“Show the love!” Kate Poss emphatically writes on her website. “The generosity continues! We hit $5,000 in less than three weeks!” Kate will be running the 26-mile Austin Marathon on February 14, 2010, with all donations going to the Life Raft Group. Kate’s father John, who was diagnosed with GIST in May 2000, is a member of the LRG Board of Directors.
On October 6, Kate began a fundraising campaign challenging herself to raise $2,620 or $100 for every mile she ran, “plus an extra $20 for that pesky last .2 mile,” she noted. Little did she know the amazing response she would receive. Kate met her $2,620 goal in less than six hours.
“Unbelievable!,” Kate posted on the site. “Your generosity is overwhelming. It seriously brings tears to my eyes.” After increasing the goal to $5,000,
Kate was ecstatic to find it was reached in less than three weeks. She has now set a new target at $6,500 — a goal that surely seems within reach. So far, Kate has raised $5,926.20. Kate noted the importance of showing support for LRG through fundraisers such as hers. “By understanding and finding a cure for one cancer, we are one step closer to finding a cure for all cancers.”
John had surgery to remove a cantaloupe- size tumor from his stomach, along with two-thirds of his stomach, spleen, a section of his diaphragm and 40 percent of his liver.
“At the time of his diagnosis, my dad was told by his doctors to go home and enjoy what little time he had left,” Kate writes. “No one with cancer, not my dad, not your dad, no one should be told to go home and die, for there is nothing left to do. Help us find a cure and support those already diagnosed with this rare form of cancer.”
After John began Gleevec, the remaining tumors shrank in size and he continues on Gleevec to this day with no progression.
Many donors to Kate’s marathon campaign commented on her determination and spirit.
“You are amazing, girl!,” writes one such supporter. “Good luck! Do it for our daddies and all the others out there!”
You can visit Kate’s fundraising website at www.firstgiving.com/kateposs.
Written by Belinda Ehrlich
