Swim, Bike, Run - Anything for Hans!

As a family, we choose a research fundraiser to support each year in Hans' honor.  This September, we will mark the third year without him here with us, and we will recognize Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month and  support  Children's Hospital Los Angeles Pediatric Cancer Research by participating in the Nautical Malibu Triathlon on 9/20/15.  We lost him on 9/21/12, after a six year battle against neuroblastoma.  

Hans' story was featured by the Nautical Malibu Triathlon event sponsors this week, please read below.

You can click on any one of these links to support Team Hans.

Lara's Weberling's Page (Lara is completing the whole thing: swim 1/2 mile open water swim at Mailbu, bike 18 mile ride along highway 1, and  run 4 mile loop along highway 1) 

http://nauticamalibutri2015.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1129339&lis=1&kntae1129339=3E1E53CD05774422838FE337C5B052F3&supId=419810648

Kevin Weberling (biking in a relay team along with our neighbor Don)

http://nauticamalibutri2015.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1129339&lis=1&kntae1129339=3E1E53CD05774422838FE337C5B052F3&supId=419810741

Elle Weberling (running in a relay team along with our neighbor Don)

http://nauticamalibutri2015.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1129339&lis=1&kntae1129339=3E1E53CD05774422838FE337C5B052F3&supId=419810802

Don Nelson - (swimming in a relay team along with Kevin and Elle)

http://nauticamalibutri2015.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1129339&lis=1&kntae1129339=3E1E53CD05774422838FE337C5B052F3&supId=419810904

Nautica Malibu Triathlon - Fundraising View this email in your browser Anything for Hans As parents, we’d do anything for our children. Nine years ago, in 2006, we found out our precious and mischievous three-year-old was fighting a deadly childhood cancer, Stage IV High Risk Neuroblastoma. Kevin and I would have done anything to change  places with him and take on that battle ourselves  so he didn’t have to. The choice was not ours to make, and we had to stand by and watch our beautiful  son wage a battle against one of modern medicine’s remaining enigmas. We did everything we knew to do for him, circled the wagons, hit the books, and  gratefully channeled the love and support that poured out for him into the most  hopeful treatments we could find. Neuroblastoma is a tricky cancer to treat, because it has often advanced to Stage IV  and metastasized before it is diagnosed. It can run a very different course in each  child. Hans’  Neuroblastoma would become a zombie; attacking our boy in a slow, relentless pursuit. And Hans would fight it like a tiny gladiator for six long years. In that time frame, Hans received treatments across the country from four different children’s hospitals, he enrolled in multiple clinical trials, he never spent a day off  treatment since his diagnosis, and due to the harshness of his treatments and their  side effects, he never spent a month straight in a classroom. It was moving and powerful to see Hans get through what he had to - to put everything  he had into fighting for his life. It was beautiful to see the childlike way he appreciated  the life that he fought so hard to live. He just wanted to get his treatments done so he could be at home, with his loving  family and his attentive pets, with his toys and projects and comforts and favorite  games and movies and shows. He just wanted to swim and play and ride his bike.  He just wanted to be surrounded by his favorite foods and graze all day long. He  just wanted to love his family and his friends and animals and get just absolutely the  most of it that he could. It was amazing and inspiring to witness what he had to go  through to live that little boy’s life. The gift of Hans’ love was pure and unconditional.  It was a gift that will last a lifetime and beyond. It will last forever. Since he was diagnosed we’d have done anything. If a cure were to be found at the  bottom of the ocean or the top of Mount Everest, we would have figured out how to  get there. Since we lost Hans we’d do anything to honor his life. We’ve joined forces  with other parents in a number of ways to bring awareness, community and education around this disease. We’ve served on advisory councils, boards and committees to help give a voice for the child’s experience in hospitals and clinical trials. Together with Hans’ friends and family, and other children battling Neuroblastoma, we’ve helped raise hundreds of thousands  of dollars in donations for Neuroblastoma research through multiple fundraising efforts  over the past nine years. When Sophia’s mom, Sandra, asked us if we would like to join Sophia’s Buddies and  put in a Team Hans for the CHLA Malibu Nautica Triathlon, the answer was always  Yes. Anything for Hans. This year, the triathlon will take place just one day before the  third anniversary of us losing our beloved boy on September 21, 2012. Kevin and I,  our sixteen year old daughter Elle, and our neighbor Don (whose son Keir beat  Leukemia at CHLA about 15 years ago) will swim, bike and run in Hans’ honor on  Sept. 20th. I’m going to the do the whole event (at my pace) and Don, Kevin and Elle  are going to do the Swim, Bike, Run relay. We wouldn’t be anywhere else. Funds  raised will go to CHLA pediatric cancer research so that in the future, other children  might not have to fight quite so hard. Thank you so much for SWIMMING, BIKING and RUNNING  for pediatric cancer research!!