Western North Carolina

5950 Fairview Road, Suite 250
Charlotte, NC 28210

Honored Teammate

Collin McCord:

In July of 1997, Collin was diagnosed with T-cell ALL at the age of 15 months old. Within 24 hours we also learned we were expecting our second child. Unfortunately, Collin?s leukemia had already spread into the cerebrospinal fluid surrounding his brain. Collin immediately began intensive weekly chemo treatments.

In December of that year Collin also began intensive cranial irradiation therapy at the age of 20 months. Our second son, Kristopher, was born in February of 1998. Although Collin was in remission at that time, the doctors still felt we should bank the cord blood as a ?precaution?. Four months later, in early July of 1998 Collin?s cancer returned. His leukemia had returned in both his bone marrow and again in his cerebrospinal fluid. Our only option was a bone marrow transplant using the cord blood of his brother. Collin again began even more intensive chemotherapy, and more rounds of both intensive cranial irradiation and total body irradiation in preparation for his transplant. On October 14^th of 1998 Collin received his bone marrow transplant and his ?second chance at life?! Collin is truly our miracle! Despite being given a 20% chance at survival twice during this time?Collin has just celebrated his 10 year anniversary of his bone marrow transplant and REMISSION!Today Collin is a 13 year old 7^th grader at St. Pius X School in Greensboro. He loves all sports?especially football! He also loves anything having to do with the Georgia Bulldogs?GO DAWGS!

Emily Lebedinsky:

My name is Emily and I am a Non-Hodgkin?s Lymphoma survivor. I was diagnosed with Follicular Cutaneous Non-Hodgkin?s Lymphoma in April 2004 when I was living in Boston. It started as a strange, red lump on my neck that I had removed because I was embarrassed about it. To everyone?s surprise, the standard pathology tests revealed that it was cancer. I felt completely healthy, so this was a complete shock. I immediately underwent a lot of tests, all of which came back normal and because I was young and in good health, my doctor ordered a course of electron radiation therapy to the spot on my neck. We all hoped that would be that.

Three months later, I noticed another strange lump on the top of my head. In December I had it removed, and the results were exactly the same as before. The disease was obviously systemic, so chemotherapy was the next step. To complicate matters, my husband had just accepted a new job in Davidson, NC, and we were planning on moving. I panicked when I realized I wouldn?t have insurance or even a job to pay for the treatments. Luckily I had a great manager in Boston, who offered to let me keep my job (and insurance!) in Boston for six more months while I underwent chemo. However, this meant that in January 2005, my husband moved south while I stayed in Boston, moved in with some friends of ours, and started the first of six courses of chemo; once every three weeks for about five months. It was hard being separated from my husband during all of this, but he came to visit a lot, as did my mom and my sister. I also had a great support network of friends and co-workers. I tolerated the treatment rather well, but I did lose my hair, and felt quite sick after each treatment. Through it all, I only missed one day of work, side from treatment days. I finished on May 13, 2005, moved to NC in June, and have been in Davidson for the last four years. I?m very lucky. My prognosis is good, and every follow up test that I?ve had since I moved to NC has been negative.

In July 2005, not long after I moved to NC, I was in a coffee shop and saw a flyer for Team In Training. I knew about the organization, as I had been the Honored Hero for a friend who lives in California and ran the Alaska Marathon. Out of curiosity, I picked up the flyer and noticed that there was a half marathon on Kiawah Island, SC that December. The first thing I thought was, I could walk 13.1 miles by December. I am now proud to say that thanks to Team In Training, I ran the half marathon on Kiawah Island seven months after my last treatment. I loved every minute of my time with the Team and I know all of you will as well. Your efforts are going to help many more cancer patients become cancer survivors.

THANK YOU!!! Your are all my heroes!