Ain't No Blarney...Patty is Running a Marathon!

Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

That's right, the laziest person you know is training to participate in the Adidas Dublin (Ireland) Marathon on October 28th as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. Every five minutes, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with one of these diseases. And every nine minutes someone dies of a blood cancer. In October of last year, Deb Greer of Houston was diagnosed with Acute Lumphocytic Leukemia (ALL). Deb is 39 years old, a single mother of five-year-old Zoe, and the sister of Tom Greer, one of my colleagues in the Time Warner Cable Public Affairs Department. About 3,970 new cases of ALL are diagnosed each year in the United States. It results from an acquired-not inherited-genetic injury to the DNA of a single cell in the bone marrow. In most cases, the cause of ALL is not evident. Few factors have associated with an increased risk to developing the disease and, unfortunately, at the present time there is no known way to prevent the disease. Fortunately, Deb's brother Jim was a match to donate his bone marrow this past February. Today Deb is recovering, continuing treatment and cancer free! I'm completing this endurance event in honor of Deb and all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

My goal is to raise $5,800. Over 75% of your tax-deductible contribution is used for research, patient services and education. Please make as generous a donation as you can to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance the Society's mission.

If you prefer to mail a donation, please send checks (made out to LLS) to : Patty Gonzales 1500 Canterbury St. Austin, TX 78702 Thanks for your support! Patty