Freakishly Strong: Brenda Donato

On May 15, 2006, I was reading a story posted on the front cover of the Contra Costa Times titled "Woman Embraces Life with Running Shoes On." It was an inspirational article that began like this:

Just before the horn sounded and sent 2,589 athletes on a chilly, mile-long swim, Brenda Donato couldn't believe that she was about to start her first triathlon. "I'm alive! I'm alive" she screamed, splashing her teammates as she jumped up and down at Lake San Antonio near Paso Robles. The Concord woman nearly hyperventilated with excitement, even as 25 miles of biking through rolling hills and a give-it-all-you have left, 6 mile run...

This newspaper article inspired me so much that five days later I met Brenda Donato in person and thus begin my my journey to train for endurance events and raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

On February 11, 2005 at age of 34 , Brenda was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. She spent 3 months in the hospital before receiving an autologous stem-cell transplant (with her own stem cells) on June 30, 2005 at UCSF Medical Center after three rounds of high dose chemotherapy. After leaving the hospital, she became very active with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Team in Training, completing the Nike Women's Half Marathon in October 2005, the Arizona Rock N Roll Marathon in January 2006 and Wildflower Olympic Distance Triathlon in May 2006. Still feeling healthy, she began training for the June 2006 Alaska Half Marathon.

On June 9, 2006, just days before she was to leave for her flight to Anchorage, Alaska, she found out her cancer returned and went back to UCSF for a fourth round of chemo. After using her own stem cells for a transplant in 2005, she would require a foreign donor's cells for another stem-cell transplant. Most fortunately, a 9 out of 10 match was found and Brenda had that transplant on September 20, 2006.

A few weeks later as I was running my first marathon and entered Golden Gate Park, I teared up, happy to see Brenda standing at the side holding her big yellow sign, "TNT: I AM ALIVE BECAUSE OF YOU!" She had escaped confinement and her body guard (Dad) had his sign to ensure that we didn't hug her.

While recovering, Brenda faced many physical and mental challenges. 110 days after her transplant, Brenda developed graft vs. host disease of the lungs. She bravely battled this new obstacle that reduced her lung capacity to 20% of normal. She passed away on April 14, 2007.

Brenda loved to update her My Space blog with the many details of her days. Just two days before she passed away, she posted this final message:

Through these years I have absolutely NO regrets. I worked hard and played even harder. I never said a swear word, always went to school on time, and won the PE award in high school. In fact, 3 days ago I just crawled up the stairs.

And now, I'm back in bed still hooked up, still using a commode, and wearing a purple t-shirt that says (in orange writing) "freakishly strong" while covered with a wonderful TNT blanket that was knitted for me just weeks ago.

Now I peacefully await and end the battle that has attacked my 36-year-old body surrounded by my most beautiful family and friends. Surreal, but true, this is really happening.

We all wait. Me, my family and friends that are here now, and all of you. Even though you're not here with me physically (it would simply be impossible for all of you to fit in this room), I want you to know I feel you and know you're here. I love all of you.

Thank you for loving and supporting me. Please continue to pour it out on my three boys.

In my previous blog, I mentionned that I was the awarded the IronTeam spirit cape. Brenda continues to inspire me to do my best. On the front of this cape, I ironed on this photo of "Freakishly Strong" Brenda taken on top of Inspiration Point in Berkeley. The Triple Crown represents what I will achieve with Team in Training when I complete Vineman on 8/1/09.

Ride thru Wine Country ~ 55 miles

This Saturday morning, I arrived in Windsor at 8:15am to meet IronTeam mates Sedonia, Megan, Helen & Margaret for a training ride. I'm glad I made the 90-mile trek because we had perfect riding weather (blue skies, no wind, temp 48F). I was getting a preview of the first loop of the Vineman course that I will ride 112-miles on 8/1/09. I wanted to actually see what I was getting myself into and understand the potential difficulty/challenges of the route.

Living near wine country, I've been to Napa & Sonoma many times by car. This was the first time that I've gone further north to the Dry Creek Valley area and riding 55-miles through this territory on bicycle was amazing. I couldn't help snap photos as I rode of the wild mustard sprouting up in the vineyards, the happy California cows grazing on the green hills and the bright pink cherry blossoms.








I rode over a one lane bridge that took me over the Russian River where I'll be swimming 2.4 miles next August. The water level was really low. A fisherman was standing in the middle of the River and the water only came up to his knees. Hopefully, we'll get a lot more rain soon! Here are views of the river looking to the left and right of the bridge. The little dot is the fisherman.








Around the halfway point, we regrouped at the Dry Creek General Store, established in 1881. Unfortunately, as we were leaving, Helen's spoke popped out of her wheel and she was unable to continue. Fortunately, Megan, who works at a winery two miles away, was able to go get the winery's van and bring Helen back to the start. The rest of us continued our ride.








We rode a total of 55-miles in 3.5 hours. Overall the hills were a lot easier than I expected. Our training rides seem much more difficult than this course. So other than a great ride with new friends, today I gained further confidence that my Ironman goal is becoming more and more possible with the strength that I am building and putting in the bank.

Juggling Priorities

I've learned that I can do anything that I set my mind to, but I can't do everything...at least not at the same time. So lately, I've had to prioritize work, Ironman training, maintaining household, and catching up on all the various tasks that I've been getting behind on, so keeping up this post was on the bottom of the list.

Although work has been very busy, I have been keeping up with my training. Since I began this journey on November 8, 2008, I have swam over 40 miles, biked over 700 miles and ran over 147 miles and still have much more ground and water to cover in the next few months.

This past weekend, my coaches honored me with the IronTeam's spirit cape, recognizing me for my perseverance, hard work, drive and determination in every aspect of my training. I need to decorate the cape before I hand it back in our next coached workout in another week. I know exactly what I want to put on it, but need to make the time to get it done...I'll share more about the cape and what I put on it in a future post.

So now you know that I'm still here and on track with my Ironman goals. Also, big thanks to those who have helped me raise to date $4145 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). My goal is to raise at least $6000 by 5/1/09 for the LLS, a highly respected national health agency dedicated to finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's Disease and myeloma and improving the quality of life of patients and their families. No amount is too big or small. It all adds up and helps to save lives. Go to this link for more details on how to donate: http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/VineFIrn09/jjay

More Louie Tri photos

Received a link to more Louis Tri photos taken by fabulous Honoree Captain Judy. Click here.