Running with Kellsie's Krew

Hey, everyone!  It's Friday AND this weekend is a 3-day weekend.  How exciting!

I'm especially excited today because I have something really awesome to tell you about.  Remember when I said I'd missed the sign-up for the Disney Princess Half Marathon this year?  Well, I looked in to running it with a charity group.  At first, all of the groups were full.  Then, I heard from one of the organizations!

This year, I will be running the Disney Princess Half Marathon for the Kellsie's Hope Foundation!

I'm honored to be a part of Kellsie's Krew and am so excited to raise money for this great organization!  Let me tell you a little bit about them.

The mission of Kellsie's Hope Foundation is to "assist families in need with gifting, funding trips, and will also fund cancer research and various programs and/or other support for the medical field such as nursing scholarships." (From their website)

You can read Kellsie's full story here, but here are the highlights:

• Kellsie was 15 years old when diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, an aggressive form of bone cancer, when she thought she just had a sports injury.
• She spent a year receiving aggressive treatments, including chemotherapy and surgery to replace 4 inches of her shin bone.
• After that year, she was declared cancer free!  The next three years were great. She went back to school, back to dancing (when she was told she'd never dance again), and became a speaker at events for Make-A-Wish, H.I.S. Kids, and other organizations.  She started college and was maintaining a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend Joey.
• During this time, Joey proposed to her INSIDE Cinderella's Castle at Disney World!  Kellsie didn't know it, but her family was there to greet them as they walked down the spiral staircase in the castle.  How magical!
• Unfortunately, her cancer returned.  It was in her lungs this time, and she had surgery to remove 2/3 of her right lung.  After the surgery, she continued living  her life, including family vacation to Maine and another Disney vacation with Joey's family.
• The cancer returned a third time in the remaining part of her lung.  Kellsie spent much of her time in the hospital receiving chemo and radiation treatments.  She stayed positive throughout everything and was even able to come home for Christmas, travel to Chicago with her family, and take one last family vacation with Joey to Disney World.

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• Kellsie lost her battle with cancer on June 8th, 2011 after a long, hard fight.  

The foundation was started so that other families with children fighting cancer could make their child's dreams come true.  They also fund cancer research and offer scholarships to people going in to the nursing field (that's what Kellsie was going to school for).  Click here to see some of the recent programs Kellsie's Hope has funded!

And guess who runs the foundation?  Her fiance, Joey!  When I found that out, my heart was just touched!  In spite of his tremendous loss, he is making Kellsie's legacy live on is just a positive way!

I am honored to be a part of raising money for this organization.  I find it so special to be doing so by running through Disney World, one of Kellsie's favorite places!

If you are able, I'd love for you to support me in my efforts to help this organization.  You can give online through PayPal using this link, or you can give by cash or check.  See the details on this website, and just make sure to put my name on it.  Donations are tax-deductible.  If you can't give right now, there will be a link on the sidebar very soon.

Thanks for making it through this post, and thank you in advance for any donations you are able to make!