Debbie Hight's Team In Training Page
Racing to Save Lives
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Welcome to my Summer 2007 Team In Training home page.
Jeepers! Who ever thought that “Debbie Hight” , “athlete” and “endurance sport” would ever appear in the same sentence???
On Sunday, October 21, at 5:30 in the morning to be exact, I will begin walking the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco. That’s 26.2 miles, folks.
I’ve been training since May 26th to participate in an endurance event as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training (TNT). All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I'm completing this event in honor of 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!
Whatever possessed me to attempt the 2007 Nike Women’s Marathon??? At this time last year a family very dear to me was just beginning to face the challenge of their teenager being diagnosed with lymphoma. My connection with walking and cancer is simple. This mom and I are raising our children along side each other, we have always walked and talked and shared and cared and figured things out while we walked. Her child’s diagnosis hit me harder than I can put in words. There really wasn’t much I could do to help, and that was very, very hard because I love my friend and her family and because I’m a medical social worker by profession. But I could listen and care and I could walk with her. And that’s what I did. And that’s what I still do. She is one of my training partners.
Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance the Society's mission.
I hope you'll visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support! The deadline is fast approaching. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society wants us to have all donations in by October 5th. Yikes!!! Quick!! Hurry!!! Make your donation on-line today!!!
Excerpts from my Walking Journal/Family Updates/ Connecting to the Cause: Blood Cancers 101/ Some other stuff too
Practice Walk on the Marathon course
Recently my TNT Mentor Jen, her sister Julie and I (their mom was our support wagon) tackled part of the Nike course. Marathon Course Map The hills, to be exact. Yup, they’re a challenge – and it was raining too. We walked 12 miles that morning. We walked into Golden Gate Park and met up with dozens of San Francisco TNTers. But wait! There’s more! That afternoon my dear friend Willow walked the Lake Merced portion of the course (6 more miles) with me. I had the chance to experience the majesty of walking along the final portion of the Marathon, the Great Highway along the Pacific Ocean. This will be my greatest challenge on Race Day, the last 5 miles. I’m told that at that point it will be mostly a mental experience. Race mantra … I am strong… I am powerful… I will finish this race and together we will find a cure.
Hight Kramer Family News Flash!!!
By popular demand here’s an update on me (a healthy and fit – calves of steel! – 52), Sarah (almost 21) and Hannah (just turned 18). 2008 will mark my 10th year as a medical social worker at Sutter. Love my job – sadly, the hospital is closing, not sure when, next summer maybe. I don’t have a clear vision yet of what I’ll be doing next on the employment front. Am finishing up requirements/tests, etc for my clinical license (LCSW). Richard and I continue to happily keep company (thank you, Richard for helping me with this website), Sarah (UCSD junior) is studying in Nepal and happy as a clam – visit her fantastic blog. Sarah’s Nepal Blog There’s pictures too. Hannah is in for a great senior year of high school (Sonoma Academy). She is a Teaching Assistant in freshman Health & Wellness – she’s a natural – and she is spearheading fundraising for a public health nurse/Kenya AIDS project and exploring college options. We are totally jazzed about being in Toledo, Spain next summer for Willow and Juan’s wedding.
How is the money raised being spent?
Please know that the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society strives to keep its program costs at an absolute minimum. Approximately 75% of all funds are dedicated to research and patient assistance. Sonoma County has a very active and effective chapter. I have had the pleasure and honor of meeting a number of our team’s honorees, patients and families who benefit directly from TNT’s fundraising efforts.
Connecting to the Cause: Blood Cancers 101
THE LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY’S MISSION
TO FIND A CURE FOR LEUKEMIA, LYMPHOMA, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families.
WHAT ARE BLOOD CANCERS?
Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are cancers that originate in the bone marrow and lympathic tissues. Cancers have two features in common: cells that are abnormal because of altered DNA and cells that accumulate in excessive amounts.
Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are considered to be related cancers because they involve the uncontrolled growth of cells with related functions and origins. The diseases result from an acquired genetic injury to the DNA of a single cell, which becomes abnormal (malignant) and multiplies continuously. The accumulation of malignant cells interferes with the body’s production of healthy blood cells and makes the body unable to protect itself against infection.
STATISTICS
• Approximately every five minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer.
• An estimated 114,530 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma in 2007.
• New cases of leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma account for 8 percent of the 1,372,910 new cancer cases diagnosed in the United States this year.
• Every 10 minutes, another child or adult dies from blood cancer – an estimated 54,480 deaths in 2005.
• Leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma will kill an estimated 60,400 persons in the United States this year. These related cancers account for 11 percent of the deaths from cancer each year.
• An estimated 785,474 Americans are presently living with leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma – approximately 24,000 of these people live in Northern California.
SURVIVAL: RESEARCH AND TREATMENT EFFORTS ARE PAYING OFF!
• The five-year survival rate for leukemia has more than tripled in the past 40 years, from 14 percent in 1960 to over 44 percent today.
• The overall five-year survival rate for children under 5 years old with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) was 4 percent in 1960 – today it’s over 88 percent!
• Statistics have shown a modest improvement in the survival rates of patients with myeloma – up from 24.5 percent in 1976 to 32.4 percent today. The total survival rate for males, though, has been increasing.
• The five-year survival rate for a person diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease has doubled from 40 percent in 1960 to 86 percent today. In children, the survival rate for Hodgkin’s disease is currently 94 percent. Hodgkin’s disease is now considered to be one of the most curable forms of cancer.
------- Facts 2005-2006, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
