Wednesday, December 30, 2009

St. Jude Benefit Run




I'll take a brief respite from my normal marathon training posts to share with you this letter that I have sent out to many of my friends and family members. The chart I refer to at the end of the letter is a pictorial of the run from Memphis to Mobile and will track my fund raising activity.


December 30, 2009

Dear Friends and Family,

It is not my nature to be on the "asking" side of a fund raising campaign, in fact, I can honestly say that this is the first one I have ever been involved in. Normally it's me writing the checks, it seems! However, this cause is special and has my full attention; hopefully you'll join me in this worthy cause.

Most of us are familiar with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; if by chance you are not, I encourage you to visit its website at http://www.stjude.org/. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, located in Memphis, Tennessee, is one of the world’s premier pediatric cancer research centers. Its mission is to find cures for children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases through research and treatment.

Unfortunately, too many of us are also familiar with a child who is suffering from cancer or another catastrophic disease. My niece and her husband, Erica & Jere Robinson, are living this nightmare right now as their younger son, Sam, battles brain cancer. While Sam is not being treated at St. Jude, there are thousands of children just like him that need our help. You can follow Sam’s progress at Erica’s blog: http://ericarobinsonphotography.com/samsblog/

I will be participating in the inaugural St. Jude Memphis to Mobile Run and I will be running in honor of Sam. This is a fund raising event for St. Jude and every dollar raised goes directly to the hospital. In order to participate in this event, I need to raise a minimum of $2,000, and I need your help to do it. I actually hope to raise at least $4,200, which comes out to $10 a mile. I am calling my own fund raising efforts the Sam-A-Thon and its slogan is “420 miles, 4 days, 1 great cause!” The run will start April 29th, 2010, and will begin in Memphis, running around the clock in relay teams; we will arrive in Mobile four days later on May 2nd. The race will culminate at Battleship Park and conclude with an end-of-run celebration. Runners will be divided into two teams and each team will run for eight hours before turning it over to the other team. The “off” team will then rest for eight hours while the other team is running. Run, rest, repeat for four days – sounds like fun! I may have a catastrophic illness by the time the run is over!

Cancer is a terrible disease, even more so, it seems, when it invades the body of a child. Please join me in this fight and in support of a wonderful hospital that is saving lives every single day. We may not find a cure for cancer today, but maybe the cure will be found in time to save your child, your grandchild or another loved one. No donation is too small; all are fully tax deductible and all are greatly appreciated. Please consider writing the check today while you are thinking about it, and please make it out to St. Jude on The Bay. You can mail your check to me at 3103 Riviere du Chien Loop E., Mobile, Al. 36693. If you prefer, you may also donate via PayPal by sending your payment to my account name: Tim1717@comcast.net. There are also some “corporate sponsorships” available with associated benefits - if you are interested in learning more about those, please contact me. So you can track my fund raising efforts, I’ll be updating the enclosed chart periodically on my Face Book page.

With your help, we CAN beat cancer. Sam and I are both counting on you!

Thank you!
Tim Mahoney
Tim1717@comcast.net




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