I really need your help!

August 21, 2007

Dear Friends, Family, and Lurking Blog Reader:

Greetings! Thanks for taking a few moments of your valuable time to read this letter. I know it is long, but please read it all the way through as you’ll find it worthwhile.

As many of you know, I have been running and walking for the last several years. It started as an effort to lose weight, but even after losing 120 pounds, I’ve tried to keep at it, as I realize the positive impact it has on my body and mind. Recently, I’ve been interested to try and extend myself to longer distances. With that in mind, I decided to take on the biggest physical and mental challenge of my life by training to complete my first marathon. (If you don’t know, a marathon is a race that is 26.2 miles long!)

About the same time I made this decision, I came into contact with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team in Training program. LLS is a non-profit health organization whose mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma as well as improve the quality of life of patients and their families. This fall and winter, I will be working with Team in Training, and on January 13, 2008, I will run in the P.F. Chang’s Marathon in Phoenix, Arizona.

I am training for this marathon as a personal tribute to both of my grandmothers, who passed away from cancer. In addition, while I was composing this letter, I received a phone call from my mother sharing with me that the wife of one of my cousins, a 29-year-old mother, was just diagnosed with lymphoma. Obviously, this is an issue that is near and dear to my heart and I want to do all that I can to help the research scientists and doctors find a cure for these blood cancers.

I need your help! I’m going to provide the legs to run the course in Phoenix, but I desperately need your generous donations to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to provide the heart. My personal goal is to raise $4,000 for this organization and their heroic fight against cancer. Your contribution will support the society’s programs, including patient aid, medical research, education and community service. I’ve done my research, and you should know that the LLS is considered a top ten charity by Money Magazine for its management of donations. More than 75% of all donations go directly to the society’s mission and programs to benefit those individuals and their families suffering from these diseases.

The bad news is that every 6 minutes someone is diagnosed with some type of blood cancer, and every 9 minutes someone dies from it. In fact, most of us have had someone close to us who has been diagnosed with cancer. Many of those folk, like my grandmothers, have unfortunately passed on. However, the good news is that there is hope for those who are with us. Consider that during the 1960s the survival rate for these cancers was only 4%. Today, the survival rate is nearly 85% due to the research funded by Team in Training.

I admit that I’m not really good at asking for money for myself. Therefore, I’m asking you to contribute not for me, but for your family members, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances who may have contracted cancer at some point in their lives. Your donations will help generate the funding necessary to ultimately cure these blood-related cancers.

Will you join me in this important fight? I will be wearing a tribute to both of my grandmothers on my running jersey for the 26.2 miles. When things get tough on the course (and they will), thinking of them and of your generous support gives me every confidence that I will make it through.

I hope you’ll help me achieve my fundraising goal by returning your donation no later than Friday, October 12, 2007. Whether you can contribute $20 or $200, the key is that everyone participates. You can contribute in one of two ways:
1) Send me a check made payable to “The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society” with my name in the memo line. Mail it to me at: Jim Hampton, 533 Severn Way, Lexington, KY 40503
2) You can also contribute online at my website (this is the easiest way): http://www.active.com/donate/tntky/JHampton

All donations are tax deductible.

While I certainly hope you can contribute, more than anything I will need your thoughts and prayers to accomplish this feat. Even if you cannot donate, a note of encouragement or a simple prayer for the LLS and those families touched by cancer would be greatly appreciated. Over the next five months I will keep you updated on my progress both with my fundraising and my training via the website.

Let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to share this letter with your family, friends, and co-workers—anyone you think might want to contribute. And most importantly, please join me in supporting this great cause.

Grace and peace,
Jim Hampton
533 Severn Way
Lexington, KY 40503
http://www.active.com/donate/tntky/JHampton