04/28/2019
Meet Dave Bush and his daughter, Krista. Dave is a Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor and the inspiration behind Krista's Team in Training journey. Read their story below...
My father was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in February 2001. His symptom started with a cough that wouldn’t go away. He went to the doctor and had an x-ray which disclosed a spot on his lung. His next step was to have a biopsy. At the time I was living in Salt Lake City, UT and had come home for a weekend to take my parents to the Oprah show in Chicago. After the weekend my father had to have the biopsy which resulted in surgery where they had to open his chest similar to open heart surgery. That day, unfortunately, I had to fly back to Utah and my lasting image of my father was in ICU on a breathing tube. He was diagnosed with cancer; however, didn’t start his treatments until months later.
That summer I was invited to an informational meeting in Park City about training for a marathon as it was something I always wanted to do. Ironically the meeting was hosted by Team in Training (TNT). But that was put on hold for several reasons. Several months later I ended up moving back to the St. Louis area to be home. At the same time I was introduced to a new friend through church, Shannon Schmidt who invited me to participate in the Anchorage Mayor’s Midnight Marathon 2002 with Team in Training. This was a saving grace for me at the time as I wasn’t sure how to support my father in everything he was about to start going through and it allowed me to start my journey with TNT. Shannon, myself and our friend Sherrill called ourselves Dave’s Angels. At the finish line in Anchorage were my parents and my friend’s spouses. Needless to say, that was a true blessing having my father there because those 6 months were not easy.
My father’s chemo treatments which included rituxin spanned several years: January 2002 5 days/week x 3 weeks; May 2002 5 days/week x 4 weeks; took a break then resumed December 2003 5 days/week x 3 weeks and June 2004 5 days x 4 weeks which was his last treatment. He continued to visit his doctor for 10 years afterwards and received a clean bill of health. We honestly never used the word remission.
But I didn’t stop my journey with Team in Training there. There was and still is more work needed to be done. Over the last 17 years, I have participated in all four events TNT offers from running, cycling, triathlons, and hiking totaling 12 events and happily have raised money for research and awareness for blood cancers. In 2017/2018 alone The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) has helped advance 34 of the 39 blood cancer treatments approved by the FDA. It’s the people who are affected by cancer I keep meeting of why I keep returning. Beyond measure, these research dollars are saving lives, including my fathers.
Unfortunately, over these years, my father hasn’t been the image of pure health but he’s my #1 fighter in my life. Because of his immune system and overall health he has had to go through so much on top of cancer - spinal surgery, viral encephalitis, open heart surgery, double knee replacement, shingles, and multiple back surgeries to name a few. Through all of this, he has never complained. He never asked why me. He is our silent solider and my number one inspiration of why I’ll always bleed TNT purple.
Let’s keep fighting because we can and because someone you/I love is either a family or friend.
