Thomas Ptashnik's Fundraiser:

As sophomores in college at the University of Georgia my buddy(Thatcher Smith) and I decided to try and do something most college students don't do... run 26.2 miles. A lot of people would label you as crazy for putting yourself through multiple hours of running but we look at it as one more thing to cross off the bucket list. While training for this marathon we have set the goal of raising $2,000 dollars to donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Leukemia is a form of cancer that hits not too far from home. In January 2010 my uncle was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, commonly referred to as CLL. The good news about this cancer is that 90% of patients have a form of the cancer that can be controlled, the bad news for my uncle was that he was part of the other 10%. He was told that his condition had an extremely high mortality rate and his chances of living did not look good. Unwilling to give up my uncle opted for a risky bone marrow transplant. On July 7, 2011 he had a bone marrow transplant but the transplant was not a perfect match. The result was further complications and the development of Graft- Versus- Host- Disease which proceeded to attack his liver, skin, and eyes. Today, my uncle still continues to battle complications from Graft- Versus- Host- Disease but has been able to almost fully regain his health. My thinking is that if my uncle can spend 7 months in a hospital, beat leukemia, and fight a disease I should have no problem running for a couple hours. Please donate and help support the cause