Today marks the two year anniversary of Sarah's completion of treatment. It was shortly after that, that we let the blog fall. This was not really done intentionally. It had just become unsustainable. We created this blog to keep everyone informed, and because so many of the people we care about live elsewhere around the country. After treatment was over, we needed to get away from cancer for a little while. Not that that's possible, but you can't blame a guy for trying.
I have been attempting to write this entry for months now. Each time I sit down at the computer, I find myself trying to summarize the last two years. I try to find an eloquent way to describe what recovery has been like for Sarah, but instead I basically churn out a never ending paragraph of emotional vomit. Too much? I agree, but very accurate.
Tonight my approach is wholly different. The only reference I'm going to make to Sarah's cancer is to tell you all that she is still clean. Sarah get's blood work done every so often to check on her blood cell count, and she has passed each test with flying colors.
We wanted to resurrect this blog for a couple of reasons. The first and foremost is to let all of you reading know that Sarah is still cancer free. The second is to tell all of you about our involvement with Team In Training. For those of you who don't know, Team In Training is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's endurance sports training program. In Exchange for training and support, you help raise money towards cures for blood cancers like Leukemia, Myeloma and Lymphoma.
Only two short years after finishing treatment, Sarah is training to run a half marathon. And for some reason beyond my own comprehension, I'm training for the full marathon. We will be running in the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco on October 16th. There are many reasons why we're doing it. I'm not going to speak for Sarah here, but after all of the generosity we were shown by friends and family, this feels like a great way to pay some of that forward. There used to be a donate button on the side of the blog, that many of you so generously used to support us during our time of need. It has now been replaced with a link to donate to Team In Training. We will be attempting to raise $4000 dollars to help fund research, and also to help support families much like our own.
From here on out, for an undetermined period of time, we will use this blog to share our experience with team in training. We will also, I'm sure, circle back around to the last two years and take a look at what Sarah's recovery has been like. It's too great a subject to broach in one post, so perhaps it will have to run hand in hand with our stories of triumph. There is no returning to life after cancer. Only the creation of a new one. In the spirit of creation we have given the blog a new look, and a new name. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the name comes from a lyric from one of Sarah's favorite songs.
Set the gearshift for the high gear of your soul. You've got to run like an antelope out of control. - Phish
Until next time…
Thank you for all of the love and support,
Dan, Sarah and Marek
