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Margaret Carrio

Walk 100 Miles in June Challenge

My Activity Tracking

43
mi

My target 100 mi

I'm supporting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Please join me in supporting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) by making a donation to my fundraising campaign. Thanks to your support, my efforts, will help fund the therapies and treatments and help save lives today.

LLS's continued advancements over the years, are responsible for the blood cancer survival rate doubling and tripling; in some cases, the survival rate has even quadrupled.

And many LLS supported therapies not only help blood cancer patients but are now used to treat patients with rare forms of stomach and skin cancers. They're even being tested in clinical trials for patients with a range of cancers including lung, brain, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers. LLS funded drugs are now being tested for patients with other non-cancerous diseases like Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis.

We really are changing the face of blood cancer!

All donations are greatly appreciated and are tax deductible. They'll not only support LLS research but patient services, advocacy, public and professional education, and community services as well.

Please visit my Web site often and bring friends who would also like to donate!

On behalf of blood cancer patients everywhere I thank you for your support!
For more information about LLS, please visit lls.org

Please Help Me
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$1,075

My Goal

$1,500

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My Achievements

Added Profile Pic

Added a Blog Post

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Reached Fundraising Target

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My Updates

No Doubt

Tuesday 4th Jun
Thomas Edison is quoted to have said this upon his final successful try of inventing the light bulb:

"I didn't fail 1000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps."

I don't know about you, but during my walk today, I couldn't help but think about all the times I continuously doubt myself, my worth, my abilities, everything. Day-to-day life can cause Stress, which oftentimes leads to its good friend Insecurity.

Doubt, like cancer, can grow from a tiny little spot. You might ignore it, hide from it, say that it's nothing. You make excuses about it: "I don't want to deal with it today". "It doesn't hurt right now". "But it's Monday, and I haven't even had my coffee yet". I'll let you in on a harsh reality that is no secret: your body knows when something's wrong, and eventually, it will set off every alarm to let you know that you have to stop ignoring the signs and get some help.

John was just a child when he was diagnosed, and being as young as he was, he wasn't equipped to understand why his leg randomly started aching, so he told his parents about it, and when the pain continued, they took him to the doctor to get checked out. His medical team eventually found the small tumor in his femur, gave him chemo to treat it, and he was declared cancer-free about a year later. As I mentioned in my first blog, cancer returned in the form of AML with the warning coming in the way of nosebleeds. With all the might he had left in his still-recovering body, John tried to fight off the aggressive disease, but he ended up gaining his angel wings in July 2005.

John's medical team were made up of the very best in the business, and they did everything they could to save his life. I do thoroughly believe that. What they did for John and many other kids with pediatric cancer did eventually make massive progress towards isolating genes and cells that could turn cancerous if caught early, as well as finding treatment plans that extend a patient's remission and life.

Giving to the Leukemia & Lymphoma society is much more than just typing in a number and clicking a button. In doing so, YOU are empowering medical professionals around the world with the tools to invent their own lightbulb moments. YOU are the light - no doubt about it.

The Naming of Cats

Sunday 2nd Jun
By the time they are 6-9.5 years old, most elementary school-aged children are just learning to read, write, do basic math like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. After John's initial cancer diagnosis, he had to get his school lessons at the local children's hospital in between treatments.

As my family was very close with his, we tried to make time to see him as often as we could. One of my mom's favorite activities to share with him was to read poetry and children's stories together. At one point, the book of choice was Old Opossum's Book of Practical Cats by acclaimed poet TS Eliot. The collection of poems is all about the "Jellicle Cats", who all come around each night and celebrate each other's distinct personalities at the "Jellicle Ball". This famous work was later adapted into the long-celebrated Broadway musical Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber. John and my mom listened to the music of the show together and watched the film version that was released in 1998, and John immediately was captivated by it.
John's favorite poem and song was "The Naming of Cats", which is the second of the show, and is entirely spoken by the entire cast. It explains that each cat actually has not one but three distinct names. The first may be the one that they are called by their human family "such as Peter, Agustus, Alonzo or James". The cat's second name that is more particular like "Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat". Finally, the third name is one that "no human research can discover, but the cat himself knows, but will never confess". 

I will forever believe that John loved these poems and this show for the distinct reason because the characters involved shared and celebrated themselves and each other. They come together for the Jellicle Ball each year to celebrate being Jellicle cats, to look back on the memories they shared, and to give new life to the cat whose time in this life was coming to an end. 

John's young mind was already so full of deep appreciation for others in their uniqueness, and the stories and memories his loved ones were able to share with him gave him comfort to press on for as long as he could before that new day had begun.

The memories will live again. Please donate today.

