Raffle!

I am fully fundraised and have exceeded my goal so it's time for The Raffle!

For every $20 you have donated you'll receive a Raffle Ticket, with the chance to win:
- Pair of Pampered Chef cooking Tongs
- PartyLite Global Fusion Hurricane candle holder
- A 75-Minute Massage from Ann Cabano
- 4 Harkins Movie Passes
- An original Watercolor painting by my friend's Mom, entitled "Hope"
- An original Photo taken by Me! And modified by my friend Andy Westel to look super cool.
- A gorgeous pair of Tahitian Pearl Earrings

I was going to have people CHOOSE where to put their tickets, but that means if you put your 1 tkt in to win the earrings you can't win anything else, for example. So I'm not sure of the best way to do this. I will be deciding very soon though, and an email will be coming soon to let you know what's going to happen.

If anyone wants to donate and hasn't yet, you can make a donation to my Light the Night Walk fundraising page instead. The money goes to the same place (The LLS), just through a different program. Click HERE to go to my LTN Page.


Thanks!
Amy

AMBBR

AMBBR stands for America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride, which was June 7th in Lake Tahoe, California. Here is a photo I took outside my hotel room, it was incredibly beautiful there.

The LLS does AMBBR as one of it's Team in Training events and I had never been, so I teamed up with our local chapter and went along to help with what is known as SAG (Support And Gear). That's a vehicle that rides around on the route with things like water, gatorade, First Aid, etc., in case any of the riders need help.

Tahoe was truly beautiful though cold! I had to buy socks, a long-sleeved shirt and a sweatshirt because I was totally unprepared for the weather. The 1st full day there it rained and hailed, but our riders were still out there getting in a practice ride before the big race Sunday! Can you imagine? Those are some incredibly dedicated riders!

It was so incredible to see all the TNT riders from all over the country there. Over 6 Million dollars were raised by our teams at this event, pretty incredible! I met another honored patient (I'll call him "Tom") who was there to cheer on his best friend. We actually wound up riding in the SAG truck together, and had a great time. Tom has non-Hodgkins lymphoma, which is only treatable but not curable. He'll have to fight it for the rest of his life, and will go through periods of treatment and remission, unless a better treatment that will offer a cure is discovered.

That's a big reason why I am still involved, why I still fundraise every year. I think a lot of my friends and family think to themselves; What's up with this? She's better now, why's she always hitting us up for money? And this is why. Yes I'm better, but throughout this experience I've met so many others who haven't been as lucky as I've been, people like Tom who may not live to see his kids graduate, and get married.

The five-year relative survival rate for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma has more than doubled from 40 percent in whites in 1960-1963, to more than 86 percent for all races in 1996-2004. Five-year relative survival rates are 91.6 percent for all patients who were less than 45
years old at diagnosis. (LLS "Facts 2008-2009")

That's huge strides made in the last 40 years alone, and it just reaffirms my belief that we could see real cures for these diseases in our lifetime. If only the funding is available to support the research.

Please donate today, you can save a life. Just like someone saved mine.

(click here to make a secure online donation with your credit or debit card)

Working on Fundraising Today

This evening I sent out a bunch of emails and Facebook messages requesting donations. I hope I get some responses.

It's hard because these days, in this economy, I know people don't have a lot of spare money, and they seem to feel like if they can't donate a large amount that they shouldn't donate at all, like somehow I'll find their small amount insulting. When in actuality, I'm honored by every donation I receive, no matter the amount. That someone takes the time to make a gift of their hard-earned money to support me - that's a wonderful gift. And to me, it really is the thought that counts.

And if any of my potential donors are reading this, there is a section on the donation form entitled something like "Leave Comment & Edit Donation Privacy" and in that section (you click the header to expand the form) is an option for you to Hide your Donation Amount. So if you don't want anyone else to know how much you donated, you can select that option. You can also put in a display name, like my friend the Belly Dancing Queen (LOL), or make your gift Anonymous and even I won't know who you are. Well, except for that I work for the LLS and could find out.... But no one else would know!

So what do you say? Buy me a virtual Birthday/Remission celebratory drink by making a donation? What's the average drink price these days? Well a Martini can easily run you $10 or more, but a Happy Hour Margarita at Salty Senoritas is only $4.99. And how much is a bottle of Crystal? ;) I'll let you choose.

Peace & Love my friends,

Amy

6 Weeks of Iron

So on 4/24 I got the call that I needed iron infusions, and I finally had my 1st one yesterday, 5/8. And I have to get 5 more treatments - doesn't that sound fun? It's actually no big deal. It's not painful or anything, but the sense memories sitting in that chemo chair brings back... not terribly comfortable. The smells there, sitting in the chair, being around all those other people receiving chemo... It's difficult.

