Asalamu Alaykum folks!
Isn’t it beautiful to read about adventurous spirits who take life by the reigns and do the things we usually just sit and dream about!? Laila is one of those chicas! Hijab clad, full spirit and passion, she is now training to hike the Grand Canyon! Yes...hike the GRAND CANYON!
And not just for herself, but for a great cause too; she is hiking to find a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma. Mashallah!Here is a heart touching story she relayed to me:
Quince was diagnosed at the age of 28, which is only 5 years older than me. Thanks to funded research he was one of the first people to do a stem cell treatment that saved his life. He has officially been in remission for the past 10 years now. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Last year one of my teammate ran in honor of a little boy name Liam. They visited him before the marathon because he wanted to thank them for what they were doing. A few days after she ran the marathon, Liam passed away with his family at his side.
Whenever I read about these causes, trying to raise money for research for cures…I always feel a sense of powerlessness. My cynicism comes out, like this is a wall too high to scale, but Laila really shocked me when she told me that the research that the LLS (Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) has been doing in the past 40 years, has actually managed to save lives! May Allah reward her efforts! It’s so great to see sisters doing something truly beneficial in their community.
The last thing she said to me was this:
As I have been going through my fundraising I have found that best way to look at it, is that no matter how much a raise weather it is $1 or $10,000, that is a dollar that LLS did not have yesterday. So, the statement, “I can’t make a difference”, is a load of poop.
Isn't that great?! Listen all of you, I am sending a big request to all my readers (wink wink, nudge nudge)! Go take a look at her page to track her journey. She has educational and entertaining you tube videos up as well. For one of them, she committed to just consuming healthy drinks (no food) for a set amount time.
Go Team Laila!
Wow, mashaAllah that is amazing. May Allah reward her. Heading on over there now.
ReplyDeleteI think the link is not right, I'll check back later today.
ReplyDeletehey sweets. Thank you for telling me about the link! I got it fixed asap. ALl the best!
DeletemashaAllah!
ReplyDeleteMashallah! What an amazing person
ReplyDeleteIts nice to read about people who are driven, moreso because they inspire you to take a long hard look at yourself and say "what am i doing to make a differnce"
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