Counting Down the Days

I just went to my friend Dalene's blog so I could see her ticker for the countdown of the marathon. 8 days 13 hours. . . .oh my goodness!! That is so soon and I am scared to death! I received my Team in Training jersey in the mail yesterday. That really made it feel real. I really am going to be running this thing- - -I can hardly believe it.

I love that we get to have the names of the people we are running for on our jersey's. If you look closely on the back side of our jerseys you can see "Dad" Walter Pilant and Marilyn Williams under the "In Memory" and Shelby Batley under the "In Honor". What a neat way to remember and honor those who have fought this terrible disease. I need to continue to focus my thoughts on this instead of my fear of not finishing.

Back of Jersey

Update on Shelby

This is an email from Shelby's mom that I received today. Please pray for Shelby. It is families like this that are my driving force to complete this marathon and raise as much money as we can. This is real life and people are affected daily from these blood diseases.


Hello,
I'm sorry that I haven't e-mailed, but my philosophy is...no news is good news...which brings me to the update...over the last couple of years Shelby has had bouts of severe fatigue and she just does NOT feel well. We have been through a gammet of tests and the doctors have put her on thyroid medication. That seemed to work for a while and although she would be extremely tired towards the end of the school week, we chalked it up to her less than perfect system (due to the chemotherapy and side effects). Well, this summer she was still going through the fatigue, so we thought, maybe she is about to "start", she is 13 after-all. Things have gotten worse...she has been on the couch this whole week. We went to the dr. for blood work hoping that the thyroid rx needed to be "tweaked", but the numbers looked in normal range...so...tomorrow she goes in for an echocardiogram...she may have an enlarged heart which would explain the fatigue. I am worried, JJ is worried and even Shelby is worried...she asked me if she would need a heart transplant!!...can you imagine having that worry at 13? It breaks my heart that she is feeling so bad, and worse that I have no solution for her. Of course, the doctors asked the usual questions...are you having trouble in school? are you having trouble with your friends? The answer to all are NO! Even she knows where they are going with that line of questions...it is so frustrating to have people think it may be emotional...I know it is NOT!! She told me today, I love 7th grade...I love it more than 6th grade, I love my classes and I miss my friends. Hopefully, she will feel better soon...please pray for her!!! She has been through TOO MUCH!! She is the sweetest, most compassionate girl...she needs a break, so do we, we are exhausted with worry...I thank you for your caring, love and support!
Sincerely,
Mollie