Last week Tuesday I went to Salty Senorita's on Cinco de Mayo, to sell beads and glow bracelets. My thanks to the staff there and Tony the GM, for being so accomodating and pleasant to work with. They have great people there.

My friend Linda met me there to help out and we raised $176.00. I'll be putting my share on my site soon, and once Linda gets her site up I'll post hers. I was hoping to do way more, but it amounted to about $25/hour for both of us, which isn't bad at all. I really thought we'd do better, as everything we were selling was for $1.00, and most people can at least spare $1.00, but there just wasn't enough interest I guess. Maybe the location wasn't the best. We were in old town Scottsdale, and there were a lot of young, college-age kids. Next time, if there is a next time, maybe we'll hit up a Chandler or N. Scottsdale location, somewhere with more adults and more money.

Though we didn't do as well as I had hoped, we had more than what we started with, and that's something. Every dollar counts. :)

-Amy

Golf Tournament Fundraiser!

We almost have a date and a location! September 12th at The Legacy golf course... I hope it all comes together! Thanks to my friend Linda, for getting the date and location nailed down, we're very, very close to having it be a firm date/location. And next will be the planning!

Linda, Andrea and I are all 3 survivors of blood cancer and past TNT participants. Last year we all 3 did Nike and this year we want to do both Nike and the Dublin Marathon, if you can believe that. Yes, I must be insane. The big obstacle? Money - of course. To do both we'd each have to raise about $8,000 total. And thus we plan a golf fundraiser....

We're hoping to raise about $15,000 at our event, enough for all 3 of us to go to Dublin as we believe we can raise the $3,000 necessary for Nike on our own. Wish us lick! I mean, luck! That truly was a typo, not a Freudian slip of any kind, but I found it funny that I typed it that way so decided to leave it, give you all a good lauch. Laugh! Sheesh.

So keep checking back here for updates, we'll need volunteers and golfers and who knows what else. Will keep you posted.

Later gators,
Amy

Pumping Iron

My NP called this a.m. and said the blood tests were all good, but I'm definitely anemic with low iron stores so it's time for Iron Infusions. Yay!

Normally there's a product they dispense that is "less frequent" but apparently there's some sort of shortage of it and they have none, so I have to do some other product that is a once per week infusion. This means I'll have to visit the Oncologist office 1x/week for... I don't even know, she didn't say. Someone is to call me to make the appointments and I guess they'll tell me how many weeks to start.

Sound like fun? Oh boy, does it!

Soon I will be "pumping iron" for real as info meetings are going on right now for this season's Team in Training events, which means actual training should start soon. I'm guessing mid-May but I'm not certain yet. I'm still doing my Belly Dance class on Tuesday nights and trying to walk with Amy S. on Sundays, and I hooked up with a woman on Craig's List who was looking for a "Walking Buddy", which should work out well.

That's it for now, more to come.

Amy

Hard to train while anemic...

So I saw my Oncology Nurse Practitioner last week because the last few times I was in she said I was "borderline anemic" and she wanted me to follow-up with her at a later date. Lately I've been feeling even more worn out than usual so I looked up the symptoms of Anemia on webmd.com and what do you know? I've got lots of them. Have had a few of them for a very long time.

So I go back in last week and say, "Remember how you mentioned possibly doing IV Iron if I'm still anemic? Well I think we should do that."

And she replied, after looking at my test results, "Yeah. I think we probably should. You're definitely anemic."

No IV Iron yet, she's still running a bunch of tests and waiting to get some results first I think. The lab had to take another couple of vials of blood from me to run the additional tests so I got stuck twice that visit. I've been hoping to hear something soon because I had really expected to get the Iron infusion last week, during my visit. I was hoping she'd say, "Yep - let's do that right now." because then I'd feel better. Why she didn't I'm not sure, probably because she wants to run those tests first. She did say they were checking something, my "Iron Stores" I think, and that if those were really low she'd get me in for the infusion and not wait for the other test results. So maybe my stores are ok. All I know is I feel run down most of the time and don't have a lot of energy. I get tired very easily and that's no fun. :P

Good thing training hasn't officially started.
Amy

Training Started! (sort of)

Last Sunday I met my friend Amy S. (yes, another Amy S., also from WI) at PV Mall and we went Walking. So I've officially started my training! We only did about 2 miles but that's a good start, since I've been somewhat inactive lately, other than my Belly Dance class. Now I just have to fit in a few other things during the week and I should be ready for the Official TNT start, which I believe will be early May.

