The Toughest Marathon of My Life: Mass Appeal

My journey - battling lymphoma

Recently I celebrated my 46th birthday. I love celebrating birthdays! Then I participated as a co-captain for our local "Quabog" Relay For Life and the Pack 57 Rocks! Cub Scout Team. This was the time frame that I had discovered an uneasiness in my stomach and growth in my spleen and stomach. After weeks of monitoring, my husband Steve took me to the doctor who felt the lumps and ordered a CT scan. The CT scan showed a massive area, my spleen enlarged to twice its size and an additional growth lower in my stomach. Next was the localized CT guided biopsy and subsequent PET scan. The biopsy showed positive for lymphoma and most likely Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma.

This is my online journal sharing my experience through battling this cancer that has abruptly entered my life for no apparent reason. The story is documented here if you want to start from the beginning, you can check the archives on the side bar.

As a top competitive master athlete this year winning my age group at the Marine Corps Marathon and placing 3rd in the New England Trail Running Championship I have been truly excited with my results of late and am a truly driven athlete. Driven by goals.... my goal right now.... to beat this "thing"!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Mass Appeal - TV segment

I was recently asked to appear on Channel 22 Mass Appeal, a daytime show that highlights human interest stories and events. We were promoting Relay For Life upcoming events for Hampshire County and Quabog Region. I met Madelyn, who is the co-chair of the Northampton event in the waiting area. It was pretty interesting meeting the highlighted events, promotions and watching the 3 stages set up as the cameras moved from one area to the other while the co-hosts bounced between stages.

Seth Stutman was our host that would be interviewing us and Ashley was the other host that was doing other pieces. They were a cute pair -- funny, energetic and happy! :) Seth was hilarious and had a great sense of humor. We played right along. Soon it was our time to get in the couches and miked up near the end of the show. Below I share the link / imbed the video for you to see. I think it went well, and I look pretty good (my hair is getting longer - yay!) Check it out!

Relay for Life in Western Mass: wwlp.com

A photo from the set where they were showing recipes raising money for Girl Scouts "Fork it Over"