Big Climb 2012 - Team Ezra! Join us as we fight Leukemia

Join Team Ezra

Team Ezra 2012 is raising money to fight Leukemia, please join Ezra's Team or make a pledge here. The Big Climb is an awesome fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We climb the interior stairwells of the Columbia Tower - Seattle's tallest skyscraper.

69 Flights of stairs. 1,311 steps. 788 feet of vertical elevation.

Climb. Conquer. CURE!

Last year the Big Climb raised over $1.6 million dollars! This money goes to blood cancer research and patient support.

This is Team Ezra's 4th year participating. In the past 3 years we have raised over $85,000. That makes us happy. Thank you for supporting Team Ezra and for giving generously.

I will be the first one to admit that I dislike fundraising. It is hard for me to fundraise. I don't like asking people for money. BUT, every time I think how hard it is for me to fundraise, I think how much harder it is to hear the words - your child has Leukemia. We are raising money to help some family that is hearing those words today. I hope that their child can live because of money we raise. Research makes a difference. Please give. Many thanks, Ezra's mom.

Get involved. Join Team Ezra. Make a pledge in Ezra's memory.

Make a difference in the fight against blood cancers.

condolences

iSad pumpkin & iPod case, created by Milo

We all felt badly this week when we heard of Steve Jobs' death. We don't know Steve personally, but we are an Apple family and we use his creations daily in our home and lives. Also, we are a family that knows how hard it is to lose a loved one. Milo was able to create something that showed not only how we feel about the death of Steve Jobs, but also, how we feel about the death of Ezra - every day.

When Ezra died we were so grateful for all of the condolences we received and are still touched by special things people do to remember our boy and honor his life.

Milo left his condolences at the Apple Store in University Village. After he left his pumpkin and ipod case we watched as many stopped and admired his creativity and smiled at the cool things he had made. I like to think that Steve Jobs would smile as well, if he has a chance to see them, ihope he does. Thanks Milo, for reminding us of the importance of doing something to remember the lives of those we miss and sending heart felt condolences.

The Big Climb 2011 - Team Ezra! raises $19,683 to fight Leukemia

Thank you

On behalf of Team Ezra! Thank you for every donation made to our team!

Team Ezra! ended up in 3rd place overall for fundraising - that's out of hundreds of teams! Awesome! As many of you know, the Big Climb raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This particular event - a stairclimb up the tallest building in Seattle - is one of their biggest fundraisers, not just in Seattle, or Washington, but in the United States. Altogether, the Big Climb raised just over $1.6 million dollars. Hooray, thanks for helping everyone!!

One of the things that makes me feel really good about raising money for this event is that only 5% of money raised goes to overhead and 95% goes to blood cancer research and patient aid.

Thank you to everyone who climbed up 69 flights of stairs to raise money for our team. If you haven't climbed with us before, I hope you will consider it next year. Climbing up those never ending steps is hard, but of course not as hard as being diagnosed with Leukemia. In the stairwells, on each floor is a poster of someone has been diagnosed with a blood cancer - they may be currently fighting the disease or be a lucky survivor, or an unlucky victim. It helps me see the importance of why I'm climbing and why I'm raising money.

If you can't climb with us, but you can make a donation I hope that you will also feel like you are part of Team Ezra! Climbing is great, but raising money is the real reason for the event. There are lots of folks who sign up for the Big Climb just to participate in an athletic event and don't raise any money at all. The point is to raise money. The point is find a cure for blood cancer. The point is to give doctors money to conduct research. When it's your child in the hospital and you've just heard the words Leukemia and your child's name in the same sentence, you hope that the doctor will know how much chemo to give and what the proper steps will be to give your child a chance to survive. It is hard to fundraise, it is hard to ask people for money, but it is harder to hear the diagnosis of Leukemia. In memory of Ezra I hope that we can continue to raise money to fight against this terrible disease and to give others the chance to LIVE.

