A Seattle Tradition – Rain & the Un-Stoppable Lymphomathon

The Seattle Lymphomathon kept up the tradition - rain on Lymphomathon day - even though we scheduled it for July 12, thinking that surely the spring rains would have stopped and the fall rains would not yet have started. However, the showers didn't slow down the 124 stalwart walkers, who trekked along the shoreline path at Myrtle Edwards Park, surely the most beautiful Lymphoma walk route in the country.

As we passed sailboats, ferries, grain elevators, the Olympic Sculpture Park, and wild roses in bloom, we reconnected with each other over our mutual passion: preventing and curing lymphoma. We also invited new participants, like a muscular mother, who was running by while pushing two children in a double stroller, and joined us just for the fun of it.

We had fifteen highly competitive teams, one of which even wore special chartreuse T-shirts, in honor of Baily Bennett, a four-year old who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in April. Fifty friends and family members, the Baily's Angels, rallied round to support Baily, who is in treatment right now and is doing well.

We raised $27,087. The highest individual money-earners were Christina Long, Tim McLean, Teri McLean, Britni Hill, and Corinna Palanca-Wessels, each of whom raised more than $1,000. The teams with the highest donations were Ensure-a-Cure (Tim McLean, team leader), the SCCA Lymphomaniacs (Oliver Press, team leader), Baily's Angels (Heather Bennett, team leader), Steener Mania (Christina Long, team leader), and Team Hill (Tamara Hill, team leader).

The Seattle Lymphomathon planning and event day activities were graciously led by Daniel Suk, with the aid of Nancy Press, Christina Long, Liz Steppe, Bridgett Ezzard, Tim McLean, Teri McLean and Glenda Catron

Thank you to our sponsors: Pace Engineers, INCA Engineers and Travelers Insurance for helping us surpass our goal, and our in-kind sponsors: Clif Bar, Cougar Mountain Bakery, Starbucks Coffee, Western Family Foods, Costco, Trader Joe's, Noah's New York Bagels and Bridgett Ezzard photography.