Touting Team Thomas

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

Running 13 miles is easy – at least compared to beating leukemia.
Ten Rural Retreat residents have formed “Teaming up for Thomas,” a group dedicated to completing the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital half-marathon in December in honor of 8-year-old Thomas Musser.
Thomas, who completed kindergarten through second grade at Rural Retreat Elementary School before going to St. Jude in Memphis, Tenn., this summer for a bone marrow transplant, was first diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, in May 2005.
He received the transplant from his mother, Lisa Musser, on Sept. 22. During a phone interview Monday from Memphis, where the family is living temporarily while Thomas continues to receive treatment, Musser said Thomas’ long-term outlook is good.
“It just couldn’t have turned out any better,” she said about the September transplant.
ALL is the most common form of childhood cancer and, according to St. Jude’s Web site, about 90 percent of children with the disease can be cured, defined as remaining leukemia-free for 10 or more years.
While Thomas is on the road to recovery, he must remain in Memphis for monitoring for 100 days after his Sept. 22 surgery.
The family, which along with Lisa includes her husband, Ed, a vice president of Musser Lumber in Rural Retreat, and Thomas’ twin 10-year-old brothers, Andrew and Matthew, plans to return to Rural Retreat permanently as soon as Thomas can come back to Southwest Virginia long-term, potentially sometime in 2010.
Tutors have been able to work with the boys in Memphis so Musser said they should be able to rejoin their regular grade levels when they move back to Rural Retreat.
Musser said she’s not sure if Thomas will be able to make it outside for the half-marathon on Dec. 5, but she said she hopes to be on the course to cheer on her friends.
“I’m definitely planning on going out and supporting them,” she said.
Musser said she got word about the running group’s plans to compete in Thomas’ name this summer.
“We were thrilled because it would help St. Jude who have been instrumental in saving my son’s life,” she said.
Musser added that Thomas’ reaction to the group’s formation was typical for an 8-year-old.
“I think his word was ‘cool’ or ‘awesome,’ I can’t remember exactly,” Musser said with a laugh.
Money raised by Teaming up for Thomas will go toward St. Jude’s overall operating costs, which average nearly $1.4 million a day.
The hospital treats more than 5,000 patients each year.
As part of their training regimen, eight of the 10 group members who plan to run the half-marathon next month competed in the annual Rural Retreat 5k Pepper Run on Oct. 18.
Susan Spraker, one of the more experienced members of the group, said she and her teammates have been training hard.
She said the men in the group often go for a run together during the week, while the women gather for their long jogs on weekends.
Last weekend, Spraker said the women completed 11 miles.
“It’s kind of becoming a competition between the husbands and the wives,” she said, adding with a laugh that the wives have been winning so far.
Spraker said the idea for Teaming up for Thomas came from the merger of two goals: helping the Musser family and many of the women wanting to complete a half-marathon before their 40th birthdays.
Group member Susan Evans and Spraker have finished half-marathons before, but Spraker said the December event will be the first race of that distance for the rest of the team.
“We all encourage each other when it gets really hard, but we know Thomas has gone through a lot more,” Spraker said.
The group members plan to take a long weekend in Memphis around the Saturday race in December to ensure they have plenty of time to visit Thomas and the rest of the Mussers.
Other groups in Rural Retreat who can’t make the trip to Memphis next month are also chipping in to help raise funds for Thomas and St. Jude.
A lemonade stand earlier this year earned $2,000 for the cause, while Rural Retreat Elementary School continues to sell bracelets in Thomas’ honor.
“He is very well-loved,” Spraker said.
Thomas is an avid sports fan, especially of Hokies football and Yankees baseball.
In September 2007, Thomas and his brothers got to visit the old Yankee Stadium as part of a trip organized by the Make-A-Wish Foundation and meet baseball stars like Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.
Musser said Teaming up for Thomas is another example of how much backing the family has had in helping Thomas fight his disease.
“It just shows the support that our community has given us for almost five years now,” she said.
To donate to Teaming up for Thomas, go to http://www.stjudeheroes.org and click on the “Search for a Team” tab.
For more information about Thomas or to keep up with his recovery, visit http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/thomasmusser.
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .