2 Years !!

it has taken me 2 years to write this  first blog  !

I'm not sure where  to start  here  goes !  my brother  Dean  was  diagnosed   4 years ago  with    MDS  not many people  knew of the disease  until Robin Roberts  this year told  her  story of    being diagnosed with MDS or myelodysplastic syndrome. It's a disease of the blood and bone marrow and was once known as preleukemia. 

When my brother  was diagnosed  I decided  I needed  to do something   I was   tipping the scale  at 200 lbs  & out of  shape  & could barley walk from the  couch to the mail box, mind  you my mail box is 300ft down  the drive  :)  so I decided  to join  WW  & start running   yep  me  ME  running all 200 Lb of me  so  I downloaded Couch to 5K  program  &  hit  my treadmill  otherwise  used  for  dust collecting,   I soon  was    loosing  weight  & running stronger  I signed  up for  my first  5K  at WDW on my Birthday Jan 8th  by now I was  down  to  155  and  looking  & feeling great .

  I continued my  journey while  my brother  was battling for  his life the  disease started to   take hold of my brother  & was soon  in need of  a   stem cell transplant,  his  name  was in the world  database   & no matches   my turn  I was praying  Id  be a  match  the most devastating news I was not  a match  at this point  I felt  like I had let him  down so badly, I remember the call   as if it was yesterday   all tears on the phone  even harder  I live in the  states  & my brother was back  home in  Birmingham  UK . 
 Dean was  getting worse  & no  donor then  a miracle  a  partial match donor   so they took Dean in for  Chemo   he was admitted to an isolation ward  at  Ward19   at Heartlands Hospital  there  care  was amazing they too fell in love with Dean many many months  was spent  in hospital  in this   small   room  Dean soon realized while  his stay in Ward 19  he needed  to start a charity up  where the funds went  to better the patients lives while they stayed  for treatment, off  he set about  raising funds  charity  walks   I went  home to see Dean when he first came out   he seemed  to be doing  much better  here is  a picture of the   2 of us  

I went back home feeling  confident  my brother  would beat this  horrible disease  so I signed  up for my first  half  marathon  Jan 8th  2011 on  my birthday at WDW  I had a  great  run  I finished  in  2:44  I was happy I was down to  150   & healthy  at last   

My running  took on  a new life well  a crazy running  racing every weekend  I became  a half fanatic 

yep   crazy  runner  I had become here is  a picture of  some  Half Fanatics  & the famous Dave Mari  :) 

 .

I decided   if my bother can be so ill    in &out of  hospital  I could  raise funds  & run  WDW marathon in the name of  my brothers charity  Ward19charityfund   I trained  hard   I found  a  great new buddy  Kirsten who lives 2 miles from me we train to this day together,  we  had formed  a  training group  that soon become family we call ourselves  PRC  panera running group  nothing like  running then  eating  breakfast  yep as most runners  we do so  we can eat  ;)

 I had been home   several times in 2012 to see Dean   & now  the cancer was back  again   & now he wa back in isolation for  most of the year  I was off to do Space Coast  half marathon when my Mm  called  to say my brother would not make the weekend  the hospital had  done all they could    transplants after transplants  his body kept rejecting  & letting the cancer  win   & all this time  he was  still  worrying about  his charity   &  raising  funds,  after the  race   I went to the beach  for drinks with Paul  Tim & Jillian who tried to keep me occupied    & all  of a sudden  I knew  he had gone   & passed over to  heaven  where god was welcoming him to sit   & watch over us   until we all meet again :(  Dean passed  away  November  26th  2012 

We flew back home for  my brothers  funeral  300 plus  people   he was so loved  one of the kindest  people you would ever want to meet  always helping others   this  picture was on the  back of the service order even in death  he was  still helping others  family flowers only,  all donations  to his  charity  he loved life  Diving   he would try anything such a packed  life  this picture  says it all  his walking to heaven 

Now  I knew  I had to   dig deep  January had come around  it was 13th  at  4 am  while   all  my running buddies  supporting with there  blue ward19 bands on  blue white ribbons   we took some  pictures    before heading to the corals,  I was  so happy my parents could be there  to see  we were all running  in honor   of my brother  as I walked  to the corals   I looked  at Kirsten & said  my brother was supposed to be here  & started to cry !   

As the  race got under way the worst conditions possible  the heat  the sun unreal  it was  a very  emotional  race  at mile  23 Brandi looked  at  me  & said you are  quiet    are  you thinking of your brother  I looked  at Brandi  & said yep he has to get me over the next few miles  I'm  digging deep  for  Dean who I loved   so much  & who I felt was watching over me that day  as I crossed the line  you can see my tears  I had done it for  Dean !! & will continue to  run  for  Dean & his Charity x

http://www.justgiving.com/ward19charityfund 

https://www.facebook.com/Ward19charityfund