by Maggie Ybarra
Daily Lobo
For Amy Farrar-Baker, running is more than just a way to stay in shape.
With every mile she treads over, Farrar-Baker financially assists the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
On Jan. 7, 2007, Farrar-Baker will be in Orlando to run 26.2 miles in the Walt Disney World Marathon. Her participation in the event will ensure that $5,000 goes to benefit the society.
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"Training for a marathon is a somewhat selfish endeavor," Farrar-Baker said.
As a pharmacy doctorate student at UNM with a bachelor's degree in biology, Farrar-Baker initially couldn't afford to let her goal of participating in a marathon interrupt her busy schedule.
It wasn't until she received a flier in her mailbox from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society that she took the idea seriously.
"For two and a half years, I kept saying, 'I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it,'" Farrar-Baker said.
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and mycloma. It also strives to improve the quality of life for patients and their families.
When she first began running on behalf of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, she didn't know of any blood cancer survivors or patients, she said.
Today, she said she has one friend that recently received a bone marrow transplant and another that was diagnosed with a condition that killed him in less than three months.
"I know I need to do this for them," Farrar-Baker said.
Farrar-Baker isn't the only UNM student to let her interest in the marathon evolve into a personal mission, she said. Every season this year, Farrar-Baker has mentored newcomers and taught them fundraising skills, she said.
"We have a lot of people at UNM training for events," Farrar-Baker said. "There are almost too many to list."
