CELESTE's Race for a Cause
In memory of Diane Gruenstein: Saving Lives One Mile At A Time!
Update 2/19/07: Race Day was everything I hoped for: it was fun, we made new friends, and I finished!
It was very brisk, around 40 degrees, but that motivated us to move faster. I finished the 13.1 mile gorgeous downtown Tampa waterfront course in 2 hours and 31 minutes, even with walking the first mile for a cautious warm up period. The 4am wake up call came a bit early, but the entire day was perfect. My mom and my husband were champs out on the course for my whole run -- they braved the cold by stamping their feet for 3 hours.
Most importantly, all my teammates who represented The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at the Gasparilla Distance Classic were able to honor blood cancer patients. Team In Training got us ready for this fun endurance event, and in turn we have now raised over $80,000 for The Society to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkins lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives.
My sister, Diane, lost her battle with leukemia in 1993, so I'm competing in this event in her memory. I looked up to her as my older sister, and also as an inspirational person. She had friends throughout the world, and gave tirelessly to help promote education and spiritual development.
Our team is inspired by the bravery of all patients who are currently fighting blood cancer. About 208,000 Americans have leukemia, and an estimated 35,000 new cases will be diagnosed this year. That's just leukemia cases, which only account for about 29% of all blood cancers. And every one of those patients deserve assistance in their battle and research into therapies.
We need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure! Thanks to those of you who have already contributed, we've now surpassed $2,200 raised. But we're still a long way from the the $3,000 goal. So, please make a generous tax-deductible donation today. We'll continue fund raising on this site until March 4th, and 75 cents of every dollar donated will go directly to research and patient assistance. Thanks for your support!