You can imagine that in the current economy with all of the budget cuts going on, cancer research is not top on anyone's funding list. Cancer is the No. 1 disease killer of children in the US and the second overall killer of children, behind car accidents. Just as an FYI, of the millions our government dedicates to cancer research each year, only 3% goes towards childhood cancers. Ouch. What could research do? Perhaps lead to a breakthrough - maybe less invasive treatments, maybe early detection screening. I know with Ezra, they were not sure if the amount of chemo they needed to give him would kill him, but if they didn't give him enough chemo he would die. And this was at Seattle Children's Hospital - whose cancer program was ranked in the top 10 nationally by US News and World Report 2010. Seattle Children's Hospital is AWESOME, but their oncologists need money for research. Ezra's oncologist receives money from the LLS for her research. Thank you LLS.

My son has already died. But maybe some other child - who is being diagnosed today, or tomorrow, or next week, will get to live, because of the money WE helped to raise. Thank you for helping us raise money. Every dollar counts. $5, $25, $250, $500, $1000. It all adds up. Thank you for your generosity. Thank you for helping us make a difference.

Thank you for being a part of TEAM EZRA!

Three years of the Big Climb: Total money raised thru fundraising for Team Ezra $85,894. In addition, for every team member who climbs, 95% of their $40 entrance fee raises money for research and patient aid. That is cool. I will have to count up our team members, but we have had over 100 in the last 3 years. THANK YOU!!!

The Big Climb! Help us raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

So it seems that this is the 3rd year Team Ezra! will be a raising money for the LLS. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society raises money to fund blood cancer research and to help families financially that have a loved one struggling with this disease.

Last night Milo showed me something he is reading for his science class - it was about Leukemia. The irony. Milo knows more about Leukemia than anyone sitting in his science class. At 12 years old he could give the class lecture. He could give all the facts. And then he could tell more. What is it like to lose your identical twin, who also happens to be your best friend? Not many people know what that would feel like, but Milo does. How does your family change after one of the kids die. He knows all about that too.

His homework reading assignment was just about what the disease is. But here are some facts about the disease. Fact: every 4 minutes someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer and every 10 minutes someone dies from one. Fact: over 54,000 people in the US will die from a blood cancer this year. Fact: Leukemia, in particular causes more deaths than any other cancer in children and youth under the age of 20.

Unfortunately, Leukemia isn't just about facts to our family or to any other family touched by this disease. Leukemia is about sadness, loss, devastation, and heartbreak.

As many of you know, my son Ezra had Leukemia for less than one week before he was diagnosed. It was so fast and so silent. On the day Ezra was diagnosed he was doing fitness tests in PE and taking a test for advanced placement learning opportunities. He ran around with friends at lunch. He stayed after school to play with his brother and friends.

And when our extremely healthy 10 year old said he wasn't feeling well later that evening, we were concerned. Concerned enough to take him to urgent care, even though the consulting nurse thought it was nothing and there was no need to bring him in. Within minutes of arriving at Urgent Care, Ezra slipped into a coma. Not that we knew it, we just thought he had fallen asleep. He had. A few minutes later blood tests came back and we heard the words Leukemia for the first time. He presented with a white blood cell count well over 300,000. Ezra never woke up and died 6 days later.

We received test results after Ezra died, it seems he had a very rare and aggressive form of Leukemia that here in the US only about 10 kids a year get. Their odds at survival are less than 5%. Here is another fact. I read recently that children diagnosed with Leukemia - that present with very high white blood cell counts are not likely to survive.

Leukemia sucks. It killed my son. There aren't any facts or statistics that can explain what that feels like.

And so, for all of these reasons our family is raising money for the LLS . I hope you can join us in our fight against Leukemia. Donate to Team Ezra!

