The Ones Who are Gone

June 3 being the 11th anniversary of me starting chemo, I thought it was a perfect day to get out a campaign update.

Hello again. It's been about three weeks since I kicked off my campaign to raise money for the mission of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society while training for the Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon in Hampton this October. So, here I am with a campaign update, and today being the exact 11 year mark of me starting chemo for Hodgkin's lymphoma seems like the perfect day to get this out. Things are going well - I'm putting in about four to five miles at a time in training. I am still sticking to walking (although I did run two solid miles on an anti-gravity treadmill today as part of PT), but continue to try to improve my sore knee so that I can hopefully do some road running later this summer. And on the fundraising front, things are moving along thanks to people's generosity. I'd like to again thank the folks who have donated to LLS thus far through my efforts, including anonymous donors.

If you want to make a donation, get more information, or see my list of people I will be honoring during the race, the starting point is my Team in Training webpage. Come on, donate some clams and help me make Cancer the Crab scuttle away in fear!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/va/crwlncrb13/afritter

This is my sixth time doing Team in Training, but there is something quite different for me this time. For the very first time, my sister Ann is no longer here. For five TNT campaigns, Ann was among my biggest supporters. She always donated extremely generously, she enjoyed getting my campaign updates and gave me feedback on them, and seemed proud of what I was doing. Even after developing cancer herself in 2007, she continued to be a big supporter. She fought so hard for over four years, determined to find a way to keep living. And then, on Memorial Day 2011, she was gone. I think of her every day and miss her deeply, and know that I am far from alone in that.

The second anniversary of my sister's death a few days ago caused me to think back to her memorial service, and how difficult it was to know that she was gone, and that I would never see her again on this earth. But it also made me remember a rainbow that I saw over her beloved Tremper Mountain the day before the service. I will share the story of that rainbow here:

http://racn4acure.blogspot.com/2013/05/anns-rainbow.html

I think of all the people I knew who are now gone - very much too young and too soon - because of cancer, especially in the last two and a half years. And I am willing to bet that a large number of people getting this note have a hole in their lives that was once filled by loved ones who are gone now because of cancer. Nothing we can do will change that, but what we can do is to go forward and try to make a positive difference in the world, to work towards a cure so that all types of cancer become curable or at the least manageable.

In my case, I am using my legs and feet to propel myself 13.1 miles in October, and I am hoping that you will be inspired and motivated to use your fingers on your keyboard (or on a pen with your checkbook) to make a donation to the mission of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: to find cures for all blood cancers. So, let your fingers do the walking - I'll take care of the miles for you with my feet!

As always, to anyone making a donation, if it is in honor of someone dealing with any type of cancer, or in memory of someone who is now gone, just let me know, and I will write their name on the honoree page of my Racing for a Cure Blog, and on my Crawlin' Crab race shirt.

Thank you for reading my update and message, and thank you for the support.

Art

Ann’s Rainbow

My sister Ann passed away from metastasized breast cancer two years ago today - Memorial Day 2011. She is very much missed every day by lots of people. A year ago, I wrote “A New Star Shining Brightly” in her memory. This year, I’m going to talk about her rainbow.

Late in June, 2011, we went up to Mount Tremper, NY for Ann’s memorial service. Our friend Bill came along for support, but with the full house, he elected to stay in a small motel in nearby Phoenicia. In the late afternoon, I gave him a ride over to the motel so that he could check in. After he put his things away in his motel room, we headed the three miles back to Mount Tremper and to Ann’s beloved home.

As we drove along and got part way back, Tremper Mountain loomed over the road and the small town. This mountain was prominent from my sister’s front yard, rising high above Esopus Creek, which flowed 200 feet from her house. Earlier that year, Ann had expressed her wish to see the mountain “turn green” one last time to me. It was visible from the window in her bedroom, where she spent the last few months of her life. And once spring began, I noted that the green was starting, first with a blush at the base of the mountain, and then gradually spreading up the mountain a little more with each visit. By late May, my last time to see her and just a week before her death, Tremper Mountain was entirely green.

From the highway, I glanced up at the top of the mountain as Bill and I drove along.  I was thinking about Ann, and how I wished that she had survived. The weather was a little unsettled, and there were lots of clouds near the top of the mountain. Then suddenly, it happened – a rainbow appeared! It looked as if one end of the rainbow was touching the top of Tremper Mountain. I looked in amazement, pointing it out to Bill. Just as suddenly, the rainbow was gone. It has been visible for less than 30 seconds. If I had not been where I was at that instant in time, I would never have seen it.

