Earlier this year, Don and I decided to join a group of friends and participate in The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Big Climb and on Saturday, March 16th we set off for the Columbia Tower in downtown Seattle. We climbed 69 flights of stairs for a total of 1311 steps (this took me about 26 minutes!) and in the process helped raise funds for LLS. After the Climb we wandered through the exhibits and I put my name on a list for what sounded like an interesting event - The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Hike For Discovery. I thought the Climb was fun (though grueling), but a hike sounded great! We could pay our registration fee, get the kids to join us and spend the day hiking. Little did I know that Hike For Discovery is much more than a one-day field trip.
I soon discovered that Hike For Discovery is a four-month-long hiking experience - an adventure fundraising event. The more I learned about it, the more it felt like the right thing to do. I would spend all summer training daily and hiking weekly, with professional training, leading up to the big 4-day hiking event in the Rocky Mountain National Forest. Along the way I would help raise funds and awareness leading to a cure for leukemia and related cancers.
Leukemia is a malignancy of the blood-forming tissues, bone marrow, lymph nodes and spleen. It appears as uncontrolled multiplication of abnormal blood cells. When leukemia strikes, millions of abnormal and useless white blood cells accumulate in the tissues, preventing the production of normal cells. It is estimated that leukemia and its related cancers will strike over 100,000 Americans this year. Every week 1,155 Americans will lose their lives to this disease. Leukemia is the number one killing disease of children, yet affects 10 times as many adults. The cause of leukemia remains unknown. However, the effectiveness of recently developed treatment methods and steady advances in research bring us closer every day to finding the cause of leukemia and related cancers and probable cures.
Don and I have had our personal experiences with cancer. Don's Dad passed away in 1998 from lung cancer after surviving Hodgkin’s in his 20's. My Mom is a cancer survivor. And my Dad, who had surgery two years ago to remove cancerous lesions in his lungs, just last week found two more inoperable lesions. The list of friends and family members who have been touched by cancer is long. This is why I joined Hike For Discovery. I will be hiking in memory of Ben Benda and in honor of my parents, Sandra and Hebron Cook.
I have set goals to train daily and with my team on the weekends and I've promised to raise $4,000 in donations to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This is where I need your help. Please help support me with a donation to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Please help by giving generously. Seventy-five percent of all funds go directly to research, and your contribution is tax deductible. Contributing money is a powerful way to be involved when you can't give your time. If your company matches charitable contributions, please include matching forms with your donation. Of course, your good wishes and positive vibes to sustain me in my training and your heaps of praise as I hike to the Continental Divide will also be graciously accepted. Whatever you give counts.
You can donate online at my Hike For Discovery website http://pages.hikefordiscovery.org/wa/rockymt08/tbenda. I will update the website regularly so check back ofte for training and hike updates, pictures and progress towards my fundraising goal.
With my sincere thanks,
Trisha Benda
I soon discovered that Hike For Discovery is a four-month-long hiking experience - an adventure fundraising event. The more I learned about it, the more it felt like the right thing to do. I would spend all summer training daily and hiking weekly, with professional training, leading up to the big 4-day hiking event in the Rocky Mountain National Forest. Along the way I would help raise funds and awareness leading to a cure for leukemia and related cancers.
Leukemia is a malignancy of the blood-forming tissues, bone marrow, lymph nodes and spleen. It appears as uncontrolled multiplication of abnormal blood cells. When leukemia strikes, millions of abnormal and useless white blood cells accumulate in the tissues, preventing the production of normal cells. It is estimated that leukemia and its related cancers will strike over 100,000 Americans this year. Every week 1,155 Americans will lose their lives to this disease. Leukemia is the number one killing disease of children, yet affects 10 times as many adults. The cause of leukemia remains unknown. However, the effectiveness of recently developed treatment methods and steady advances in research bring us closer every day to finding the cause of leukemia and related cancers and probable cures.
Don and I have had our personal experiences with cancer. Don's Dad passed away in 1998 from lung cancer after surviving Hodgkin’s in his 20's. My Mom is a cancer survivor. And my Dad, who had surgery two years ago to remove cancerous lesions in his lungs, just last week found two more inoperable lesions. The list of friends and family members who have been touched by cancer is long. This is why I joined Hike For Discovery. I will be hiking in memory of Ben Benda and in honor of my parents, Sandra and Hebron Cook.
I have set goals to train daily and with my team on the weekends and I've promised to raise $4,000 in donations to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This is where I need your help. Please help support me with a donation to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Please help by giving generously. Seventy-five percent of all funds go directly to research, and your contribution is tax deductible. Contributing money is a powerful way to be involved when you can't give your time. If your company matches charitable contributions, please include matching forms with your donation. Of course, your good wishes and positive vibes to sustain me in my training and your heaps of praise as I hike to the Continental Divide will also be graciously accepted. Whatever you give counts.
You can donate online at my Hike For Discovery website http://pages.hikefordiscovery.org/wa/rockymt08/tbenda. I will update the website regularly so check back ofte for training and hike updates, pictures and progress towards my fundraising goal.
With my sincere thanks,
Trisha Benda
