I'm mailing my letters today. Well, since it's Memorial Day, I am actually mailing them tomorrow. To be technical I am copying, stuffing and sealing them today. And wondering why I didn't buy self sealing envelopes. Is there anything that tastes worse than envelope glue? Okay. I can think of a few things, but still it's gross.
I am posting my letter below in case you happened upon this blog w/o recieving one in the mail or you somehow lost it yourself at home.
After the letter business is done, I was hoping for a bike ride. Looks like rain (again) so well see...
May 28, 2007
Dear Family, Friends and Colleagues
Here’s what happened: Twelve months ago, I bought a road bike. For the most part I had considered it a good cross-training opportunity for my more serious hobby of (slow) distance running. When I don’t run, I ride. And I love it.
Five months ago I moved to Wichita. The reason was the job—a new church—a new challenge. That in itself has been wonderful. But it also meant that when I got the flyer advertising “Team in Training” from the Wichita branch of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society it didn’t automatically go into the trash.
One month ago my mother reminded me that this year (May 5th, actually) marked the twenty fifth anniversary of the death of my aunt, Patricia Jane Lippoldt. She was 37 and lived only eight months after being diagnosed with Leukemia. When she died, I was five. I remember very little about her or her illness. But I know it was terribly painful and traumatic and her death, even 25 years later, plays an important role in the life of my family. It changes you, to lose a family member to cancer. Many of you know that first hand.
Bike plus Team plus Anniversary equals new project. Those three things are what I needed to decide that this was the year for me to sign on with Team in Training (TNT). My challenge? To ride 109 miles on my bicycle during El Tour de Tucson, November 17th. That’ll be fun. I think.
Yes it will! TNT will provide great coaching, group training rides, a nifty jersey and everything else a girl could want en route to such a goal. In return for all their help, I have agreed to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). Really, I have agreed to raise money because I believe in their work. I believe in the way LLS cares for families when they must face the terror of blood cancers. I believe in the research LLS sponsors, research that is improving treatment, prolonging life and moving medical science toward a cure.
They really are making a difference. In 1960 only 4% of children diagnosed with leukemia survived. Today 85% of those diagnosed under age 15 will live. Even with these advances, over 54,000 Americans will die this year of Leukemia and its related cancers. Moreover, families in the hundreds of thousands will struggle to live with a sick family member.
Those are big numbers. Yet I know LLS has a direct effect on patient’s lives because I met my team’s “honored patient,” 4 year old Shayla Gould. Shayla was still in diapers when she was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2004. She lives in Oxford, Kansas and for three years has traveled to Wichita to endure endless doctor’s visits, hospitalizations, and chemotherapy treatments. Instead of the boundless energy of a toddler, Shayla has lived with the exhaustion of illness. Yet hers is a happy story. Thanks to aggressive treatment, Shayla’s Leukemia is now in remission. Throughout her illness Shayla’s family was directly supported by LLS. They helped with family education, provided a support group and even bought tanks of gas so Shayla could get to her treatments.
I would like to see a cure for Leukemia. Until that happens I want to make sure that families stricken by blood cancers do not face their trials alone. That’s why I have chosen to support LLS. That’s why I have chosen to ride my bicycle 109 miles on November 17th. That’s why I have decided to ask you to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
I hope you will give generously to the work of LLS. You can fill out the enclosed donation form and send it back to me with check or credit card information enclosed. Or you can donate on-line www.active.com/donate/tntks/Lippoldt
Though the ride is six months away (that’s lots of time to condition my bike “seat”) I would appreciate hearing from you soon. Please fill out the donor card or contribute on-line by July 31, 2007. If that is not possible, we will gladly take contributions beyond that date. But the sooner I reach my fundraising goal of $3950, the sooner I can focus in on riding my bike.
