Each week, the Tennessee Team In Training participants receive an update from the local Leukemia & Lymphoma Society chapter. It's tells us how much money individuals in our Nashville and Knoxville groups, as well as race teams, have raised for LLS. Sometimes, we receive personal stories. I've copied and pasted this week's entry below.
For those of you who have been following this blog, you know I don't believe in coincidences.
Remembering Roseanne
Knoxville Nike Participant, Julie Claxton, shares her personal honoree's story
On December 3, 2007, Roseanne Edinger, a devoted wife and loving mother of three (ages ten, seven, and four) was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. That Monday afternoon began Roseanne's brave, uphill battle with a disease that we, as TNT teammates, are trying so desperately to cure. Over the next seven months, Roseanne would fight hard, never complaining about her situation or questioning "Why me?" In fact, Roseanne felt that, if anything, her faith in God and her relationships with others were made stronger as a result of the physical suffering her body endured.
Despite Roseanne's courageous fight, on the morning of July 12, 2008, her body succumbed to cancer. That evening, a fundraiser had already been planned in Roseanne's honor. The event went on as planned as Roseanne's husband assured us all that "Roseanne would have wanted it that way." As the evening came to an end, those in attendance couldn't help but gaze up at the nighttime sky. A full, arching rainbow seemed to wrap its colors around the earth. Maybe a coincidence, but maybe, as Roseanne's husband had already suggested, Roseanne was smiling down on the evening. Life is like a rainbow; you need both the sun and the rain to make it appear. Roseanne Edinger's living was for so many people like the sun, and her passing is our rain. I don't think I'll admire a rainbow's beauty again without thinking of my friend, Roseanne, and knowing how important my work with TNT is. I want to help others beat these diseases. In doing so, I will continue to honor my friend Roseanne, and her life will always remind me of a rainbow.
God bless Roseanne and her family, and God bless Julie for her determination and courage. We are inspired in Nashville, Julie, and we'll see you in San Francisco.
This morning's 4.5 miler was nice. Temperature was in the high 60s and humidity wasn't bad. I shook out the sprint-induced kinks after a mile, and felt fine, dropping my pace each mile. Final time: 42:13, a 9:23/mile pace.
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