Thoughts of Ezra and Open House Feb 13 6:00-7:30pm

Of course we remember Ezra everyday, but on his heaven anniversary he is even closer to our hearts. His unicycle, helmet, and waveboard on resting in the corner of our family room with a favorite pair of his Converse sneakers. A few of his favorite things. Reminding us of his active and fun life. Always on the move. Always laughing. Always enjoying life. Sometimes I put those sneakers on and wear them. I love that I can do that. It makes me feel so close to him.

A special thanks to all of our friends who remember Ezra and think of ways to honor his memory and life. It means so much to all of us.

We will have an open house February 13, 2011 from 6:00 - 7:30 pm. If you would like to stop by, you are welcome.

Team Ezra - First Place Fundraising! $56,795 - WOW!

Thank you to everyone who donated to Team Ezra! We are very honored to announce that the first place for team fundraising went to Team Ezra and the first place for individual fundraising went to Ryan. We were so pleased to be able to raise so much money in Ezra's name, it was truly an honor and a gave us a real feeling of accomplishment.

Thank you to everyone who climbed the Columbia Tower with us. Our team was 58 members strong and had participants from far off places like Chicago, Park City, and Washougal and many from our very own hometown of Seattle. Our team members did an incredible job fundraising. I know that hardly anyone likes fundraising, but everyone got in the spirit and got behind our goal which was to raise as much money as possible to fight blood cancers in honor of Ezra. Thank you.

In addition, we had so many donations coming in from far and wide from people who could not climb with us, we appreciate every single donation, regardless of the amount, every dollar helped us reach our goal. Huge thank you!

During February and March, Team Ezra made it into the top 10 fundraising teams and we saw our team climb from team #10 to team #4. And then in the last few weeks, we jumped from team #4 to team #1, with the results not being released until last Thursday night. We were surprised and happy to hear that we had made it to the #1 spot. Incredible. Last year we raised just over $10,000. This year, over $56,000. I got to say a few words at the awards event, which combined top racers and top fundraisers from both the firefighters climb and the non firefighters climb. I thanked the LLS for sponsoring the event which gave us the opportunity to raise funds in Ezra's name, funds that will go directly to helping fight the disease that took his life. I said it was sort of like letting me write in huge letters across the sky "Ezra was here!' That his life mattered. That he made a difference in the world. That he made the world a better place when he lived and that he continues to do so through ways we honor his life today."

Other Big Climb numbers... Last year the 2 Big Climbs raised $1.3 million, this year they raised $1.6 million (23% increase). 1st place fundraising: Team Ezra $56,796. 2nd place: Team Lisa A $50,530. 3rd place: Climbing for Caleb $33,789.

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Thanks for Supporting Team Ezra 2010

It has been about a month since the Big Climb. I think we have finally recovered!

A HUGE thank you to everyone who supported Team Ezra, we appreciate it so much! This Big Climb was very exciting for us as Ezra was the official honoree of the 2010 Big Climb. We felt so honored to have him chosen for this, but we also felt a lot of pressure to get Ezra's story out there and involve as many people as possible. This translated to many hours of emails, phone calls, interviews, and emotional exhaustion. But through this great effort we hoped to raise Leukemia awareness, and help the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society raise funds for blood cancer research, as well as helping patients and their families currently fighting blood cancers. We received donations from a great number of people far and wide and appreciate each one of our supporters. The Final results will be tallied and released next week and I will post them here at that time.

Our team had about 50 people climb, which was awesome. Some were walkers, some were racers. Our fastest team member was my nephew Eric, who traveled from Park City, UT to climb with us. Milo was our 2nd fastest team member, and also the 2nd fastest racer under twelve. He finished in 12 minutes, which was smokin' fast. As with last year, most of our fastest times went to the kids on our team. In the recovery room after our climb, we got to watch my nephew Eric - who is a firefighter and paramedic - "assist in saving a life," when one of the climbers, not from our team had a heart attack and collapsed. Eric is as modest as he is awesome.

Stay tuned for final result tallies.