was truly devastating. Watching him come to terms with it was truly remarkable.

I’ve been amazed by and grateful for the community that emerged from witnessing his struggle. One of my reasons for participating in this walk is to preserve that community and hopefully share that closeness with Jared’s sons, too young to ever know or remember their dad for the wonderful person he was.

Please make a donation to support my participation in the Light The Night Walk. Thanks for your support!