$ 4,551

101%

$ 4,500

Lori's Team In Training Page

Racing to Save Lives

As many of you may know, I have been settled into my new job and life in Maryland for a little over a year now.  I completed my M.S. in Zoology at NC State University last year, and now I want use my time to give back. I am training to participate in the Walt Disney World Half Marathon as a member of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training. 

Why am I doing this?  Simply:

1) My life is wonderful, I am healthy, and I am capable of doing something more;

2) As a marine biologist, environmental causes typically get my attention, but I'd like to do something that will directly benefit people's lives, too;

3) I want to help fund research that may one day find a cure for leukemia. 

After being a competitive athlete in college, I have missed having a team to motivate me.  What better motivation than to help give others the possibility of becoming healthy enough to be active again too?   The Annapolis area Team in Training group, like many chapters nationwide, provides like-minded, enthusiastic individuals (many who have never been runners!) with a coach, a mentor, training tools, and everything to get to a race and across the finish line.  Runners, in turn, raise money for blood cancer research.

As you may or may not know, leukemia is the #1 disease killer of children and the leading fatal malignant disease of men and women under the age of 35. Although the cause of leukemia remains unknown, recently developed treatments and steady advances in research bring us closer to a cure every day.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is an excellent charity, and you can be sure that your money will be spent wisely. At least 75% of your donation is going patient services and research. One of the goals of the Team in Training program is to keep overhead as low as possible and make sure that most of the money goes to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and not to running their fund-raising program.  In the nearly 20 years Team in Training has been around, it has raised over $695 million dollars for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! 

You should also know that leukemia and lymphoma research has benefited those with other forms of cancer. For example, bone marrow transplants developed to treat leukemia are now a treatment for breast cancer.

I would be very grateful if you chose to help me in my efforts and journey.  I have committed to raising $3,800.  YES, this is a lot of money!  However, if everyone who visits this page gives even $5 or $10, I will be much closer to reaching my goal.  And while I am lucky to have a wonderful network of friends and family, I do not expect all of my contributions to be from you; I will participate in other creative forms of fund raising, as well as contribute a minimum of $400 of my own money.

I am running in honor of Kamryn Lambert, an 8 year-old who recently lost her battle with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. I am also running for Connie Schie, who has small-cell lymphoma. Connie is the mother of Cindy Rice, the wife of my Master's advisor Jim.

Please let me know if any of your friends or family are battling cancer or have lost their struggle with cancer and I will carry their name as I complete the Disney Half Marathon .

Please consider making a donation to support my participation in Team In Training.

There are two ways to donate:

1) Through this secure website that you are visiting.

http://www.active.com/donate/tntmd/lorianna

2) You may choose to send a check.

Please make it out to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and return it to the address below so that it will be placed towards my goal. I will be more than happy to send a self addressed stamped envelope if you'd rather! Simply email your address to

ladavias (at ) gmail.com

and I will send it out immediately.

If you choose to support this effort, you will be supporting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's vital mission, which is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

Don't forget that all of your donations are 100% tax deductible!!  Oh! and also don't forget to ask your employer if they have a matching gifts program.  Also, TNT has a great program for accepting corporate donations, so please ask me if you think you may be able to help (and get your company's logo on our shirts!).  

I hope you'll visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress, and please also check out my BLOG, where I keep track of my training and news. I began training on August 20, 2007. Thanks for your support!

Lori Davias

235 Maryland Avenue

Edgewater, MD 21037

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More about the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society:

Where Does Your Donation Go?

$25 could pay for the cost of a patient’s chemotherapy drug prescription co-payment.

$50 could register one person to be a bone marrow donor.

$75 could provide HLA (bone marrow) typing for a family member of a patient with leukemia.

$150 provides 10 patients access to a web-conference to learn about their specific blood cancer.

$300 will train 25 peer volunteers who can provide emotional support to newly diagnosed patients.

$500 allows the Patient Financial Aid program to reimburse up to $500 per year to help cover the costs of transportation, drugs and various treatments not covered by insurance.

$1000 allows patients to meet with health care specialists to design and discuss their disease, treatment plan and prepare them with the information they will need during the treatment process.

$2000 provides patients with a one month supply of Gleevac.

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Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Goals The aim of treatment is to bring about a complete remission by finding new therapies and cures. Complete remission means that there is no evidence of the disease and the patient returns to good health with normal blood and marrow cells.

The Good News!

The relative five-year survival rate has more than tripled in the past 46 years for patients with leukemia. Treatment centers report increasing numbers of patients with leukemia who are in complete remission at least five years after diagnosis of their disease.

Let's continue this positive trend by supporting The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Race for a Cure!

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