Why I joined Team In Training

In May of 2003 I was in Carmel California celebrating my 5th wedding anniversary. I was also 5 months pregnant with my first little princess. We were having a wonderful time out whale watching and when we returned to the hotel we had several messages to contact family. I immediately returned the calls and was told the devastating news. My little sister, who was 16 at the time, was diagnosed with Leukemia and was going to begin chemotherapy the following day. My heart broke! At the time I was working in the medical field and knew how devasting such a diagnosis was. I cried and cried and was deteremined to get to Utah to see her immediately. That was the beginning of a long journey.

Melanie endured 5 rounds of chemotherapy. During this time she received 36 units of blood, 68 bags of platelets, and 5 units of plasma. She also had 5 surgeries, as well as numerous ultrasounds, MRI's, CT scans, echocardiograms and x-rays.

Here's Melanie before she was diagnosed with AML.

This is when Melanie was in the throes of chemotherapy. My heart breaks when I see this picture!

This is when Melanie was able to go home after one of her rounds of chemotherapy. She wasn't able to eat regular food because it had been so long since she had done so, so she was given TPN (food in a tube).

This is Melanie and our brother Scott at Primary Children's. I believe this was taken during one her last rounds of chemo.

After seeing these photos, I'm sure you understand why I run. It killed me watching my baby sister go through this. We were extremely fortunate that she has gone into remission and is doing so well. But I hate the thought of other children going through this, and so I run! I am determined to do my part to help find a cure for blood cancers!