TNT runner chooses classmate as Honored Hero

To the Editor:

My name is Kristi (Milligan) Miller and I grew up in Rumford, graduating in 1999 from Mountain Valley High School.

I think of my hometown, my family and my friends often, and this season I am working to raise awareness and support for one of those special people. As a participant in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s

Team in Training (TNT), I have chosen my high school classmate and friend, Daryl Jamison, to be my Honored Hero.Daryl has endured a difficult, cancer-ridden road, battling various forms of cancer for the past ten years.

In 2001, it was discovered that he had a brain tumor. He spent years dealing with the repercussions of this diagnosis, only to be met with another diagnosis last year. This time: Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

As a member of Team in Training, an endurance sport-training and fundraising arm of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), I have committed to completing both a half- and a full marathon in January, as well as to raising much-needed funds for research and patient-services provided by the LLS. I will run a total of 39.3 miles on the weekend of January 8-9, 2011, and I will raise at least $3,360 for the LLS before then.

I have committed to doing this in honor of Daryl, to show him and others that people care about the trials and tribulations that people with cancer have to face. Being the kind and caring person that Daryl is, he was nervous about me publishing this letter for fear that readers would think the fundraised money would go directly to him. He is not asking for handouts, but rather is supporting my efforts to raise money for the Society, for the betterment of everyone with cancer.

I ask you to donate as generously as you can, to help me to help Daryl and everyone else we know who has been affected by blood cancers. I recognize that spending extra money isn’t easy, especially this time of year, but whenever I think about the tough times, I remind myself of this: at least I don’t have cancer.

That thought helps me to carry on through the miles of training runs and the hundreds of requests for donations. If you and I just need to donate a few dollars, then we have it pretty easy, don’t you think?

Please visit my fundraising website at www.tinyurl.com/gogoofy and make a donation today! If you would prefer to mail a check, please make it out to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and mail it to the following address: Kristi Miller, 229 Whitehall Rd., Albany, New York 12209.

If you have a loved one for whom you would like me to run in honor or in memory, please include that person’s name and I will wear it on my race-day singlet. Thank you so much! Your generosity means a lot to so many people.

Kristi Miller,

Albany, NY