TNT Auction

Just a few days left on our Team in Training auction...  If you haven't checked out the great stuff for sale yet, you can visit https://www.facebook.com/events/280572435294096/ to bid on bottles of wine, personal trainers, stamp sets, video games, gift cards, an iPod, a T-mobile cell phone, and MORE!

Whatever you bid will be a donation to the Team in Training participant that posted the item you bid on, so you get great stuff at a great price and you help us fight cancer at the same time!

Thanks so much to the supporters who have already gone out to bid -- we appreciate all of your help!

I was listening to a webinar on fundraising and the speaker was asked how much he had raised for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Hearing the question, I started to wonder how much we have raised. When I did the math, I realized that with your help, Team Firefly as a group has raised $51,960 since we founded the team in 2007! That money has been used to provide financial support to blood cancer patients, as well as funding promising research into cures. If you want to know more about how LLS uses the money we have donated, you can find out more at http://www.lls.org/#/aboutlls/financialinformation/

WOW! Thank you all so much for your help in raising funds to fight against the disease that stole Tyler from us. I could never have made this kind of impact without your help.

How to Help without Giving Money

I have been blessed by very generous people, who continue to help me in my efforts to fight cancer.  But what if money is tight right now...  What can you do to help?  I thought the video in the link below gave a great idea of something we could do to help without costing a lot of money.  The girl in the video (a local Seattle girl) was saved by having a second transplant from an unrelated donor.  I can't help but think of what might have happened if Tyler had been able to find a match in the Bone Marrow registry.  Would he still be here?  Only 3 out of 10 patients currently find a match in the registry.  The best way to improve those odds is to get everyone we know to sign up and be willing to save somebody's life!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34107503/ns/today-today_health/t/woman-meets-stranger-who-saved-her-life/#.TytUN8gzCSo

My Longest Run

I am continuing my training and am amazed by the fact that I still go out and run each week.  I don't really like running (and still haven't hit that fabled "runner's high") but I went out again for a long run today and covered 8.3 miles.  I think this might have been my longest run ever.  As a high schooler, I ran a 12K and decided that the experience was far too painful to repeat!

But, as I have discovered over the last few months, everything becomes easier when you have a powerful cause and friends to help you along the way.  Most weeks, I join other Team in Training participants that are training for either the Madrid marathon on April 22nd or the Vancouver marathon on May 6th for our long run.  About 25-30 of us meet at 8am every Saturday morning at locations all around the city and go on increasingly longer runs.  I think that is my favorite part of participating in the Team in Training program.  Every Saturday morning, I have coaches and mentors to help me get better at running and stay inspired.

I truly appreciate all of the support that I have received so far -- both personal and financial support!  With a generous donation this weekend, I just hit the 50% mark in my fundraising.  Together we are funding the kinds of research that will help eradicate cancer deaths.  In fact, I was moved by a statement made by a relative who was offering a donation to my run.  She said that one of the reasons that she was contributing was because cancer and deaths from cancer seems like something we should be able to prevent.  I completely agreed with her!  Thanks for helping me support that dream.

Putting one foot in front of the other...

Mandy
To Make a Donation:  http://bledsoebattle.com

Why I Run

When people ask why I am running away to Madrid, I have to share my story about the Bledsoe Battle and the amazing man that I shared the battle with. While I couldn't fight the cancer myself, I can certainly do something to make a difference.

--> I'm running 26.2 miles to honor my husband and the courageous battle he fought against leukemia. When it gets hard and my body hurts, I will remember watching Tyler decide to fight each and every day.

--> I'm training up to 5 days a week to inspire others to help fight cancer with me. The dollars we raise for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society are used to aid patients in their battle and to fund promising new research for blood cancers. I pray that each new discovery helps keep another patient from suffering and helps somebody reach remission.

--> I'm punishing my body with 5-6 hours of running in April in hopes that new research helps some other wife to keep her husband for a long and happy life. No one should lose a loved one to cancer and a happy marriage should get to last longer than 4 years.

--> I'm pushing myself further than I ever thought I could run because I have discovered that each of us has a wellspring of strength inside us. If my strength can be a weapon to help protect my loved ones, both those lost and those that are currently fighting, I will use it in any way I can.

--> I will ask each and every person I know if they will help me in this battle. I can do the run, but I need your help to raise the money to fight against blood cancers. Will you donate? Will you share this message with everyone you know to help me remember Tyler in the best way I can?

To donate, please visit http://bledsoebattle.com
To read the story of our battle, please visit http://bledsoebattle.blogspot.com

Thank you for joining me in this battle!

In loving memory of Tyler Bledsoe...

Look who is famous now...

I accidentally tripped across this video after watching a video about caregiving. My friend Hans is the star, talking about the point when he and Cynthia really felt in control of his CML and decided they were ready to move on with life again.

http://www.patientpower.info/video/a-clinical-trial-and-a-growing-family 

A second video was just posted and shared on Facebook about Hans.  Check out the revised version if you only have time for one:

http://www.patientpower.info/player/national-cml-society/#

Hans is such an inspiration and does lots of work on behalf of e CML Society, but I don't know how much of it he shares with others. I consider myself lucky to count him among my friends.

It's good to see that all of this research into CML drugs IS making a difference!  The drug that Hans is on is the Ariad drug that Tyler took last fall.  While it didn't make the right connections for Tyler, we were both so thankful that it did get Hans on the right path.

Running for Tyler - Saturday, January 7th

I just wanted to post an open invitation to attend my next marathon practice.  The January 7th run will be dedicated to Tyler's memory, so I wanted to invite anyone in the area to come out and join me at marathon practice that day.  We will be heading out for 50 minutes that day (at 8am in the Genesee area) and you are welcome to run or walk or any combination of the two.

