John Kellenyi (left) of Maplewood, NJ is the single highest fundraiser for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training® (TNT) program nationwide, having raised more than $640,000 since 1999.
Kellenyi first learned about TNT through a northern New Jersey area running club. John had already completed 24 marathons prior to joining TNT in 1999 and participating in the Marine Corps Marathon.
"The satisfaction of accomplishing something beneficial for the innocent victims (of blood cancers) in my 25th marathon dwarfs any personal gratification from my previous 24 marathons combined," said Kellenyi.
Kellenyi, 58, a father of three children, set an initial fundraising goal of $50,000. However, thanks to friends and "a little obsession," he raised more than $121,000 in 2001.
But, Kellenyi's Team In Training efforts didn't stop with the Marine Corps Marathon, which he completed in three hours and 16 minutes. In 2001, Jay McCabe, a close friend of John's, lost his battle to lymphoma just weeks before Kellenyi's participation in the Mardi Gras Marathon in New Orleans, LA.
Kellenyi raised an additional $147,000 for the Society in memory of McCabe and was recognized at the pre-race Pasta Party for being the top individual Team In Training fundraiser in the nation. John was awarded with a plaque and received a standing ovation from his peers. In an emotional speech, he threw out the challenge that records were made to be broken and he hopes someone will break his fundraising record soon.
He has since run two more marathons with TNT, with his last, the Marine Corps, in 2004. While age has slowed him to three hours and 30 minutes, it hasn't inhibited his fundraising capabilities, as $270,000 was pledged for his marathon effort. Tragically, he lost another good friend to leukemia, Pete Burg, and this effort was in honor and memory of Pete. He is currently training for the P.F. Chang's® Rock 'n' Roll ArizonaTM marathon and has plans of doing another event next season.
Kellenyi and the thousands of Team In Training participants throughout the country are heroes in the eyes of all patients, families and friends on the front lines of the battle against leukemia, Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma.
