Help Samina raise money

If you are getting this from me, you're in the minority of people I know who know my story of this year.

This will be my 9th Philadelphia Marathon weekend. 13th half marathon overall (I think), 7th time running this one. The other two Philly Marathon weekend events were a marathon (hard), and the 8k (ok, but not worth the hassle). 

I'm not great at asking for donations, so I've never fundraised for American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) for this race, even though they are the default organization for fundraising for this set of races. But, I'm proud of persevering through this year. On race day, I will be 3 months and 28 days past completing radiation. With my surgery and radiation being so close to my heart and lungs, my blood oxygen was affected.  A week after radiation, with exertion, I was dipping to 89% SpO2.  My terror at this was almost more than figuring out the diagnosis of cancer (by obsessively checking biopsy test results on my health app). 

After being cleared of pulmonary embolism concerns, I doggedly kept moving, despite the shortness of breath feelings. At the end of September, I ran the inaugural Delco 10 miler. On the whole, it went ok, but it was hard. Felt like my lungs were not 100%, and the burning flesh feeling at the end was unpleasant.  

Yesterday, I ran 11 miles.  In the fall, I'm a devout parishioner of the Church of the Long Run.  It's going pretty well, and I'm so grateful that I can still engage with this core part of me. I enjoy my runs now, walking when I feel like it, stopping to take pictures of the beauty of this earth.  

Alright, that's about it.  I'm hoping to live many more years, despite the shock of this year, and science has had a great part in saving my life. 

Thank you for listening.  Grateful if you'd like to chip in to sponsor me in this, but also thankful to honestly share my story with a small group.

xoxo,

-Samina