Be Your Own Hero

Saturday 1st Jun
About 6 years ago, I had the complete privilege of being part of my mom, Kirsten Leonard, in her bid to be the LLS Oregon/SW Washington Chapter's Woman of the Year. She was initially nominated for the 10-week fundraising challenge by none other than John's older sister, Rachael, who was part of the LLS Leadership Circle at the time. Since my mom is best friends with Rachael and John's mom, Jayne, Rachael knew that my mom, with all of her fundraising experience and incredibly wide net of connections, was going to be the perfect person for the job. She was absolutely right.

My mom recruited about 50 of her close family and friends to join the "Be Your Own Hero" committee in John's honor. We all were assigned different roles that played to each of our strengths, and were encouraged to not only plan and execute direct fundraising opportunities, but market and encourage our own networks to join in, as well. My mom is a very big supporter of the performing arts scene in Portland, so she used those connections to host drag shows, concerts, television appearances, and more. I was put on the marketing committee, as I am pretty tech savvy, so I was in charge of posting on social media, helping create and update the website, and answering any questions folks might have had about the various events we had planned. It was a ton of work in such a short time, but because we all knew what was at stake, there was no giving up. Cancer, as we know, doesn't let us give up. It takes a fight like we've never fought, with a team of people who will do whatever it takes in order to win.

My mom and the Be Your Own Hero committee did end up winning the challenge and title for 2018, after having raised over $150,000 toward the $500,000 total at the end of the 10 weeks. In her speech, she mentioned that the sash and the competition could never mean as much as the effort that everyone could have as a whole to affect LLS' mission to end blood cancer. I will always remember that night and how proud I was and continue to be of my mom's efforts, but the true lesson is that no matter the challenges we must fight, if we reach out to the people who we have supported through the years, their support when we need them most will return to us in spades. Please be your own hero, and donate to LLS today.

One Step at a Time

Saturday 1st Jun
Hi, friends! I'm Margaret, and I'm so excited to be participating in a challenge that not only will push me physically outside my comfort zone, but walking 100 miles in a month will also allow me to bring awareness to a mission I hold very dear, and that is to help get LLS get steps closer to finding cures for blood cancers.

I'd like to introduce you to someone. He's the little brown-haired brown-eyed sweetest equivalent to a younger brother that I'll ever have. John Boone was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma when he started having leg aches at around 6 years old. He had chemo for it and went into remission for about a year or so. Then, his parents started noticing that he would get frequent nosebleeds out of nowhere, so they took him back to the doctors for some tests, and he was soon diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia caused by the very therapy that was supposed to save his life. 

One of the worst days of my life turned out to be the very last of his. I was 16 years old, and about to leave for Europe to go on a symphonic band tour. I could barely sleep the night before, I was so excited. That excitement immediately turned to anguish upon the phone call I got from my mom telling me that I had to go to the children's hospital to say my final goodbyes prior to getting on my plane. My dad drove me to the hospital soon after we hung up. I still see that little boy in his hospital bed, fighting for breath, surrounded by those who had fought this awful disease with him and for him. His little young body just couldn't fight it anymore. That day was almost 19 years ago.

Today and all month long, I will walk for John. I will hold him in my heart always, but with every step, hilly, flat, uneven, rainy, sunny or otherwise, I will remember the fact that every 3 minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer. A 3-mile daily walk is nothing in comparison to the journey a cancer patient must endure both during and after treatment. I plan on documenting my progress each day, so please feel free to follow along and share if you so choose. If you can support my walk by donating via my personal page, know that I will not be the only one to appreciate it. LLS is an amazing organization that has made incredible strides, especially in the last decade. I'm proud to walk with them.

Thank you to my Sponsors

$100

Kristine Peterson

$100

Katie Brida

Love that you are doing this! Good job 👏

$100

Kirsten Leonard

Love that you're doing this ❤️

$100

Leslie Carrio

Making a difference one step at a time. You go girl!

$100

Chris Brida

Proud to support your journey! Thanks for making every step count!

$100

Brenda Olson

🥰

$100

Gucci Sparkman

$50

Sue Porter

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

$50

Sandy Wright

Good job! Keep up the hard work. I have a friend going through her second round of lymphoma .

$25

Hannah B

Great work Margaret❤️!

$25

Beth Shipka

$25

Margaret Carrio

$25

Margaret Carrio

$25

Lynda Boatwright

$25

Jordyn, Jackson & Trenton Jones

Go Meg!

$25

Whitney Wall

Great job Meg! This is awesome!

$25

Cayla Walker

Let’s go Miss Margaret!!! 💜

$25

Jayda Hutson

Bless hearts like yours. 💛

$25

Annie Leonard

❤️❤️❤️👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

$15

Anonymous

Meet you walk many miles and meet all of your goals for June. Best of luck to you!

$10

Heidi Petersen