My Big News

Greetings, everyone!



First and always foremost, we begin with the inaugural members of the FRED'S TEAM HONOR ROLL:


HOWARD SHIAU
DENNIS CREAGHAN


bringing the total amount of money raised for the Aubrey Fund to


$250


A good start!


Might I add, that for the three years I have been raising money for Fred's Team, Howard has been the first person to donate? Howard, you rock! A special Fred's Team prize will be coming your way (as soon as I get back to NYC and get that prize!)


I know I said I couldn't talk about my very special news about this year's race in my previous post, but that's related to my Fred's Team webpage, the one I have with MSKCC. I can talk about it here, and here we go! Many of you who received my first e-mail blast or followed my blog last year have heard this, but it bears repeating.

About a month before last year’s marathon, I received this e-mail:


Hi Marci - I stumbled across your blog and wanted to reach out to you and thank
you. My sweet, 3-year old son, Liam, is currently undergoing treatment at MSKCC.
He was diagnosed in late February with neuroblastoma and through his treatment
has been nothing less than amazing. My son inspires me every day and I feel like
the luckiest mother in the world to have Liam as my son. The money that the
Aubrey Fund raises has a direct impact on children like my son, and for your
efforts we thank you. Keep up the good work and, again, thank
you.

Gretchen Holt Witt


Through Gretchen I learned that because the field of pediatric cancer treatment and research is a relatively new one (up until about 25 years ago, childhood cancers were treated with smaller doses of the same medicines used to treat adults) many treatment protocols are still considered experimental, as their track records are just now being established. This means that MSKCC cannot charge for these treatments, and that’s where a lot of the Aubrey Fund money goes. Thanks to treatment protocols developed at MSKCC using Aubrey Fund money, the survival rate for Liam’s cancer, neuroblastoma, has improved from less than 10 percent to greater than 55 percent.

This year I am running the race in honor of Liam Witt. As difficult as training has been over the years, it doesn’t even begin to compare to what Liam has faced, and continues to face, as he fights childhood cancer. Gretchen has been chronicling Liam’s journey at http://princeliamthebrave.blogspot.com/, and I encourage you to read it and get to know this remarkable little boy.

If you would like to honor Liam's fight by making a donation to my marathon effort, please click here or on the Fred's Team Home Page link on the right side of this page.

Tomorrow is a 10K at 7am, and I've got some interesting new gadgets to share with you, so I'll be updating you all soon.