I will complete the Honolulu Marathon with my Team In Training teammates from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in memory of all those we have lost to cancer and in honor of Paige Lindner, the now first-grader, who has been bravely fighting leukemia for the past 2/12 years.


In January 2003, Paige Lindner was an average 3-year-old with a brand-new baby sister. Then her foot started to hurt and soon was limping. Her parents, Mindy and Jake, took her to the pediatrician, who ran a blood test and discovered she had leukemia.
Paige was admitted to the hospital just three days after her baby sister, Neenah, came home. The next year was filled with weekly "procedures" at "clinic," several lengthy hospital stays and lots of "yucky" medications.
Yet although she didn't feel good most of the time and lost her beautiful, long brown hair, Paige remained good-natured, smart and beautiful, both inside and out. She faced her illness as bravely as a preschooler could, and slmost always had a smile on her lovely face. She persevered where many adults may have faltered.
Paige completed her 2 1/2 years of treatment in May of 2005 and is now in remission. She was able to start kindergarten on time with her classmates and is now in the first grade.
Now that her immune system is healthy, and hospital stays are a thing of the past, she wants to finally enroll in a dance class.