Now, I know very well that there are good scientific explanations, using the laws of physics, for why rainbows occur. But I will always believe that, somehow, this was Ann’s rainbow, and that I was meant to be in exactly the spot to see it as it reached over and softly touched the top of her much-loved mountain.

My Honorees for the 2013 Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon

When I walk, or perhaps walk-run if my knee improves, the 2013 Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon on October 6, my race shirt will be covered with honoree names.  Some will be my honorees, and some will be those that people who donated ask me to remember.  If you want to donate in honor or memory of a loved one who has or had any type of cancer, here is the link to my TNT site.

Here is my list, to be updated as people make requests of me...

PRINCIPAL HONOREES for this special race are three friends who died from cancers in the last two and a half years:

Ed Stone - The race is on what would have been Ed's 44th birthday, and this is the main reason that I picked this race.  Ed was a great guy, and a 24 year cancer survivor.  He barely survived leukemia at age 19, and battled cancers three more times.  The final one was melanoma, believed to be caused by the full-body radiation he received as a 19 year old.  He never gave up until it was clear that his life was coming to an end, which it did this past January.  I will always remember Ed as a determined and inspirational young man.  His widow, Leslie, will be running the Crawlin' Crab with the team this fall.

Judy Zettel - Judy was a great friend to us.  When she gave us the shocking news of her multiple myeloma diagnosis in December 2010, we felt like she would find a way to survive for at least a few years and keep enjoying life as a wife, mom, grandma, and friend.  But exactly a month later, too ill to even begin treatment, she died from this awful illness, along with leukemia.  I'll never forget seeing her for the last time as she lay in the bed in a coma.  My last words to her, other than goodbye, were that we will have a cure some day.  Her last and 66th birthday was just a couple of weeks prior to her death in January 2011.

Faith Eury - What a wonderful young woman Faith was!  She found out in the winter of 2009 that she had stage 4 Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is the same cancer that I had and is fairly curable.  Faith pulled together a team, Faith's Hope, to walk in Light the Night that fall - even though she was still going through treatments.  Her team was one of the top fundraising teams in Virginia, and I was proud to be a part of it.  Faith went into remission for a while, but the Hodgkin's came back late in 2011 and she passed away in February, 2012 at age 43 (the same as Ed).  She was too ill to really begin treatment for the second bout with this disease.  She is missed by many, many people ...

and also by Henry, her beloved papillion.

I will wear a photo of Ed, Judy, and Faith on my Crawlin' Crab race shirt.

My other honorees:

IN MEMORY OF: Ann Ritter (my sister, died from metastisized breast cancer 5/30/2011); Magdalena Gentile; Brenda Blywiss, Elliot, Rita Conkle, Melanie Powers (passed away at age 43 after a very difficult seven month battle on May 22, 2013); Maurice "BJ" Beck (died in 2009 at age 16 from acute myelogenous leukemia), Helen Jones Stanphill, Gerry Adamson, Lynn Armuth, Miriam Fogel, Rizalino  Dilag Sr., Barbara Pereyra

IN HONOR OF: Cora Schenberg, Bill Zettel, Nicki Morgan, Kristi Garstang, Christine Grudinskas, Chris Ritter, Emma McFeeley, Emily Griffin, Paul Zamecnik, Nancy Deaver, Robin Yodor, Elayne Minich, Dayton Richmond, Nancy Brown, Linda Silver, Rena Roszell, "J" - you know who you are even though you asked me not to write your name on my shirt so I won't, Donna Hammond, Mindy Fast, Barbara Marx, Rob Larsen, Debbie Anderson, Laura Hall, Rhoda Ritter, Dave, Lila, Natalie

Great Training Weather!

Today's weather was about perfect for a walk or run.  Or a hike, for that matter.  One of the things that is tough about doing Team in Training is that it takes away time for things like hiking.  By the time I get home, get stretched out, and get a shower, it is past 11:00 and there is no time to head for the mountains.

But, I digress.  We had a small group turn out today but we were spirited.  Four miles was on my schedule but we ended up doing five because it was so nice and we were all feeling good.

I'll put a couple of photos out.  Our route went along Monument Avenue, and this is my favorite monument.  It is of Matthew Fontaine Maury, "The Pathfinder of the Seas."

I love the artwork at the top around the globe.  It is of shipwrecked people and animals, which Maury's navigational charts helped to reduce.  The sculptor caused quite a stir in the 1930's when it got out that he was soaking models to get a feel for how the human form looked under wet clothing.  You can see this in the depictions.

I felt good after walking five miles, and as I write this a couple of hours later, I am noticing less knee pain than before.  I still have it but I am making progress.  I wonder if I can start running in a month or so?

