Healing the Lifeblood

Everyday as I drive home from work there is this brief moment when I come over the crest of a hill, and am treated to a spectacular view of the Hudson River.  Its beauty overwhelms me and just for a moment, all of the stress and drudgery of the day washes away. Inevitably some other driver or small annoyance breaks my reverie, but I am always grateful for those few seconds of exquisite beauty. 

The river is a powerful, dynamic, gorgeous body of water, which is why I am often taken aback by people's disgusted reactions when I talk about the Swim for Life. "Eww, but the Hudson is sooo dirty!" Every time there is a news story about the health of the river, I worry. I worry that we will be kept away. I worry that it won't get better. I worry most, though, that people will do nothing.
  
The Hudson has been a dumping ground for many years, first it was the ships, then the factories, and oh, the sewage.  For too long the Hudson has been abused by the people who needed her most. Thanks to the efforts of amazing groups like Riverkeeper, Clearwater Hudson and people like Pete Seeger, Dar Williams and so many more, the Hudson is healing, but it will take all of us to make her as healthy as possible.

In many ways, the fact that the Swim for Life raises money for blood cancer is especially appropriate, because the Hudson is the lifeblood of this community and she needs our help to heal. By swimming in her waters and giving her our love and our voices, we can heal her too.
 
Last week there was a report that drug-resistant bacteria had been discovered in the river (not near our swim sites, thankfully). The bacteria is the result of waste-water treatment facilities and improper dumping, which is maddening AND completely controllable.  We have the power to fix that. Call the state, ask for more inspections of waste water plants and higher fines for those who break the rules. Join Riverkeeper. Go to the Clearwater Festival. Come swim with me(or donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society)

Together, we can Cure Cancer AND Heal the Lifeblood of our community.




 

Fighting Fire with Water

There is a video you should watch, because it's amazing. It's called "Fire with Fire" and it's about doctors and researchers using the HIV virus to fight Leukemia cells in the blood of a six year old girl named Emma. It's a short film, but it inspires me every day because that research was funded in part by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  That means that athletes, like myself, who trained and participated in marathons and triathlons and walks and the Hudson River Swim for Life, helped make that research possible.  The money was raised long before I joined the team; but my predecessors gave a little bit of themselves and gave that doctor the ability to turn something deadly into a tool for healing.

It's deadly hot here in New York this week. It's been over 90 for more than a week. All I want to do is swim, to use the water to refresh and cool myself.  I told a friend the other day that I just wanted to sleep in the Hudson, tied to a buoy.  This morning, I re-watched this video today and I realized that the Hudson too is a tool for healing. While Carl June is fighting fire with fire, the Hudson River Swim for Life TNT team fights fire with water.  Every time I step into the Hudson and train for the three-mile swim in September, I join with all those people who have trained and fought and begged their friends for money to help fight cancer and all those doctors and researchers who are getting us closer to doing just that.

I hope you'll join me, in the water, on the shore as a cheerleader, through a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society or by sharing this with your friends.  Together, I have no doubt can cure cancer! Please, help me fight fire with water.

xo

Three Years, Three Miles, $3,000

I've been a bad blogger; a long fall became a hectic winter, spring breezed past and now fourth of July is just a few days away. 

Of course, for me, summertime has become synonymous with "training"---waking up early on weekend mornings to take on the Hudson and training in the pool every Tuesday night.  The good news is, it's barely July and I feel ready.  After two summers of trainings and two heartbreaking, last-minute cancellations of the three mile swim from Nyack to Sleepy Hollow, I am beyond ready to make it across the mighty Hudson.  My body is mostly in agreement and cooperating so far, but the mind has made the decision and there is no turning back. 

Since this is my third and probably final year (the construction on the Tappan Zee may make this event impossible for a while) I've set a pretty high fundraising goal for myself, $3,000-a $1000 for each mile between Nyack and Sleepy Hollow.  If you can help me meet this goal with a small donation, I would be much obliged.  Secure pledges can be made online at http://pages.teamintraining.org/wch/Hudson13/emmystrange

Over the past two summers, I have had the great pleasure of getting to meet hundreds of people whose lives have been touched by blood cancers and together we've worked to raise money to find new and innovative ways to treat these horrible cancers.   I encourage you to watch the attached video to see how researchers have harnessed the HIV virus to fight blood cancer, it is, in a word Amazing http://vimeo.com/54668275

Thank you for reading, I promise to be a better blogger going forward :)