I've got, right now, Walking on Sunday mornings and Belly Dance Tuesday nights - and if you've never done belly dance then you have no idea what a great work out it is! So that's good. Then I'd like to ride my bike at least once a week, so I need to get on that, and also I've got one of those Dance video games for in your home, John needs to hook it up so I can dance. That should be good exercise too!

I'm on my way... AND, good news; As everyone probably knows, since my diagnosis I've had Lymphedema (swelling caused by the lymph glands not working properly) and while it started in my arm, where the lymph node was removed for Biopsy, it's since traveled down into my leg and really, it affects my entire left side. It's rather annoying, sometimes uncomfortable or even painful, and definitely ugly.

I just spoke to a girl that I was referred to via a friend of a friend, and she had a procedure done in CA where a doctor rerouted her damaged nodes to drain into her main veins. She said this doctor only takes on about 2 new patients per month, but that there are docs in TX also learning and practicing this surgery, so I'm hopeful. I've had this for 5 years now as of this month, and it would be so great if there were something that could be done to make it go away!

That's it for now, more to come.
Amy

New Prize Added to Drawing!

I've added another prize to my drawing, a 75-min Massage from the lovely Ann Cabano (www.theenergymover.com), who will come to your home with her massage table. Ann generously donated two certificates for massage, one of which we used last Fall, and this one, which expires 12/09. This will be an AZ Only gift, as Ann probably can't travel out of state... LOL!

About the Drawing!
Because so many of my donors will be out of state, for the drawing each person will be allowed to enter their tickets, however many they have, in the drawing for whichever prizes they want. So if you have 5 tickets and want only to put them in the drawing for the earrings, then you can do that! Once I have all the prizes and and all the tickets sold, I'll send an email to everyone who has tickets so they can tell me which prizes they want me to enter their tickets in.

Thanks everyone for your support! Don't forget to pass on my donation website to your friends, so that they have a chance to win something too!
Amy S.

Fundraising-free Weekend; sort of

I did not make it out to Camelback to sell water this weekend as planned, mainly because I was up too late the night before but the rest of the weekend was pretty busy with getting the house in order for our expected guests! John's brother, Robert, and his wife and daughter are arriving here tomorrow for a week's visit. We're very excited and having company is a good reason to get the house in order.

We've really cleaned up our Patio (I say "we" but it was all John! LOL), we got some patio furniture off Craig's list and bought some new cushions for it at Target, it looks very nice. Finally a place to sit outside that's comfy so we can enjoy this gorgeous weather we've been having!

We still have a lot of work to do yet but we keep reminding ourselves - it doesn't need to be perfect! It'll be good enough. They're visiting to see us and spend time with us, not to judge our house or level of organization and cleaning skills - right? (I certainly hope so because I'll miserably fail that test!)

I did have my bi-annual massage with my friend Gayle's massage class. She runs a class where students learn how to properly work on and work with cancer patients and survivors, and Jo Anna and I get invited every 6 months for their hands-on workshop. Jo Anna has been going since before I got sick! We joke that the free massage is the reason I got sick, because who wouldn't get cancer just to get a free massage! Ok, kidding. Of course. My friends Linda and Andrea came this time too, they are also survivors who we've met through Team in Training, and we're all working on planning our fundraising. Linda, Andrea and I are talking about possibly doing the Dublin Marathon, in addition to Nike, if we can raise enough money. We're working on a Golf Fundraiser event. Linda's boyfriend is a professional golfer so we're hoping with his connections and our various talents that we can make this work. We'd like to raise $20,000 but we'd be ok with $15,000.

It's going to be a lot of work but I've got lots of experience with events so I think it'll go well. 1st step - location and date. So Linda is working on that and we'll start from there.

More to come - hope you all are enjoying your first week of Spring!
Amy

Another Prize for the Drawing!

Just added, you could win this gorgeous PartyLite Global Fusion Hurricane, along with the 3-tiered tealight candle holder for inside, valued at $81.00! This is probably one of PartyLite's most popular pieces. It's really beautiful, I have one myself. As you may or may not know, I used to sell PartyLite but I don't anymore. However I still love the products and may have a few more things that are still brand new, in their boxes, to add to this Drawing so be sure to come back to my blog to see what new possibilities have been added for you to win!

(If you're out-of-state don't worry, I will ship to you if you win, no extra cost)

St. Patty's Day

Thanks go to Seamus McCaffrey who let me come to his pub, Rosie McCaffrey's (Camelback just E. of 7th St.) to sell items for fundraising. I sold green glow bracelets for $1.00 and flashy-light Shamrock pins for $3.00.

