News & Noteworthy

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About 10,000 Americans need stem cell transplants from bone marrow or umbilical cord blood donated by someone outside their families. About 7,200 won't get them. They'll likely die.

The statistics fuel the push for donations and drive plans for a yet unfunded public umbilical cord blood bank in California. The implications for people with leukemia and some 70 other blood diseases explain why Jeremy and Erin Bell of Newbury Park are paying more than $3,000 "just in case."

Amber McCarty is taking things into her own hands. The Oxnard woman works for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, raising money and awareness. She shaved her head and donated her reddish-brown hair to cancer patients.

When her third child is born in about four months, she'll donate the umbilical cord blood to the national registry. Though private banking is expensive, donations to the national registry are free.

"There are millions of (umbilical) cords that are thrown out every day in childbirth because most patients don't know that the registry exists," she said, trying to explain why more people don't donate. "The process is so new. ... People have a fear of the unknown."

Ashley, Kulikov the class of a colorful field - Runners include soccer Hall of Famer Foudy

Nov. 4, 2007 - In a field that featured a World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist, and an entrant costumed like a distance running legend, local runners Chris Ashley and Tara Kulikov were the brightest stars at the 31st Santa Barbara News-Press Half Marathon on Saturday.

Ashley won the overall title while Kulikov was the top women's finisher in an event that drew nearly 2,400 participants on a cool, overcast morning. There were 1,655 official finishers in the combined half marathon and 5K Run for Fun....

...One person who came from the great beyond to race was Steve Prefontaine. Actually, it wasn't really the mid-distance legend known as Pre, but rather Team in Training leader Marcela Estrada. She dressed up in a full University of Oregon track outfit with a wig and mustache to conjure up the American running legend who died in 1975.

"You know, when I was alive the first time, I ran shorter distances,"the Prefontaine impersonator said. "But this second go-around in life, I thought it was time to do something longer. But now, I think I'll go back to the 5000 -- that was hard enough."

Triathlon competitor Gaynor Butler runs, swims and cycles for good reason.

In 2001, the Valencia mother of two and her family suffered a scare that changed their lives - the threat of bone cancer.

A suspected growth on her husband Paul's toe turned out to be something other than cancer but fear of the disease was very real.

"I just based everything I did after that on being thankful," she said.

Butler, whose husband also competes in triathlons, inspired her to do the same, especially when she saw it as a way of raising money for cancer research.

She quickly followed his example and started running, swimming and cycling.

She soon got serious about it and joined a Team In Training group that specifically raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

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Ventura County Mayor's Marathoner Honored for Efforts
Running For Life
Cancer survivor runs in race to raise awareness, funds

By Alicia Doyle

Jeff Schleien never imagined that chronic fatigue, an achy back and other symptoms were warnings that he had cancer.

"Doctors told my wife to make sure our affairs were in order," recalled Schleien, whose bone marrow was 60 percent cancerous by the time he was diagnosed and started undergoing treatment. "It was a huge shock; I was only 38 years old."

Now 44, the Simi Valley father of three is celebrating his fifth year of remission from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma by running a half-marathon today in Alaska to raise money and awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

He has raised more than $13,000 for the half-marathon, has a stated goal of $15,000 and hopes ultimately to raise at least $25,000.

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Last year's Mayor's Marathon and Half-Marathon ended in disappointment for Anchorage's Esther Jurasek. She came up 15 seconds short of defending her title as Lower 48 rookie Kris Lawson came from nowhere to capture the city's biggest marathon of the year. "Some girl from Utah came here and kicked my butt," Jurasek said. "I felt really bad." So she made it a priority to win this year.

And this time the race ended with joy and kisses as Jurasek did the butt kicking. Running with metronome-like efficiency, the 44-year-old posted her fastest Mayor's Marathon to collect her second race title on a cloudy, cool Saturday morning at West High. She won in 3 hours, 1 minute and 3 seconds for her second victory in three years.

More than 1,100 of the 3,838 runners represented the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team In Training program, in which participants collect pledges for the nonprofit and receive coaching. Team In Training raised an eye-popping $5.1 million just for the Mayor's Marathon and Half-Marathon.