Running For Johnny Reilly
Donation protected
Back in December my Dad relapsed from Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Since then he has been taking an oral chemo along with all the precautions to have him ready for a bone marrow transplant. I’m happy to say he responded very well to the oral chemo and is now in remission again. It’s a huge first step on the road to recovery, nothing else would be possible without it. But it is also the beginning.
Over the next few months he will be put through a battery of blood tests and treatments as he begins the process of grafting from the donor. This means many visits in and out of the hospital and requires my parents to uproot their lives and move to Charleston, SC for a few months, if not longer. It’s an incredibly difficult situation far too many families have been forced to endure. This means moving and living expenses on top of medical bills for an extended period of time. The support shown during his first battle was overwhelming in the best possible way and I can’t express how meaningful that was to my family. Thank you to everyone who showed us support.
This time I wanted to take a little bit of a different approach by staying active and fighting as well. Each week I will be running a certain number of miles. My goal is at least 20 miles per week, but I will do more if I’m able. I will post the runs at the end of each week. Donations per mile would be great, or for an overall mileage, or whatever you think is fit. If there is something you would like to challenge me to, I am open and willing to take that on as well. I will give a shout out on Instagram when the challenge has been accomplished. If you don’t care for the challenge route and just want to donate, that is definitely welcome as well! And if nothing else, if people could at least share this post and get word out there that would be super helpful.
Further, any donations over the set goal will be donated to the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society (LLS) so other affected families can receive the extra help they may need. I met with a terrific woman who works with the LLS recently and I have already committed our excess donations to her orginization. If the broader picture is your goal and would like to donate to the LLS alone that is awesome too! www.lls.org/sc
PS-a final request, as with a lot of things you don’t know until you know. One of the harder issues with the transplant is finding a donor. My Dad was lucky, where other’s may not be. The more people we can get on the registry the better the chance there is to help another who may need a transplant. There are roughly 16 million people registered currently, of this my Dad had 10 matches and only 3 perfect matches. From what we are told this is a lot, some people unfortunately have zero. The process is super easy to register, just click the link here, fill out the info, they mail a kit to your house, you swab your mouth, and you mail it back. It’s quick, easy, free, and the best part is the ability to change someone’s life!
https://bethematch.org/support-the-cause/donate-bone-marrow/join-the-marrow-registry/
Thank you for all of your support!
Over the next few months he will be put through a battery of blood tests and treatments as he begins the process of grafting from the donor. This means many visits in and out of the hospital and requires my parents to uproot their lives and move to Charleston, SC for a few months, if not longer. It’s an incredibly difficult situation far too many families have been forced to endure. This means moving and living expenses on top of medical bills for an extended period of time. The support shown during his first battle was overwhelming in the best possible way and I can’t express how meaningful that was to my family. Thank you to everyone who showed us support.
This time I wanted to take a little bit of a different approach by staying active and fighting as well. Each week I will be running a certain number of miles. My goal is at least 20 miles per week, but I will do more if I’m able. I will post the runs at the end of each week. Donations per mile would be great, or for an overall mileage, or whatever you think is fit. If there is something you would like to challenge me to, I am open and willing to take that on as well. I will give a shout out on Instagram when the challenge has been accomplished. If you don’t care for the challenge route and just want to donate, that is definitely welcome as well! And if nothing else, if people could at least share this post and get word out there that would be super helpful.
Further, any donations over the set goal will be donated to the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society (LLS) so other affected families can receive the extra help they may need. I met with a terrific woman who works with the LLS recently and I have already committed our excess donations to her orginization. If the broader picture is your goal and would like to donate to the LLS alone that is awesome too! www.lls.org/sc
PS-a final request, as with a lot of things you don’t know until you know. One of the harder issues with the transplant is finding a donor. My Dad was lucky, where other’s may not be. The more people we can get on the registry the better the chance there is to help another who may need a transplant. There are roughly 16 million people registered currently, of this my Dad had 10 matches and only 3 perfect matches. From what we are told this is a lot, some people unfortunately have zero. The process is super easy to register, just click the link here, fill out the info, they mail a kit to your house, you swab your mouth, and you mail it back. It’s quick, easy, free, and the best part is the ability to change someone’s life!
https://bethematch.org/support-the-cause/donate-bone-marrow/join-the-marrow-registry/
Thank you for all of your support!
Organizer
Brendan Reilly
Organizer
Charleston, SC