Team Lola is once again joining up with Beat Childhood Cancer to run 200ish miles of Ragnar craziness July 10-11, 2026!
The relay style race puts 12 runners in 2 vans (6 in each), running nearly 200 miles over 2 days. This year we will have 2 teams for 24 runners to join us!
Each runner runs 3 legs (anywhere from 3 to 9 miles per leg) over that time. It's an average of ~16 miles per runner total over the experience. We do this with Lola as our encouragement and we have an awesome time together doing it!
About Lola Mae:
Lola Mae was a joyful spirit from the moment we first held her in our arms. She smiled big, hugged softly, and twirled beautifully. She was carefree and imaginative, always playing and happy. She was gentle, but feisty! At two years old she was already defending her older sister, Ellanor, from unfriendly children on the playground. She was a kind big sister as well, always welcoming her little brother, Henry, into her arms. We always knew our girl was brave, but it wasn't until her fight with cancer that we learned her courage was without limits. She fought hard through so much, and she did so saying, “I can do it!”
When Lola was 4 years old she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. She had been having stomach aches that would wake her up in the middle of the night, leg pains so bad she wanted to be carried all the time, and then began having blood in her urine. She had multiple blood draws. I asked for an ultrasound but was denied. We were then sent to a kidney specialist who thought that Lola's lab results could indicate she was recovering from having E. coli, but the next day her pain was worse and we brought her to the E.R. An ultrasound found a softball sized tumor near her kidney. The following day more scans were done and she received her cancer diagnosis.
Neuroblastoma is a terrible and aggressive disease. At the time of Lola's diagnosis in May 2015 about half of the children diagnosed with high risk NB would not make it into remission, and about half of the children that did, would later relapse. There is no cure for relapsed NB. The standard treatment plan is 18 months of aggressive: EVERYTHING. Early in Lola’s journey we were at clinic, getting her weekly blood draws, when a nurse new to us asked what type of cancer she had. When I answered, "Neuroblastoma," he gave me a sympathetic look and said, “Man, those kids have to go through it all.”
The following is a summarized list of what our Lola went through: surgery for bone marrow biopsy, surgery to place a central line for medicine and blood draws, 4 rounds of chemotherapy where 2 types of chemo given inpatient for 3-5 days, surgery to remove the tumor, a 5th round of chemo, and MIBG therapy (a type of radiation given internally). Next she was supposed to have: tandem stem cell transplants, external radiation, and 6 months of immunotherapy. Unfortunately Lola relapsed just before her scheduled transplant. She went through 3 rounds of a chemo and antibody combination, was again scheduled for her transplant, but then relapsed again. Now she was out of standard protocol treatment and her only option was to find a trial to join. She then went through another round of chemo, trying to get her well enough for a trial. But by then her cancer had completely stopped responding to chemotherapy. It was devastating! From then on her treatments were for pain management and quality of life purposes. She had radiation to her legs to stop the pain from the tumors in her bone marrow which were making her bones bow. She had radiation to her skull to stop the tumor near her eyes from further taking her eyesight. She had radiation to her back and pelvis when the tumor growing from her marrow was so large it pushed her femur out of the socket. At home we gave her cannabis oil, juiced cancer-fighting vegetables, used essential oils and natural supplements. All of this was done with the hope of healing our child. But her cure came after 12 months of fighting when she checked out of the hospital for the last time and went to heaven.
Why We Fight:
We miss our precious Lola every moment. No child should have to endure such suffering. No family should have to endure the loss of their child. Please support Beat Childhood Cancer. They are working hard to cure neuroblastoma and other cancers through research and trials. Many people on the board of BeatCC are parents of NB kids and they are fighting back against cancer!
Fight back with us!
Together, we will beat childhood cancer.