Jennifer Brenner's Team In Training Page
Racing to Save Lives
Donations to date: $1,497 online, pending $588 in checks and $1,400 in corporate matching...and the grand total should be $3,485!!
Welcome to my Team In Training home page.
I am training to participate in Wildflower Triathlon as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds for finding a cure for blood diseases.
I'm dedicating my efforts to my mom who died of chronic myelogenous leukemia at the age of 32 and for Trevor Kott who died from congenital acute myeloid leukemia (AML) at the age of 6 months.
My mom had courageously searched for a donor and pleaded with the public to help her raise funds, at the same time she was doing great work for the Leukemia Society by raising awareness. She also maintained a normal home environment despite how terrible she felt. If that meant singing and dancing in the living room in our bath robes on a Saturday morning, that is what she did.
After a 3 year fight, my mom received a bone marrow transplant from an anonymous donor at Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. In the months before her transplant, she took in as much of Seattle as she could. Including visiting a punk rock hair salon to get her hair dyed hot pink, knowing she was going to lose it anyway.
Once her body began the marrow rejection process she went into a coma. I asked to be alone with her. I was crying so hard I could barely speak, I held her hand and rubbed it on my face. I told her she was going to die. She had been non-responsive for over 24 hours now, but in that moment she squeezed my hand. As I felt her grip slowly let go, I felt her let go all together.
Her friends once wrote about her “The only hope left for Teresa is that of society. Society can help give hope and life to Teresa, but will it? You can help, but will you?” Please help me meet my fund raising goal in her honor, let’s work together and finally find a cure!
I hope you'll visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!
