Hanging Up My Sneaks ...

Well, at least in terms of endurance events like TNT and walk events like LTN.  In the 2+ years since I signed up for the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco, I have raised over $8800 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  As rewarding as these experiences have been and as proud as I am of these efforts, I think its important to focus my efforts and energies a bit more so that I can make a greater impact.

A Cause for Hope will absolutely be continued - I so much enjoyed working with my mom on this project.  She also has been so focused on crafting beautiful items.  And with this winter coming and the swine flu abundant, I think this will help her deal with spending the majority of her time at home.  We recently posted a shop up on Etsy and she & I will continue to put items up as well as accept donated handmade items from family & friends.  All donations raised from ACFH go to the MPD Foundation.

I have also recently put the pieces in place to start selling my handmade jewelry.  I have launched the Park Lane Designs blog already and am finalizing the pieces for the Etsy shop I have set up.  My intent is to donate 1 piece of every 10 that I make to the ACFH project.  I hope to grow this into a sustaining business - who knows where it will go!

And given that my high school Cathy just donated her bone marrow yesterday as a result of the drive I coordinated in Ridgefield back in June, I plan to continue volunteering with the Be the Match organization to assist in local drives and spreading the word about the importance of Bone Marrow Donation. 

In a sense, I have felt like I have been running in a million different directions for the last 3+ years since my mom was diagnosed - its time to slow down a bit but still give back.  The fundraising efforts that surround the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society are well established and is supported by nearly 1 million volunteers and raised $256 million in FY08.  The MPD Foundation raised $1.5 million for FY08 for research and grants and the Be the Match organization raised $11.4 million for their FY08.  As smaller organizations, volunteers are so critical. 

I also chose to remain with these two organizations since without Be the Match, Bruce - my mom's donor - would have never been located.  And without the MPD Foundation, the funds necessary to research treatments for myelofibrosis may not be raised.  And those treatments are our hope.

I'm not sure what that means for this blog or how often things will be posted since I maintain the ACFH site for that project and I likely won't put a note on here each time I volunteer at a drive since the majority will be local and those may be better advertised on Facebook or via email.  We'll have to see ... for the time being, I'll leave this site up and active.  Regardless of whether this blog stays active or not, one thing that will always be true is that I will forever be on my mom's team in a hope for a treatment or even a cure.