It always feels good to be alive, but on days like this - great weather, able to move for five miles with no real stress - I feel doubly grateful.

In Case You Are Thinking That Cancer is Cured....

There are over 12,000,000 cancer survivors in the United States.  I am one, and know a number of others personally.  I also know 11 people going through cancer right now, including two of my step sisters.  Some of them are doing quite well.  So it might be tempting to think, "Well, look at all those survivors.  We have cancer on the run.  It is effectively cured."

Well, in case you are tempted to think that way, I am going to tell you a little about Melanie, mostly in the words of her recently widowed husband.  Melanie was pretty young - maybe 40 something (I hate guessing people's ages).  She found out last fall that she had stomach cancer.  Since then, she and her husband have been living a hellish existance.  They have tried many things, traveled far, and spent a lot of money since then looking for a cure.  It became clear a month or so ago that Melanie was not going to survive this, and after months of horrific suffering, she passed away Wednesday.

I copied part of their entry from their Caring Bridge site, posted May 8.  She was getting hospice but still suffering a lot, and this is what her husband wrote:  "Mel continues to have vomiting "spells" or "fits" through the day and almost continually at night. I don't know what is so different about night time, but they really hit her hard through the night. The meds that may work for nausea have no power to stop the vomit reflex which is involuntary, immediate and with little warning. Almost like a sneeze: just about the time you are aware of it, it's out."

"No nausea occompanies the vomiting which is good in a way and things will calm down for an hour or two during the day and let her get some sleep. One thing that the vomiting does is make her throat feel parched so she has an insatiable desire for ice water. She can't keep it down and comes back up after a few minutes. The faster she drinks, the faster it comes back up. The more it comes up, the more thirsty she feels and the more water she drinks. She has had to learn how to discipline herself to eventually stop drinking water, utilize things to keep her mouth moist and hydrate through the IV. When she follows that recipie, the vomiting will slow down amply enough to sleep, etc. But sleep has been hard to come by lately. She continues to lose weight, though we did not weigh in this week. Unsure we need another bad number. I'm not sure what to expect next. It's a wait and see thing."

"We cuddled today which is unusual. Had almost an hour of calmness with rain tapping on the roof. She just pulled my arm over top of her and seemed comforted. A tearful moment for me that began sliding into sleep until the unconfortability of her bed forced us up. But somewhere in the silence, the stillness - and being a little fearful of the things I might witness in the last days, I thought it would be acceptable for her to slip into the next life right then, in my arms with no struggle or drama. I guess I hope it can be like that."

So, if you are tempted to think, "Yeah, we got cancer on the run," stop for a second and think of what this couple went through together - one of them in desperate sickness, the other suffering emotionally for doing all he could humanly do and knowing that he was effectively helpless to change the outcome.  Both of them have / had very strong religious beliefs and Bob in certain that Melanie is at peace and in paradise now.  But he is left behind on this earth, prematurely widowed, and exhausted from being the supportive one, and from watching his wife's horrific suffering.

So, no, cancer is not cured.  Individuals, very fortunate ones, may be, but not cancer on the whole.  We have made great strides, great progress, but there is still much to learn and do before we can proclaim victory.

First Training

Because I was in North Carolina last weekend, I missed our first team training get-together.  So yesterday was my first training with the new group.  I'll start out as a walker and see if I can run later, based on progress with my sore knee.  But I have to give it some thought, because if I do switch to "runwalker" mode, I'll be by myself, as everyone else there seems to either be a runner or a walker.

The team is smaller than I hoped for.  I thought with Ed Stone's passing, we would have a couple dozen out just to do the Crawlin' Crab in his memory.  But I think only 5-6 of us are signed up for that event.  The biggest group is for the Richmond Marathon / Half Marathon, which would have a lower fundraising minimum because it is a local event.  Fundraising has been really tough for people in the last few years.  First, there is the economy, and second, TNT as the pioneer of fundraising for endurance events is no longer alone by any means.  I think people get besieged with requests for donations and donations as a whole are down.

One of the people on my team is Nancy.  She did Team in Training three years ago, and I was her mentor.  She has CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) and was diagnosed 3.5 years ago.  Her counts are going up, and she has enlarged lymph nodes all over, but they are not treating her yet.  That will come in time, but treatments for CLL are not very good.  It is a very hard disease to cure.  That is one reason I keep doing this - so someday, people like this young woman can get a reliable and safe cure for cancers that are virtually incurable right now.  I admire her grit, to be out there training to walk a half marathon as someone who has cancer right now.

