Living life with a purpose and for a cause: Team Bayan!

Bayan is my friend Hesham's daughter.
She died in 2009 at age 13.

Hesham is an old friend and while I don't get to see him much, I draw inspiration from him all the time.  I want you to meet him and hear about why he's running in the Chicago Marathon on 10/10/10!

Hesham and his lovely wife Reem lost their beautiful daughter Bayan a little over a year ago.  Bayan suffered from a disease that robbed her at a very young age of her ability to walk and run.  This is from the Bayan H. Hassaballa Charitable Foundation's website:

At the young age of 6, Bayan was diagnosed with Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T), a rare, progressive, degenerative disease that affects a large variety of systems in the body. Children with A-T appear normal at birth and the first signs of the disease such as a lack of balance and slurred speech caused by lack of muscle control (ataxia) do not usually appear until the second year of life. Victims of A-T are highly susceptible to develop immunodeficiency and malignancies of the blood system causing early death. Children with A-T are usually confined to wheelchairs by age 10 and often do not survive their teens. Presently, there is no cure for A-T or a way to slow down the progression of the disease.

Bayan died a little over a year ago to lymphoma at age 13.  I was at her funeral.  It was one** of the most sad things I've ever experienced.  I was amazed at the grace and composure Hesham retained at Bayan's funeral and always before and ever since Bayan's death.

I know he's had some extremely rough patches along the way but all in all he's trying to do something positive between now and when he and his wife Reem are eventually reunited with Bayan in Heaven.  One thing Hesham is doing is trying to find a cure for A-T.  He and Reem have formed a foundation to raise money to find a cure.  This Sunday Hesham is running the Chicago Marathon to raise money for the Bayan H. Hassaballa Charitable Foundation.

In order to raise funds to help find a cure for A-T, Dr. Hassaballa is running for two charities: A-T Children’s Project and the Bayan H. Hassaballa Charitable Foundation. There are a record-breaking 45,000 participants running for all different causes in the marathon this year. Although “Team Bayan” consists of only these two runners at this time, the team is still making a great impact and effort in raising awareness for this important cause.

Good luck Hesham!  I hope you run a great race, finish in record time and raise record amounts of money for this worthy endeavor.  I hope each of your purposeful deeds brings you some measure of ease, even if it is never complete and always bittersweet.  My prayers, my cheers and my support are with you!

If I am ever able to run a marathon, I promise to run with Team Bayan!

____________________________________________
**One of my nieces died in her infancy and my brother's wife's niece died a few years ago after a long battle with a lifelong medical afflication and both of those experiences were also very difficult to reconcile.

P.S.  Hesham's wife Reem is a wonderful person and while Hesham's writings (which appear online and in newspapers and elsewhere garner him more attention, Hesham is the first to remind us that Reem is always there supporting him and helping him.  My prayers and best wishes are certainly with Reem too!