IronTeam Honorees

Our Honorees give back to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, so that others will hopefully never have to experience what they have been through with being afflicted by blood cancer. They came to support the team at our practice sprint distance triathlon on Treasure Island December 4th. Lesley, one of our Honorees, participated and will race at Ironman Canada. From left to right are Kevin, Laura, Larissa, myself behind Larissa, Lesley, and Oleg.

Kevin Weaver
Kevin's story is quite amazing. Diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when he was almost 3 years old, Kevin has reached the 24 -year mark of being in remission! He's been a TNT honoree for many teams for the past six years, and decided to celebrate his 31st birthday by training for the PF Chang's Suzuki Rock & Roll Half-Marathon in Arizona in January. As part of this, he's doing some fundraising of his own, so please help him blow his fundraising goal out of the water as a thank you for constantly giving back to the cause he's come to know so well! Learn more about Kevin.

Laura Warren
Laura is what one could call a 'walking miracle'. A 28-year survivor of Hodgkin's, Laura experienced a recurrence of her cancer years after her original diagnosis, as well as undergoing a mastectomy and treatment for breast cancer years after that recurrence - all while training for and ultimately completing the San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon! Laura's since become an avid cyclist and has continued participation with other TNT teams, both as Honoree and active participant. We are lucky to have her as our IronTeam honoree again this year.

Larissa Campana
Larissa is a ten-year old girl who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) just after her first birthday in 1995. Due to the amazing advancements in cancer treatment, Larissa is still with us today and evidently feisty as ever! Larissa is no stranger to TNT; she has been a team honoree for the East Bay triathlon team for several seasons and loved being involved. In fact, one of our own participants extraordinaire, Gary Bean, is Larissa's pediatrician.

Lesley Mansford
Lesley is also in the video game industry; she's a top executive at Electronic Arts (EA) and somehow has managed to participate in several triathlons (Wildflower, Treasure Island, among others) despite her busy work schedule. Lesley was diagnosed with CLL, May 2002, but was lucky to catch it at Stage 0 (ie., very early on). Not one to sit around and do nothing about her health, Lesley is also an IronTeam participant, and will be rocking the Ironman Canada course next August. She expects the run at IMC to be the hardest, but yours truly couldn't even catch up with her at yesterday's Nike Half-marathon. Lightning!!!

Oleg Nodelman
Oleg was was diagnosed with Burkitt non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on May 1, 2003 - just two days prior to competing in his first triathlon at Wildflower where he, too, had spent several months raising thousands of dollars for the LLS. Blessed with a sick yet hilarious sense of humor, Oleg named his tumor "jerry" and went several rounds fighting him out of his body, keeping his spirits up the whole time. Oleg is currently in remission and continues to take charge of his health with the support of his amazing wife, Heather.

Craig Dalton
This is Craig's second year as an IronTeam Honoree. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in June 2002, just weeks after completing his very first triathlon at Wildflower with TNT (he'd just gotten done raising thousands of dollars for the LLS, in fact). In addition to being an Ironteam Honoree, Craig was also a participant - he completed Ironman Canada just this past August and smoked the course!! Formerly a competitive mountain biker, you'll usually see Craig in his Lombardi Sports team bike gear - if you don't see him first at Ironteam social functions or "testing" games on his wireless cell phone created by his company, i-play. Learn more about Craig.

Louie Bonpua (1965-2001)
Last but not least is our forever team honoree, "Shrimp" Louie Bonpua. Louie was diagnosed with leukemia on September 17, 1997. Louie was an Ironteam participant and completed Ironman Canada in August 2001 - while still suffering from leukemia. That next January, in 2002, he escaped from the hospital just long enough to carry the Olympic Torch over the Golden Gate Bridge. Louie made local and national news of his amazing inner strength and positive spirit. Sadly, Louie had to go back into the hospital two days later and never recovered. Louie's memory lives on, however, as you can see from his website, www.shrimplouie.com as well as many other stories and articles that made Louie a local legend and inspiration to so many. Ironteam has since held an annual Louie Bonpua Memorial Triathlon, which is held every year in January in Louie's honor and memory. Learn more about Louie .