Members of

this group live all over the south side of Atlanta, from Clayton County

to Columbus, but they meet every other Saturday in Peachtree City to train.

Representatives

of this team participated in marathons and half-marathons in Chicago,

Honolulu, Bermuda and Walt Disney World over the past few months. Upcoming

races will be in such sites as Nashville, San Diego, Alaska and Montana.

Team In Training

is the largest endurance-training program in the world and is also the

most successful fundraising campaign of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Competitors train for half-marathon, marathon, century ride, mountain

bike or triathlon events in honor of local cancer patients.

They receive

training and counseling from certified coaches, advice on nutrition and

technique, race strategy, equipment and injury prevention. In exchange

for fundraising efforts, each volunteer is provided transportation, hotel

and race entry expenses by the LLS for his or her chosen event.

While training,

volunteers work toward a fundraising goal already determined by Team In

Training. After 25 percent of the funds raised are used for administrative

fees, the remaining 75 percent goes directly into research and patient

aid. This is the best ratio of all charitable organizations with similar

programs, and the LLS has been rated one of the 10 best-run charities

The organization's

goal is to cure leukemia and lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and myeloma

while improving the quality of life for patients and their families. These

diseases will kill an estimated 60,400 persons in the United States this

year 11 percent of all cancer deaths.

With more than

640,000 Americans currently living with these diseases, authorities expect

2,300 new diagnoses in Georgia this year alone, as well as 1,400 deaths.

Leukemia is the number one killer among children under the age of 15.

Due largely

to research supported by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the survival

has gone from four percent in 1960 to about 80 percent today. There were

approximately 575 deaths from childhood leukemia last year.

Team In Training

is now recruiting for the summer season. For more information, call Meg

Aurand of the LLS at 770-438-6006.

Another way

to help fight leukemia is by participating in an upcoming blood drive

and bone marrow typing in honor of a local 7-year-old boy who has been

battling leukemia for three years.

Alex Sudduth

is a second-grader at Huddleston Elementary in Peachtree City, where his

mother teaches first grade. He was first diagnosed in late 1997 at the

age of four.

After beginning

treatment at Egleston Children's Hospital (now Children's Healthcare of

Atlanta), he went into remission and received his last chemotherapy treatment

last May. He went for monthly maintenance checkups throughout the summer

and had his portal catheter, the device used to quickly administer the

chemo drugs to his blood stream, removed last October.

He became sick

during the recent Christmas holidays and tests showed that the leukemia

had returned. Doctors then suggested the possibility of Alex needing a

bone marrow transplant. His 10-year-old brother Christopher was tested

but was not a match, so now the search has gone nationwide for a bone

marrow match for Alex.

At the blood

drive, scheduled for March 27 at Huddleston Elementary, not only will

volunteers be able to donate blood for the American Red Cross, but they

will have the opportunity to become national bone marrow donors. Each

volunteer's blood will be tested to see if it is a match for Alex, then

placed in the National Marrow Donor Program for other patients across

the country battling leukemia and in need of transplants.

Since 1968

bone marrow transplants have been used in the treatment of leukemia, aplastic

anemia and about 60 other related diseases. A person's bone marrow has

unique characteristics which are genetically inherited, so when a matching

relative is not found, a volunteer donor on the registry is the best chance

for a match.

The National

Marrow Donor Program maintains a registry of unrelated volunteer donors

who have agreed to give marrow if ever matched with a patient in need

of a transplant.

How does all

of this work? You provide a sample and consent to having your typing listed

anonymously on the National Marrow Donor Program registry. Once on the

registry, your marrow type is matched against patients in need of donors.

You will receive a call if your are discovered to be a matched donor.

Following additional

tests to determine if your are a complete match for the patient, you decide

whether to donate. Information session will help you make the final decision

whether to donate.

On the day

of marrow donation, the donor enters the hospital and usually remains

for only a few hours following the procedure. Anesthesia ensures a painless

procedure that takes about an hour to complete. All donated marrow is

replaced naturally within a few weeks.

If you are

interested in donating blood or becoming a bone marrow donor in this blood

drive honoring Alex Sudduth, please contact Erin Yocom at 770-252-9500

or Lisa Aultman at 678-469-8262.