I plan for this whole process to be an adventure. And I want to share it with you by way of my blog. Well, almost all of it. I’ll omit the grossest details, I promise. Even if you can’t contribute financially I’ll appreciate your support and comments at “the big ride” http://www.lippoldt109.blogspot.com/
It’s been 25 years now since we lost my Aunt Pat. That’s my motivation. I can only pray that you too will feel connection to this cause and chose to contribute. Thanks. Really, from that deepest little part of my heart. Thanks.
All my love,
Dear Family, Friends and Colleagues
Here’s what happened: Twelve months ago, I bought a road bike. For the most part I had considered it a good cross-training opportunity for my more serious hobby of (slow) distance running. When I don’t run, I ride. And I love it.
Five months ago I moved to Wichita. The reason was the job—a new church—a new challenge. That in itself has been wonderful. But it also meant that when I got the flyer advertising “Team in Training” from the Wichita branch of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society it didn’t automatically go into the trash.
One month ago my mother reminded me that this year (May 5th, actually) marked the twenty fifth anniversary of the death of my aunt, Patricia Jane Lippoldt. She was 37 and lived only eight months after being diagnosed with Leukemia. When she died, I was five. I remember very little about her or her illness. But I know it was terribly painful and traumatic and her death, even 25 years later, plays an important role in the life of my family. It changes you, to lose a family member to cancer. Many of you know that first hand.
Bike plus Team plus Anniversary equals new project. Those three things are what I needed to decide that this was the year for me to sign on with Team in Training (TNT). My challenge? To ride 109 miles on my bicycle during El Tour de Tucson, November 17th. That’ll be fun. I think.
Yes it will! TNT will provide great coaching, group training rides, a nifty jersey and everything else a girl could want en route to such a goal. In return for all their help, I have agreed to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). Really, I have agreed to raise money because I believe in their work. I believe in the way LLS cares for families when they must face the terror of blood cancers. I believe in the research LLS sponsors, research that is improving treatment, prolonging life and moving medical science toward a cure.
They really are making a difference. In 1960 only 4% of children diagnosed with leukemia survived. Today 85% of those diagnosed under age 15 will live. Even with these advances, over 54,000 Americans will die this year of Leukemia and its related cancers. Moreover, families in the hundreds of thousands will struggle to live with a sick family member.
Those are big numbers. Yet I know LLS has a direct effect on patient’s lives because I met my team’s “honored patient,” 4 year old Shayla Gould. Shayla was still in diapers when she was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2004. She lives in Oxford, Kansas and for three years has traveled to Wichita to endure endless doctor’s visits, hospitalizations, and chemotherapy treatments. Instead of the boundless energy of a toddler, Shayla has lived with the exhaustion of illness. Yet hers is a happy story. Thanks to aggressive treatment, Shayla’s Leukemia is now in remission. Throughout her illness Shayla’s family was directly supported by LLS. They helped with family education, provided a support group and even bought tanks of gas so Shayla could get to her treatments.
I would like to see a cure for Leukemia. Until that happens I want to make sure that families stricken by blood cancers do not face their trials alone. That’s why I have chosen to support LLS. That’s why I have chosen to ride my bicycle 109 miles on November 17th. That’s why I have decided to ask you to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
I hope you will give generously to the work of LLS. You can fill out the enclosed donation form and send it back to me with check or credit card information enclosed. Or you can donate on-line www.active.com/donate/tntks/Lippoldt
Though the ride is six months away (that’s lots of time to condition my bike “seat”) I would appreciate hearing from you soon. Please fill out the donor card or contribute on-line by July 31, 2007. If that is not possible, we will gladly take contributions beyond that date. But the sooner I reach my fundraising goal of $3950, the sooner I can focus in on riding my bike.
I plan for this whole process to be an adventure. And I want to share it with you by way of my blog. Well, almost all of it. I’ll omit the grossest details, I promise. Even if you can’t contribute financially I’ll appreciate your support and comments at “the big ride” http://www.lippoldt109.blogspot.com/
It’s been 25 years now since we lost my Aunt Pat. That’s my motivation. I can only pray that you too will feel connection to this cause and chose to contribute. Thanks. Really, from that deepest little part of my heart. Thanks.
All my love,
Amy
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