It rained pretty steadily for the first part of training, and I didn't bother with photos.  At the end, wearing only shorts and a tee for protection, I was soaked and chilled.  But we only walked 4 miles, since we are just starting out.  And at the end, even though cold, I stayed and did my stretching!  I was the last to leave by a long shot because of that.  And since I had not taken photos, I decided to take a photo of Christopher Columbus, who watches over the park where we start our training from.  Note the purple and green at the base of his statue.  You can see that Chris is a Team in Training fan, just as is God!

And Four to Go!

One, for the money;
Two, for the show;
Three to get ready;
And four to go!

So, last night, I kicked off my sixth Team in Training Cancer Kickin' Campaign.  Here was my first note and campaign kickoff.

Hello -

When I think of my five friends and family members who have died from cancer in the last two years, I feel blue. When I think of the 11 people that I know right now who are battling cancer as we speak - some with very uncertain outcomes - I feel really crabby. But when I think how every four minutes in just the United States alone, someone gets diagnosed with a blood cancer, I'm no longer just crabby - I'm steamed! After a three year break from Team in Training (TNT), the major fundraising arm of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, I'm coming out of my shell and racing for a cure once again. My race will be the Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon in Hampton, Virginia on October 6. At the least, I'll speed walk the race. If my chronically sore left knee feels good enough by then, I'll run some of it. Maybe at the end, I'll be crawling, maybe I will scuttle across the finish line. Maybe I will be cantankerous, maybe I will be grumpy. Maybe I will feel crustacean elation. But one way or another, I will finish the race in support of cancer patients everywhere.

Do you want to learn more and/or make a donation? Just go to my secure TNT web page:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/va/crwlncrb13/afritter

I've set my fundraising goal to $6,511:

6 for the number of TNT events I will have done after the Crawlin' Crab Half
5 for the number of family members and friends who have died from cancer since I did my last TNT event in 2010
11 for the number of years since I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in May 2002

Your donation to this great cause will make me as happy as a crab, er, clam!

Why the Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon? Well, I want to keep this note short, but I'm doing this particular race to honor the memory of an incrEDible guy, Ed Stone. If you are interested in more information about this, please go here:

http://racn4acure.blogspot.com/2013/05/why-i-picked-crawlin-crab-for-my-tnt.html

I bet almost everyone getting this email knows someone who has died from or battled cancer. If you don't, consider yourself fortunate, as I know far too many. I'll be honoring a lot of people with my race this fall - and especially three friends who have died in the last few years: Ed, Judy, and Faith. Got someone you want to honor? Make a donation, send me their name, and I will write it on my purple race shirt for October 6.

I'll be sending out updates every three weeks or so until the race. In the meantime, I thank you for your interest and for considering a donation to this cause. I'll be training real hard in very hot weather in the months to come, and trying to get that troublesome knee to heal. Then in October, I'll be joining a lot of Team in Training participants for the race as we move our crabcakes for 13.1 miles.

So come on, don't fiddle around! Join this cause with a donation towards LLS's mission of making all blood cancers curable! In the war against cancer, no one can afford to be a hermit! Join in, and let's pinch cancer the crab where it hurts!

Thank you,
Art

PS: Want to donate but don't wish to do so on-line? Just email me, and I'll give you instructions to pay by check (payable to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society).

Why I Picked the Crawlin' Crab for my TNT Event

If you know me, you know I tend to have adventures when I do Team in Training events - Alaska and Seattle among others.  In my five events to date, four of them have been in places where I have never been before.  So, why pick what is essentially a local event - an 85 mile drive - for my sixth event?

There were a few factors.  For one, it would be nice to do an event with less travel expense, and not needing to take time off.  But even so, I was considering doing the Nike in San Francisco, where I have family.  And I was considering a century bike ride or even a triathlon, to break out of my mold a bit.  But I was thinking about cycling a long distance, and am not thrilled with the idea.  It just wasn't clicking with me.

I knew the "Fall Team" would be doing the Crawlin' Crab, and it sounded like a fun race.  A half marathon and not the full 26.2 miles is very attractive with my sore knee. Minimal travel expenses and vacation time usage.  Quick and easy to get to.  Scenic race course along the Hampton waterfront.  Plus at the end, they have beer!  As I learned after running the Shamrock Half Marathon in 2012, having a beer after a long race is pretty darned nice!  But I was still wavering this past February.  Nike?  Triathlon?  Century? Crawlin' Crab Half?  I knew I wanted to do Team in Training this year, after taking the last two years off from it.  But which event?

