Shaw - 12 shots 2014 blog posts

Published by Lance Shaw at Smashwords

Copyright 2015 Lance Shaw

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. You are welcometo share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copiedand distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the bookremains in its complete original form. Thank you for yoursupport.

For Little Man and Jayda

This ebook replicates the postings of a 2014blog I wrote during a four month fundraising campaign for TheLeukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). I wrote the blog to honor myson and share with others what its been like for him to bediagnosed with and treated for leukemia. This book is distributedfree of charge and represents part of an effort to build awarenessand support for families dealing with blood cancers. I hope youenjoy it enough to pass along to your friends, family, andcolleagues.

Now, enjoy the 2014 blog posts!

Friends and Family,

Last year (February 22nd) our son Brian wasdiagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). He wasfour years old. This year, as a member of The Leukemia andLymphoma Societys Team in Training program, I have pledged totrain for and complete a century ride (100 mile cycling event) inLake Tahoe to help raise money for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkinsdisease and myeloma research and patient assistance programs.

I have set an ambitious goal of raising$37,545.13 by May 1st. $37,545.13 was the average charge fora single injection of a chemotherapeutic treatment delivered to ourLittle Man last year. He received 12 of these injections overa two-month period.

If you would like to donate to my fundraisingcampaign, please use this link to donate onlinequickly. Though this link you will also be able to learn moreabout the Little Mans progress, my training, and a bit about whatits like to have a child with blood cancer. You will receivea confirmation of your donation by email and I will be notified assoon as you make your donation.

ALL is a rare disease, but it is the most commonform of childhood cancer. Acute refers to the rapidity withwhich the symptoms present themselves and are followed by death ifleft untreated. As recently as 40-50 years ago, the diseasewas 100% fatal. Death usually occurred within several weeksto months of diagnosis and was particularly horrific lots ofbleeding, pain, reports of bones literally fracturing due to thestrain of rapidly dividing leukemia cells struggling to escape fromthe marrow into the bloodstream, etc.

These days, its very treatable and someone likeour Little Man, who is considered a high risk case, has a 5-yrEvent Free Survival rate of ~90%. (The story of how thetreatments were developed is quite interesting and speaks to thecourageous and heroic efforts of the pioneering clinicians,pathologists, and researchers not to mention the patients andtheir parents who had a real sense of urgency about theirtask.)

Each donation helps accelerate finding a curefor leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. On behalf of The Leukemia& Lymphoma Society, thank you very much for your support. I greatly appreciate your generosity.

Thank you,

Lance Shaw

P.S. I would appreciate it if you would forwardthis email to as many people as you can to encourage them to donateas well. I'll provide periodic updates at the link above, butif you would like to read more about what the past year has beenlike, please visit my wife's blog about the LittleMan here . Thanks again.

Wow, what a tremendous response so far! Igreatly appreciate it. Thanks so much to all who have takenthe time to write and donate to the cause. It's beenwonderful to hear from all of you... many I haven't talked to inyears.

I am currently on a site visit to an oilproduction facility in Chad (arrived on the 10th) and have not beenable to respond as quickly as I'd like to the tremendous outpouringof support. (Internet access has been pretty spotty.) But the responses are certainly motivating: despite jet lagand long days, they helped prompt me to get in a solid hour onthe exercise bike in the camp's fitness center and I plan to goback for some more tonight.

Best regards,

Lance

Last year, the Little Man started watching alittle bit of televised professional cycling with me. Not anentire race or even a stage which lasts several hours but some of the highlights. Always an astute judge ofcharacter, he quickly identified a young Slovakian rider namedPeter Sagan as his favorite. There are several reasons.

Reason #1: Peter Sagan is cool .

Reason #2: Peter Sagan is fast .

Reason #3: Peter Sagan is funny .

Little Man decided that those were threeperfectly satisfactory reasons for wanting to send somebody apresent. He made an acrylic painting (sprinter jersey greenbackground, bicycle crossing finish line), enclosed a letter and aphotograph of himself (so that Sagan would know who sent him thegift) and I mailed it to Sagans sports management agency in Italyin hopes that he would eventually receive it. A couple ofweeks later, we received an envelope in the mail: form letter fromthe agency and signed picture of Sagan. Another envelopearrived several weeks after that this time from Sagan. Included were the Little Mans photo returned, with signaturefrom the professional cyclist and a print-out of Sagan holdingLittle Mans painting!

Excited, Little Man wanted to have another lookat some of Sagans YouTube videos and, as it turns out, around thesame time Sagan had just started his own YouTube channel. Youcan see the first video here . Look closely and youll notice Little Mans painting in thebackground.

Reason #4: Peter Sagan is nice.

Peter Sagan with Little Manspainting!

It's difficult to get in some decentriding during the week, what with full days of work andall. So today, I joined a few colleagues for a spinning classat the local gym. It was a last minute decision and Iwasn't properly hydrated, but I had my cycling kit in the car- and you all have donated a sizeable chunk of change! - soI decided to go for it. Put in a respectable hour beforeleaving to join the family for dinner at a Japanese restaurant. The restaurant is a favorite of the Little Man's and becauseit's located between our house and the cancer clinic (our secondhome), he's eaten a lot of meals there.

Early tomorrow morning, Little Man will go tothe cancer clinic for his regularly-scheduled lumbar puncture(spinal tap), in which some of his spinal fluid will be removed andsampled to see if there are any signs of leukemia and he willreceive an injection to prevent spread of leukemia to the cerebralspinal fluid.