If anyone wants to join me that day, just let me know in advance so that I can have my mentor bring a waiver for you to sign.

Thanks!

Reliving the Heartache

The holiday season has been a tough one for me.  Each day seems to be a reminder of what happened last year at this time and so much of that time was heart wrenching for me.  When everybody is celebrating the holidays with their families, I am reminded anew of the loss of Tyler and the giant space he filled in my life.

For me, New Year's Day was the start of the end.  Tyler had been getting daily transfusions of platelets since we got home from Houston, but couldn't seem to hold on to them at all.  They finally determined that he might be bleeding some internally (after seeing his hand swollen to 3 times its normal size) and prescribed a medication that he could take to slow down any internal leakage.  It actually seemed to be making a difference.

The doctors had already mentioned hospice to us and we were moving in the direction.  Tyler was very firm that he did not want to die in the hospital.  He'd already spent too much of his life there.  So when he spiked a fever on New Year's Day, he begged me not to call the doctors and report it.  We both knew that if I did, they would tell us that he needed to come into the hospital.

I did the best that I could to keep an eye on his fever overnight and urge him to drink water, but I didn't know that the reason they admitted him to the hospital at any sign of a fever was to get IV fluids into him and watch his blood pressure.  By morning, Tyler's blood pressure had fallen so low that he could barely walk and wasn't really cognizant of what was happening.  I was bustling around downstairs, packing a bag of stuff to get through the day, and waiting for him to come downstairs.  I finally ran upstairs to check on him and he was sitting on the bed in the dark, confused about what he was supposed to be doing.

The nurses were very concerned with his condition when I got him into SCCA.  They immediately started IV fluids at as high a rate as they could.  I called his dad and his mom and suggested that they come.  I was worried that he was going to die that very day and they wouldn't get a chance to say goodbye.

The doctors and nurses were urging Tyler to go to the hospital.  Based on his wishes, I kept saying no that Tyler did not want to go to the hospital.  Eventually though, I think they wore him down with their arguments and he agreed to go.  An ambulance took him from SCCA to UW and we moved into the ICU so that he could be closely monitored.

I'm thankful that he was awake for about a day and a half in the hospital and a couple of people did get to see him before he fell into his coma, but it was sure hard to not to have him there and awake for the last few days.  I have missed him greatly this year, but hope that he continues to watch over me and care for me.

With great sadness, I bid farewell to 2011.  In so many ways, it has been the most difficult year of my life.  People occasionally tell me that think I am strong from what they have observed of my walk in grief.  Please don't be misled by the fact that I am often private with my hurts and loneliness.  I would give absolutely everything I own or could hope to own to have Tyler back beside me and healthy.  I suspect, from the generous contributions my LLS fundraising has received, that many of you would chip in to help me if we could.

The best that I can do at this point is try to honor Tyler in the life I lead going forward, to put forth efforts to fight against the cancer that stole him away from us, and to remember that I was dearly loved by a great man.  I hope that some of you will take a fond memory into 2012 and think of Tyler in his "Love Life" t-shirt, quoting stats for any sport we wanted.  He would want each of us to make the most of our time together.

Live Every Moment!

Upcoming Fundraising Swap -- Everyone is invited!

I'm hosting my next Fundraising Swap on January 14th and wanted to invite you to join me!  If you've never been to a Swap, here is how it goes:

1) You bring a minimum donation of $15 payable to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society or pay online in advance at http://bledsoebattle.com

2) Bring a bag (or two, or three) of all the media items that you don't know what to do with.  Please bring your items in good condition to share. Suggested items are: books, magazines, CD's, DVD's tapes, video games, records, computer games, etc.

3) We set out our goodies for everyone to shop through... one person's trash is another one's treasure. Take what you want, leave what you don't.

4) Show off your great bargains!  A $15 donation is a great deal for all of the great new items I have collected at previous swaps.

All of the proceeds are going to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Any items unclaimed at the end of the swap will be consigned to raise money for LLS or donated.

If you can not attend but still want to help, please feel free to make a donation of any media items or cash!  If you are able to attend, contact me for the rest of the details!  I hope to see you there.

Breaking the 1 Hour Barrier

This next week's long run will break the 1 hour run barrier for me, but I am feeling good about continuing to run longer and longer times each week. It has been rewarding to get out and do something positive a few nights (and one early morning) each week. I'm certainly not perfect in my training, but I am running almost regularly according to my schedule.  If you want to follow my progress in running and/or fundraising, you can visit my Madrid website at http://bledsoebattle.com

The training is all based on time of the run, rather than distance, which is much easier for me to track. Some days I run at a faster pace than others and cover more distance; some days I just don't feel up to pushing hard. I'm hovering around a pace that would be put me at a 5-6 hour finish for the marathon. I would really like to bump up my speed a bit so that I can finish in under 5 hours.

We are also approaching the 1 year anniversary of Tyler's death, so I am also reminded of many things from my life with him. Last Christmas we were in Houston until late on Christmas Even, when Tyler was released to fly home. I think the doctors knew that he was dying and were trying to help us get home so that we could be with our families.

One of the fundraising options that we have is to get a personal sponsorship to put someone's name actually on our jersey for race day. I have been thinking that it would be really special to do that in Tyler's memory. If you have someone special that you want to have named on my jersey, a $1000 donation can make it happen.

Thanks to my supporters for this great start! I have hit 1/4 of the way to my goal (even though some of the donations are still in the mail and not visible on my website yet). I have been selling my handmade greeting cards at work to raise money and would be happy to connect with others that want a few cards to send out. $2/card adds up and will go a long way towards fighting blood cancers!

Thanks again for all of the encouragement and support!