A child can often say it better than an adult

This poem was recently sent to me by a friend. It was written by Dylan Coldiron, a fifth grader who recently lost a very dear friend to pancreatic cancer. Dylan had to write a poem for school about something he would like to change about the world we live in.

A change to better our world: Cure Cancer

Cancer is something that dogs, cats, and people have had,
it is something that makes people really, really sad,
it makes you weak it makes you down,
and this makes me upset to see people frown,
lots of times people who have it will die,
it is something that makes tough people cry,
it is not funny, its horrific and true,
I don’t want to see it, it makes me blue,
there’s not anything you can do because it happens so fast,
it takes people from the present and puts them in the past,
my wish to help the world is to make cancer go away
so that people stop dying from cancer today
I wish that I could find a cure to make them all healthy,
so they can drive, breathe, sing, and maybe get wealthy,
If I found a cure it would make me smile and be glad,
But it can’t take back the time that we could’ve had.

Wednesday, April 21 It's Clinic Day!

Wednesdays are quite possibly the best day of the week. Today was jumping in the ASK clinic. The treatment room was full, the patient rooms were full, the consult rooms were full and the waiting was full! I was so lucky to spend my lunch hour playing SORRY!, Memory, and with legos.

This week I also met Wilson. Wilson is two years old, recently diagnosed and an amazing child! He joined us and helped move my playing pieces while we played SORRY! I recently learned that the Reesestrong Foundation provided a new swing set for Wilson. With all of his amazing energy, he'll definitely make full use of it!

Saturday, April 17

Ah, another weekend of hill training. I hate it; however, my good friend who lives in San Diego said that I will appreciate the hill training when I finally get out there. Saturday's hill training consisted of a scenic run through Hollywood Cemetery.

My teammate Art and I were a bit scared of the hills that awaited us as we ran through the gates.

Charging up the FIRST hill.

Everyone always questioned why a polar bear showed up on the Island on LOST. How come no one has ever questioned a polar bear in Richmond?

Art still working on his Runner's World cover pose.

Friday, April 9 - Riverside Drive

So I've been slack about blogging. It all started out so well. Oh, well. 7 weeks until the race so I'll do my best to keep up until then!

Last week, Art and I tackled Riverside Drive for our 6 miles. You either love it or hate it because its all hell. I mean, hills. We had a great pace and ended up with a great time.

My teammate, Art, posing before we headed out. He's working on his pose for Runners World. We'll work on a better pose during this week's run.

We took a break and marveled at how far we had come since crossing the bridge!

Art's fancy camera caught me in mid-stride. I was going to so fast, I am amazed the image showed up!

Coming back across the bridge. Another mile and a half and we're done!

It's clinic day!

I walked into suite 210 of the Nelson Clinic and wondered if I was in the correct location. I could hear music, and clapping and singing and shouting. I checked the door - yep, there were the big letters ASK. I followed the chaotic sound back to the fishbowl (that's the treatment room) and found the source of the noise. Nurses were singing, parents were clapping and the kids were playing instruments and I was then informed that anyone who walks in had to dance a solo.

Um. Seriously?

Patient Buttercup took my hand and said "Yep. Dance." So I danced and clapped all the while we sang Jingle Bells and Rudolph. Perfect song selections for a 75 degree day in Richmond.

Buttercup was in for platelets. Patient Caspian was in for a transfusion as was Patient Tiana. But those IV poles didn't keep them down.

Patient Tiana and I discussed the difference between a Big Mac and a Whopper. Patient Caspian informed me that I have no rhythm and should go out to the play room or stop playing the tambourine and Patient Buttercup told me that I really suck at Mario Golf.

Before I knew it, my hour was up and I had to head back to work. Everyone should be so lucky as to have as much fun at lunch as I do on Wednesdays.

Monument Aveune 10K

Saturday, March 27

We interrupt this half marathon training report to bring you the Monument Avenue 10k.

When I woke up on Saturday mornig, there was frost on the ground. And it was 31 degrees. If it had been a regular training day, I would have gone back to bed and ran those 6 miles later in the day or would have gone to the gym and pounded the treadmill. But it was the day of the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K and my dear friend Becky was so excited that she could barely contain herself. First-timers are irritating like that.

I went back and forth for atleast 20 minutes about what to wear and finally settled on tights, l/s shirt, my hot pink ReeseStrong shirt and gloves. An impatient John was glaring at me, so I just shoved all of my race gear in a bag and went to get in the truck.

We picked up Becky and headed to VCU. Thank goodness John drove us. We would have never found a parking place and made it to wave in time. Cary Street was a parking lot itself and finally John turned down Harvie Street to get us there in time. But as it turns out, we didn’t make it to our wave in time. We stood in line for over 35 minutes in the VCU Bookstore to use the bathroom. We met a few characters along the way, such as the middle school teacher who it turns out is as grumpy as I am! 9:31 came and went, we missed our wave. 9:34 came and went, we missed another wave. We finally got started in wave UC, 5 waves after ours. But Becky was so excited to finally be at the start line.

And off we went! We zigged and zagged for the first miles and finally gave up trying to run and just settled in for a stroll and took in the sights. And boy, were there sights to behold! The Monument 10K definitely brings out the best and the worst of Richmond. But the weather was perfect and the crowds were great. A fabulous day to be outside in the River City.

We finished in Becky’s goal time of under 90 minutes. I was so proud of my girl! She’s never done anything like this before and she was a trooper through learning how to dress, how to consume liquid without spilling it at a water stop and how to get ready for that all important race photo. There will be other races for me to set a PR but there will never be another first race for Becky.

And now, back to half marathon training.

Every day, a new discovery

Every day, a new discovery. That is the motto, tagline, marketing campaign of VCU Health Systems. I learned two things on Wednesday.

1) There are 17 species of penguins. Of those, 12 species live in warmer climates including the African penguin. And the Metro Richmond Zoo has African penguins living in Chesterfield County! Why and how do I know this? Carleigh and I (and Amy) are going to the zoo in a few weeks and I was on the website.

2) Do you know what hazardous antineoplastic drugs are? Chemotherapy. In clinic, I had to read the procedure for cleaning up a HANDs spill. Some of the procedures include: donning a gown with cuffs, a respiratory mask, two sets of gloves, and double bagging/boxing everything and cleaning the spill site with soap and water, not once - but three times. All of this for a spill, yet these are the drugs that are being injected into cancer patients' body and treating the disease with success. Amazing how something so extremely harmful, does some good.

In the pediatric clinic, children are faced with these drugs all the time. And their parents sit beside them, not know if the drugs are killing the cancer or doing other harm. But fortunately, statistics show that survival rates are on the upswing and rising. It is the look on the childrens's and parents' faces after a treatment or after receiving a popsicle or just after receiving a friendly smile and squeeze of the shoulder that make the fundraising aspect of TNT just a little less daunting (not much but a little....). The need for private funding is crucial and even though my family has been ravaged by cancer, it took spending time in the clinic for the slap of reality to hit me.

I've also learned that in addition to dollars, the clinics need time. Nurses and doctors are stretched to the max so volunteers sit with patients, insist that a parent take a break and get some air, and clean up treatment rooms. And, as I learned this week in clinic, volunteers often pick up and deliver chemo so that nurses can stay with patients and do their jobs and be with the patients.

Its amazing to see so much life and vibrance in the clinic. Today, one little boy was using his IV stand to skate down the hall. And another was looking through the snack basket looking for his favorite crackers. It is incredible that even by surrounded by so much illness, the kids are still just kids.