2009 Light the Night Walk, Reston VA

Reston VA Light The Night Walk
Date: October 3, 2009 7:00 PM

For the 9th consecutive year, balloons will light up the night sky of Reston, VA during the 2009 Light The Night Walk. Thousands of Walkers will once again fill The Reston Town Center and surrounding streets, enjoying an evening full of family fun as we celebrate and commemorate lives touched by blood cancers. The Reston, VA Walk is one of several Walks hosted by the National Capital Area Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This nationally recognized campaign consists of evening walks that take place in all 50 states and helps build awareness of blood cancers as well raise funds for cures.

The Light The Night Walk is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's nationwide walk to raise awareness and funds to cure leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma as well as to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $550.8 million in research specifically targeting leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. Although research is responsible for increasing survival rates for these diseases, there's still work to be done. For the second straight year I joined our group at work and Weena and Benjamin will be participating in the walk too.

Ouf firm has a goal of $4,000 and as I write this, we are very close to reaching this!

I've set up a web page if you wish to contribute and help the cause. You may access it here.

If you have further questions or wish to send a donation via mail, please click the View My Complete Profile section to the left of the blog and contact me.

Thank you very much.

One Year Later.....

I’m approaching the one year anniversary of when I collapsed and blacked out in my basement (December 5th). Since that day there have been a lot of changes in my life including my diabetes diagnosis. To battle that, I’ve been watching what I eat, exercising a lot and monitoring my blood glucose. In October, my A1C was 5.5. When I was diagnosed in July with diabetes, I’ve lost 23 pounds. My blood pressure and cholesterol are at normal levels now thanks to my diet and medication I’m on. This past month my blood glucose averaged under 100 for the first time since July when I began taking readings.

It was also the first Thanksgiving where I had only one helping of food and said no to traditional favorites like pumpkin pie and other sweets. Prior to our meal I set a personal record of 62 minutes straight running on the treadmill. That was an incredible feeling.

I still have a long way to go where I want to be weight wise (25 more pounds to drop to get to 170 pounds) but I’m in no real hurry and my next appointment with my doctor isn’t until late April. Meanwhile, each day I alternate exercising at our rec. center and the basement, where I’ve got a treadmill and exercise ball I use to do sit-ups. Perhaps when Spring arrives I’ll take up bicycling the local trails again. I’m also toying with the idea of entering some 5 or 10k races but that depends on how I progress over the Winter.

Stay tuned...

Seve Ballesteros

Seve Ballesteros, one of the greatest golfers ever, found out this week he has a brain tumor after briefly collapsing last week.

The five time major winner is 51 years old. Flash back to December and pretty much the same thing happened to me as I collapsed briefly while working on my computer. I'm 46 years old and went through a variety of tests this year before it was determined I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Thankfully I did not have a heart attack, heart murmur, brain damage or stroke.

I've been working on lowering my cholesterol and blood pressure as well as exercising and monitoring my diet. I am down twenty pounds since July. I have a follow up doctors appointment on the 22nd and will write more on that after the appointment.

Just want to take this time to wish Seve Ballesteros best wishes as the two of us are close in age. The only time I ever saw him play golf live was when I worked as a marshal at the 1982 Kemper Open at Congressional Country Club. On the final Sunday he was in near the lead so he was in the last threesome with Craig Stadler and a fellow you may have heard of, Jack Nicklaus. At the 12th tee I stood about fifteen feet from this trio holding up the Quiet Please sign. I was shaking like a leaf but didn't drop the sign.

Get well Seve!

2008 Reston VA Light The Night Walk

Reston VA Light The Night Walk

Date: October 4, 2008 7:00 PM

The Light The Night Walk is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's nationwide walk to raise awareness and funds to cure leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma as well as to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $550.8 million in research specifically targeting leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. Although research is responsible for increasing survival rates for these diseases, there's still work to be done. Since I've been looking for ways to get and stay fit, I decided to join our group at work and will be participating in the walk, along with Weena and Benjamin.

Here's a little history of the event from the Light the Night Reston web site.

For the 8th consecutive year, balloons will light up the night sky of Reston, VA during the 2008 Light The Night Walk. Thousands of Walkers will once again fill The Reston Town Center and surrounding streets, enjoying an evening full of family fun as we celebrate and commemorate lives touched by blood cancers. The Reston, VA Walk is one of five Walks hosted by the National Capital Area Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This nationally recognized campaign consists of evening walks that take place in all 50 states and helps build awareness of blood cancers as well raise funds for cures. In 2007, the efforts of Walk Teams and Individuals came together to the tune of $540,800 just at the Reston Walk alone, $1.84 million in the DC Metro Area, and nearly $40 million nation-wide!

This year, we hope to raise $2 million in the National Capital Area and we are well on our way. Dario Marquez, CEO of MVM, Inc. has joined Light The Night this year as the 2008 Reston Corporate Walk Chair and is working to help secure the support of companies and businesses in the Northern Virginia area. Additionally, our Executive Volunteer Planning Committee is already hard at work garnering additional sponsorships, in-kind donations and volunteer support in the area.

I've set up a web page if you wish to contribute and help the cause. You may access it here. If you have further questions or wish to send a donation via mail, please click the View My Complete Profile section to the left of the blog and contact me.

Thank you very much. Full report after the walk.