Living With CML: it's time.....

Bye Bye RoadrunnersUSA.com

Today was sort of sad in a way, but also the right thing and the right timing. Today I decided to let go the website I put together right after Steven was diagnosed. We did this fundraiser - somewhere around 11 000 miles from Tennessee to Alaska and back, to try to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We had an incredible time, the people we met are still embedded deeply in my heart and its a trip I will never forget for so many reasons.

But, it's time to let the site go. Those very intense, terrifying days have passed and now my days are more like those beautiful colored pieces of glass one finds on the beach sometimes, with rounded edges and the sun making them glint. I am ok in letting this go now, but am putting it on this blog so that I have a record of what it looked like.

In no way was it a professional website but it was my first. And I guess the first of anything always holds a special place in one's heart - this one especially so.

Those were incredible days - terrifying, alive and so amazingly full of love, so intense, so aware and deep.. I wonder if there is a way to be so alive without some horrible diagnosis getting there first?

And once more, Thank You to everyone that was there for us in those days as well as these. Penny was such a part of that journey - I miss her. I have so many wonderful memories from that time... and a deep and wonderful gratitude.

Love and Light

Annie

oh well - only half of it will fit into the blog - but thats ok....it's enough to remind me :)

This journey is in honor of my son, Steven.

We are so tremendously proud of you.

Love - Mom and Frank

On the Road to Cure Leukemia

15000 miles. Two months on the road.

Ride the Road with us!

Our aim on this fundraising journey is to raise as much money for the research and development of new treatments for leukemia and other blood cancers, as well as to improve the quality of life for cancer patients and their families.

All proceeds go toward patient services, blood cancer research and the ever-ongoing search for cures and better treatments for all blood cancers, including leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's and multiple myeloma. The research dollars poured into these diseases also benefits other cancers, such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, GIST and others.

Together we CAN make a difference

Together we WILL make a difference.

You can donate at any time during the year, not just during this journey.

Make checks payable to: Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Send donations to: RoadRunnersUSA - 8794 Dayton Pike - Soddy Daisy - TN - 37379

You can donate online through one of the links on this site;

You can pledge per mile traveled – our aim is 15 000 miles email me

If you see us along the road, hand us your donations -we will forward it to

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in honor of all those

battling with blood disease.

ALL monies collected goes to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Soc.

You can email us at Livingwithcml@yahoo.com

Please understand that we won't always have a connection, but I will answer you as soon as I can.

(please: no forwards, pictures attachments or junk mail)

Thank You!

Approximate route we will be traveling

August and September 2006

We will leave from Chattanooga, Tennessee, at the end of July 2006, head up to Glacier Park, over into Canada and cross the Icefield Parkway. Then we head almost directly east into Edmonton Alberta, to meet Penny! She is a very special lady who is battling with lung cancer and who has had such an incredibly positive influence in my life. Together we have created www.penniesforcancer.com where artists from around the world have donated their artwork for you to download in exchange for a donation to the Leukemia Society or the Alberta Cancer Foundation. Please visit the above sites and read more about our stories and determination to help fight cancer.

After meeting Penny, we will head up to the Alcan Highway and into Fairbanks, Alaska. We want to travel down to Anchorage, Seward and Juneau before heading into Seattle, Washington. Hopefully along the way we will be privileged to see the Northen Lights - a long time dream for us both. In Seattle we will meet Debbie, a friend and a tremendous support to me, who's 19 year old daughter also has CML.This friendship is yet another example of something wonderful being born from something as scary as cancer.

Steven has an appointment with Dr Druker in Portland, Oregon in the first week of September. Gleevec was developed by Novartis in collaboration with Brian Druker, M.D., director of the OHSU Cancer Institute Leukemia Center. Gleevec is the drug that is literally saving my son's life. Both Steven and Laura will fly out for the appointment. We will meet up with them in Oregon in the motorhome and hopefully have at least a few days on the beach with them both before they head back home to college and work.

After that we will head south along the coast for a way, then inland and begin the journey home again. Slowly meandering all along the south western states still putting the important "Pay Forward" message out as much as possible along the way. We will be walking in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light the Night walk somewhere in the country. Where we walk will depend on where we are at that stage of the journey and the dates of the walk in that area.

This adventure is for all those with CML, their families and the people that care so much for them. You have laid the groundwork for the incredible progress in dealing with leukemia. You have all taught me so much, given me so much hope and helped keep me sane.

To the doctors that are working so hard on better treatment and the ultimate cure: Thank you - thank you SO much!

This ride is for you all, with tremendous thanks!

This is my son, Steven and Laura.

(click here to be taken to his blogsite)

He is the main reason we are so motivated to make this project a roaring success. These two young people are of the many children and young adults that should be dealing with life - not life and cancer. It is in the hope of a cure for him and many others out there that we want to carry the "Pay Forward" idea across country.

A wonderful lady who ran in the Alaska half Marathon in 2005, told me an incredibly real part of her story. She has CML and was running as part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training raising money for the fight against this disease. Coming up to the half way mark, she looked up and saw a large group of people in purple, the Team in Training colors, running towards her. Her eyes teared up as she realised that it was these people that helped her to have a life, helped the progress towards today and tomorrow's treatments of leukemia.

These are just some of the people who have a direct hand in Steven's life now.

How do we thank and honor them? Do what they did! Pay Forward....

Please have a direct hand in someone's ability to live.

Pay Forward by

visiting one of the links on this page and donating in honor of all those who have fought and who are fighting this disease - in honor of those who are laying the foundation for the future survival of loved ones and for the cure of blood diseases.

All donations, whether through this website, checks or cash handed to us will go directly to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This is the only way I know how to help my son now - by raising money to further research for a cure.

Thank you!