Cord Blood Donor

One of the blessings of this whole experience is witnessing the good in people on a regular basis.

Case in point is my friend, Paige, who's expecting in September. We're very excited for her and her husband, Chris. Today, she e-mailed me that she's looking into donating her baby's cord blood. An excerpt from Paige's e-mail explains her experience best:

"My doctor, the nurse at the hospital, the health reporter on a recent Today Show segment, and the OBs quoted in a recent "this week in your pregnancy" email I received ALL concur that donation (still very rare and only offered at only six U.S. hospitals) and a robust public cord blood bank not only would help leukemia patients, but also in the future, possibly heart attack survivors and others. Yet, the federal funding isn't there yet to really make this happen, I'm told.

For now, I'm looking into a free service that will work with my doctor to enable me to donate if possible, but I tell you: It's kind of hard to find (except, thank you NMDP), and the for-profit cord blood banks are marketing like crazy to pregnant women. ... We must fight the good fight!"

Paige is very inspiring. So is cord blood tranplantee PJ in Rhode Island. Check out her recent posts. PJ's writing has been important to Dori (and me, too).

After vacation, I had to head out the next morning for a four-day business trip to Washington. I know, I know ... The beach to D.C. is a harsh transition, but the trip was productive. I didn't call my good friends like Dan and Dave before I flew up because I saw my schedule (no window for any real breaks - we were covered from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. every day). While inside the Beltway, I noshed with contract work friends like Summer, Laura, Rex and others that I don't get to see as often as regular work friends.

I ran Sunday afternoon when the heat index was 105. All was fine the first mile, but the last 2 1/4 miles were what you'd expect. Hot as that place we're all trying to avoid. I did sit-ups and push-ups the next two days, then ran with friend Darren at 5 a.m. We went down to the Mall, circled the Capitol, went back down the Mall and around the Washington Monument, then back to the hotel. Total was 5 1/4 miles. Tomorrow morning is run three for the week, then a TNT four miler on Saturday morning.

Speaking of TNT, we are off to a great fundraising start. You all are INCREDIBLE. Including checks in the mail, we're over $4,000 after two weeks. The Leukemia folks put out updates ... Our effort is No. 1 in Tennessee to date for all the folks fundraising for fall races. Give yourselves a yabba dabba doo. If you haven't given yet, please consider giving generously so you can join us Flintstones. If you need motivation before giving, just read PJ's blog entry about what the LLS means to her.

Here's the group goals and results to date for TN participants:

Music City & Nations Triathlon $39,100.00 $5,696.77
Nike Women's Marathon $108,117.00 $18,964.20
Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio $103,166.00 $4,600.00
El Tour de Tucson $64,100.00 $975.00

TN goal total: $314,483.00
TN to date: $30,235.97

Let's keep moving!