The deciding factor turned out to be very easy.  In February, I was at the LLS Light the Night Awards Ceremony and chatting with my friend Susan before the ceremony.  She was trying to talk me into the Tour de Chocolate Century Ride.  Then she said, "Do you realize that the Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon is on Ed Stone's birthday?  LLS plans on having some special things for the race in memory of Ed."

That was the clincher!  Our friend and teammate, Ed Stone, had died in January at 43 after a 24 year battle with different cancers.  I still see him as a determined and strong young man, riding his bike, when I think of him.  If LLS is dedicating this race to Ed, on his birthday, sign me up!  So that - the Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon on October 6 in Hampton, Virginia - is the race I am doing, and that is why I am doing this particular race!

My Web Page and Art Work

My web page for my 2013 Team in Training Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon is all set up and ready to go.  It can be viewed here.

Every now and then, I get an idea for art work that I think would  be really cool on my fundraising webpage.  You will see such an example on my TNT web page this year.  With participating in the Crawlin' Crab event, and coming up with my slogan: "I'm Feeling Crabby About Cancer," I got an idea that I thought would be great.  But despite my name, and despite having hundreds of museums around the world named after me, I have very little artistic talent.  So while I could have produced the picture I wanted, it would have looked crappy and like it was done by a drunken amateur.  While sleep walking.  With a bag over his head.  Therefore, I needed professional help.  No, not that kind of professional help!  Professional artistic help!

So I turned to someone who has more artistic talent in her little finger than I have in my entire body - my friend Lissa from my 2006 San Diego Marathon Team.  Wow - has it really been seven years, Lissa, since we ran a race together (if Lissa finishing about 3 days ahead of me constitutes being in a race together)?

I explained to Lissa what my idea was, and sent her some baseline photos.  And she came back with a great image, so hilarious I think, that now graces my web page.  Lissa has helped me in the past with two of my campaigns.  She drew the glasses on "Mini Art" that I overlaid on an image of the city of Seattle as part of my 2010 "Survivor in Seattle" campaign:

The image above became the basis for my "Purpleometer," in which I colored my hair purple in the picture as I approached my fundraising goal.

And she did my great campaign buttons for my 2008 - 2009 Country Music Campaign.  The election was going along hot and heavy when I started fundraising and so I thought that I would use an election theme myself.  And I needed campaign buttons!  What kind of campaign doesn't have campaign buttons?  Mine were better than Obama's or McCain's, that's for sure.  They were both crying when they saw how good theirs could have been if they had used Lissa!

So here is a big shout out to Lissa (who is about to become a mom) for her great help in putting my web page over the top!  Thanks, Lissa!

Three, To Get Ready ....

One, for the money;
Two, for the show;
Three, to get ready ...

It's a lot of work for me to get ready for Team in Training fundraising, and I spent part of this weekend getting this process started.  I woke up Friday morning with a cold that has gotten worse and worse, and really don't feel like doing anything, but I did get some things done.  For example:

• I went through my contacts that do Team in Training, and sent them a note asking if they want to get my updates or not.  This actually took several hours, believe it or not.  I probably had to locate and save email addresses for about 40 - 50 TNTers and get them from my old computer to the newer one.
• I started the process of going through my email addresses and correcting those that were out of date and deleting a few contacts.  I still have much to do in this area, and given a really busy week at work and personally ahead, I doubt I will finish in the next few days.  Different people fundraise in different ways, and for me, it is 90% done by email and my web page.  The last thing I have to do is go through emails from work and see what new addresses I can add to my database.
• I got my TNT fundraising page built - well, almost all of it.  I still need to put a photo out there that an artistic friend is doing for me that should be kind of cool.  Once she finishes that, I'll complete my page and publish the link here.
• I began thinking if my fundraising campaign has a natural theme, and it really does not.  The one time I used that kind of approach, it was late in 2008 and the election was going on, so I ran things as if I were running for office.  I had an initial announcement, press conference transcripts, an attack ad, and so forth.  This time around, other than picking a slogan - Feeling Crabby About Cancer - I will just plan updates that seem to make sense at the time.
• I scoped out ideas for my first email.  Given that I like to send them Monday nights, and as I will not be ready by tomorrow, it will probably be another week before I "pull the trigger" and start fundraising.

So, a lot done, and a lot left to do.  But I feel as if I made a good start this weekend, cold and all.  Lord knows I didn't really feel up to doing much of anything.  I didn't even take a walk, and I skipped stretching (so far).

Three, to get ready? I am not quite ready but will be soon - then, it will be "and four to go!" and my fundraising will start.  I am eager to see how that goes.