John and I started there at 5:30 to grab a table on the front patio (which we did, lucky us), eat something, and set-up our goods. John ate, I didn't. I never do when I'm doing an "event". I get too nervous. To set-up, the pins had to be taken out of their packaging and the glow bracelets had to have the connector placed on the end. We sat with some nice gents, one from Scotland, because the 4 of us got to the newly abandoned table at the same time and decided quite nicely to share. I gave each of the gents a pin so they could be a walking advertisement, and asked them to direct any inquiries towards us.

Throughout the night people came and went at our table, all wonderful. It was really a fun time. We met a really nice newlywed couple who actually went out and sold pins for us, which was fantastic. Only the new and slightly tipsy wife apparently felt a little abandoned when her hubby was gone so much longer than she'd been and she gave him the silent treatment when he returned. It was painful to watch and I felt really bad, since the reason he was gone was that he was running around trying to help me, but there wasn't anything I could do. I tried talking to her, she was totally friendly and happy with me, said everything was fine and not to feel bad or worry, but then she still gave him the cold shoulder. They left shortly after. Poor boy.

All in all the evening was a success. I wish we had remembered to take the camera but we still have our Balloon hats and will have to take pictures and post them later (so check back!). I didn't eat all night, per usual when I'm fundraising, and we stayed until about 11:00 pm. I was pooped out! It was a long night. I raised about $275 but I still have to pay for the cost of the Pins, which is going to take a big chunk of that money. :(

I was doing well selling them but near the end of the night, when I realized how many I still had left, I should have started selling them for $1.00. I still would have made my money back on them and a little extra but I was so tired I just didn't think of it. I still have lots of pins leftover too, so I guess I'll use them next year or if anyone has any ideas of how to use them as a fundraiser in the interim (or if you want a light-up shamrock for $1.00) please let me know!

This weekend - Water sales at Camelback again, with the modified plan. I think it'll go really well. I have faith!
-Amy

Saturday - Water Sales

So Saturday I went to Camelback Mountain and tried to sell bottled water to the hikers there. I had a great sign with the TNT logo and photos of our Honored Teammates, cold bottled water on sale for $1.00, there were tons of people, I thought it would go well.

I was wrong.

When people are going to hike up a mountain, they don't bring money with them. They leave it in their car. And when people hike Camelback, there's more people than there is parking, so most are parked approx. a 10-minute walk away, so there's no chance of them going to their car, getting money, and coming back. A few people did, who were parked close, but in total I think I sold about 12 bottles of water. Not too great.

So John and I came up with a plan.
1) We're going to change my sign so it says "Buy Water, Fight Cancer" (instead of Water $1.00 for Team in Training, since most ppl don't know what TNT is)
2) We're going to make labels and business cards that have my website on them, and that tell people they're on the Honor System - if they don't have money it's fine, they can still take a water and go to my website and donate their $1.00. This is clever of us because most likely if they actually do it, they'll donate more than $1.00. And for those who don't - bad Karma for them and it'll be fine, the water doesn't cost much and if others donate over $1.00 that will make up for those people that suck and didn't donate at all.

So wish me luck! I think we'll try again this Saturday....
Amy S.

1st Post.. It's all about the Benjamins!

Donate $20 or more and have a chance to win these!

Benjamins means money, in case you didn't know. I'm once again fundraising (when am I not?) to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I am participating in our Team in Training program and want to raise $3,000 to go to the Nike Women's Marathon again this Fall. If I can raise enough, I may also go to the Dublin Marathon in Ireland, also in the Fall! We'll see how it goes.

Right now, I'm giving a chance to win some beautiful Tahitian Pearl Earrings for every $20 donated, up to 150 chances. Once 150 tickets have been "entered" then the drawing will be closed and a winner will be declared. I'll email you your ticket numbers, and will keep you posted. Photo of the earrings is above, they are valued at $300. Neat, huh?

More prizes to be added inlcuding 4 Harkins Movie Passes - will keep you posted.

Men - don't be left out, these earrings would make a lovely gift for your Wife, Girlfriend, Mom, Grandmother.... Me.... ;)

This weekend I'll be at Camelback Mountain selling bottled water for $1.00 to the Hikers, to raise money, and then for St. Patrick's day John's going to help me sell glow bracelets and light-up Shamrocks. All proceeds going to my fundraising so wish us luck.

Thanks in advance for your support, to donate you can go to my webpage at:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/dm/nikesf10/astockinger

Love and Hugs,
Amy