This year, my husband and I will be racing a 70.3 (Half IRONMAN) — a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride, and a 13.1-mile run.

But this race is not about a finish line. It’s about family. It’s about love. And it’s about fighting for kids who don’t get to choose their battle.

The Anna Schindler Foundation has deeply impacted my family’s life.

They have supported my brother as he battled a brain tumor.

They also supported my niece as she fought a long, hard battle with leukemia — a battle she courageously fought with everything she had, but ultimately lost.

Some kids win their fight.

Some kids don’t.

That is the heartbreaking reality of childhood cancer.

I have watched the strength it takes to endure treatments, the toll it takes on parents trying to stay strong, and the weight families carry every single day. The emotional strain. The financial pressure. The uncertainty. The fear.

And I have also seen the difference it makes when an organization steps in and says, “You are not alone.”

The Anna Schindler Foundation supports families in the middle of the storm — easing financial burdens, offering meaningful assistance, and providing hope when it’s needed most. My family has felt that support firsthand.

On race day, when our body aches and our mind wants to slow down, we will think of my brother. We will think of my niece. We will think of every child in a hospital bed fighting with courage most adults could never imagine.

Our 70.3 miles are temporary.

Their fight is not.

Every dollar raised will go directly to the Anna Schindler Foundation to help families who are walking this road right now. Families who need support. Families who need hope. Families who need to know they are not fighting alone.

If you’re able to give, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. If you can’t, sharing this page or saying a prayer for them means more than you know.

This race is for the kids who are still fighting.

For the families carrying the weight.

For the ones who won.

And for the ones we carry with us forever.

Let’s turn 70.3 miles into something that truly matters. Let’s go 70.3 miles — for them.