In the begining...

For about 2 years now I have wrestled with desire to run in a marathon. However, for the past several years I have managed to push this goal aside due to other priorities, higher education, work, etc. Over the course of my training, I have alter my dream of pursuing a marathon to completing a triathlon.

Then this year my wife was diagnosed with stage II diffuse large b-cell non-hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in April 2007. See her story at (http://amvictory.blogspot.com)

After watching her struggle for months while going through chemo treatments, dealing with various side effects of the chemo drugs, hospital stays, poked, pricked, and treated like a human pin cushion - I felt helpless. All I could do was sit beside her and hold her hand.

After 6 cycles of chemo I am proud to say that she is on the road to recovery. But I was still wondering how can help? How can I even begin to understand the level of pain, disgust, and the emotionally changing days that she had to endure - short answer: I will never be able to grasp her darkest days and lowest of lows. So, I was still confronted with "What I can I do?"

Lance Armstrong and the Livestrong foundation (www.livestrong.org) states there is not one person in this country that has not been effected by cancer. And as I took a look at the larger influences in my life, I was able to see how true that was. I have long list of close friends, family members, and peers that struggle with this disease everyday.

With all that being said, I began looking for ways I could help others that struggle with Lymphoma. That lead me to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society's webpage (http://www.lls.org/) which lead me to Team in Training's webpage (http://www.teamintraining.org/) .

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training is the world's largest endurance sports training program. Since 1988, more than 300,000 volunteer participants have helped raise more than $700 million. After speaking to a couple friends that went through this program and raved about it, I decided to join

To help raise funds to cure blood cancers on May 28th, I will be participating in the Capital of Texas Triathlon. My goal is to raise over $4000 before the race. Through this blog I will share my experiences.

To support this cause go to (http://www.active.com/donate/tntnca04/tntncaMJandre)