“When you make a commitment to a cause it is a binding pledge that you will dedicate yourself 100% to ensure the success of the cause.”
Failure to meet your commitment is not an option
- Bob Rebello ñ just an ordinary guy

Dear [fname],

I am happy to report that I met my commitment that I would finish the Stockholm marathon; my finish time was 5:40 - although this was my worst marathon finish time ever it definitely is the one that I will always remember because I somehow found a way to cross the finish line. When I left San Diego for Stockholm I knew that I would not meet my original goal of a 4:20 marathon due to my Achilles injury and that it was going to be difficult for me to just finish the marathon. I was able to finish even though there were many times during the marathon that the pain in my right heel was so bad that I thought about dropping out of the marathon. During the times when I thought about giving up I just kept reminding myself that I had made a commitment to my donors that I would finish the marathon and that “I did not have the option of walking off the course”. Not only did I have the pain to contend with, the temperature throughout the marathon was 84 degrees and there was very little shade along the route – every time I looked up there was that Black Cloud over me – absolutely nothing was going right – welcome to Stockholm Bob. At mile 23 the pain in my heel was so bad that I was having difficulty even walking when one of the marathon medical team members came up to me and told me that I looked in pretty bad shape and wanted to know if I wanted a ride to the finish where I could get medical attention. My response was that I only have 3.2 miles to go and if I have to I will walk to the finish line - which is what I eventually did - somehow my 73-year “young” body was able to fight through the heel pain, the 84-degree temperature and I eventually crossed the finish line.

Website Update:
You will now be able to go to my website and see the latest donations totals for my Stockholm marathon as well as the overall totals for the past 11 years as I will be updating the donations as they are received. We are bringing kidney cancer awareness around the world - “Over the last 2 years my website has received visits from 49 foreign countries and 49 US States”. My Stockholm photos are now on my website –check them out – I took most of the photos a day before the marathon as I knew that I would not able to do much walking after the marathon due to my Achilles injury.

BIDMC Kidney Cancer Research Update:
The last 5 years has been a virtual revolution in the treatment and outcome of patients with advanced kidney cancer. Research within the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Kidney Cancer Program and SPORE grant has helped elucidate the biology of kidney cancer leading either directly or indirectly to the government approval of 5 new drugs for the treatment of patients with this disease. These therapies have contributed to an improvement in life expectancy for patients with kidney cancer from a median of 13 months in 2002 to in excess of 26 months in 2008.

Donations Update:
Although these are difficult times I am very optimistic that with the continued support and encouragement of people like you we will meet this year’s donations goal of $10,000.00 for such a very worthy cause. As of this date we have raised $4,556.20 for the Stockholm marathon and we now only need to raise $440.80 to reach our next donations milestone of $70,000.00. Our 10 –year total raised for kidney cancer research is now at $69,559.20 and during the 11-year quest to raise money for kidney cancer research I have received a total of 909 donations from people living in 24 U.S. states and 1 foreign country. We are only 91 donations away from reaching our next donations milestone of receiving 1,000 donations. I am confident that with your help we will reach the 1,000 donations milestone this year. For your information I have broken down the Stockholm, Sweden marathon for kidney cancer research donations by the month they were made.

People suffering with kidney cancer need your help. You help them by donating to kidney cancer research now.

How To Donate By Credit Card:
Click here to make a secure donation by Credit Card today.

How To Donate By Check:
Please make check payable to: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Mail to: Bob Rebello
1399 9th Avenue #918
San Diego, CA 92101

I have now finished marathons in 11 countries and on 5 continents – North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. I am committed, and confident, that I will meet my mission to finish marathons on all 7 continents by finishing marathons on the last 2 continents of Africa and Antarctica. I would greatly appreciate your continued support to help in the fight against kidney cancer by donating to this years Stockholm, Sweden marathon – donations will be accepted up to December 31, 2009. 100% of your generous tax-deductible donation will go directly to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Biologic Therapy Research Program and will be placed in the Dr. Michael Atkins Kidney Cancer research fund in memory of John Rebello. The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centers Tax ID# is 042-103-881. If your company has a Matching Gifts Program I encourage you to use the Program to help in the fight against kidney cancer. To date we have received 2 matching gifts for the Stockholm marathon – thank you to the 2 donors who brought in the matching gifts.

Worldwide Marathons Donations Sources:

As you can see from the 1999 to 2009 donation sources we have now brought kidney cancer awareness to 24 US states [green] and 1 foreign country. We recently received a donation from the great state of Minnesota, which brought the total US states that have donated to 24. To help bring awareness to the other 26 US states [red] and as many foreign countries as possible I would greatly appreciate it if you would forward the newsletter to family, friends, and people you know who live in those states. This is a great opportunity for us to let people throughout the US and around the world know about the efforts that are being made to find a cure for kidney cancer. We are close to coloring all of the New England states green, we only need donations from the states of Maine and Vermont. If you know someone in those states please forward the newsletter to them so that they can become a part of this very worthy cause.

I would not be able to publish my monthly newsletters without the very creative Graphic design work of Christian Riggs, President of Riggs Creative Group. Christian has not only given his time and design expertise to the newsletter but he also designed and maintains my website.

Listed below are my corporate sponsors who have generously donated their “Best in Class” products and services to help me meet my mission. Without their generous support it would be very difficult for me to continue my mission.

Have a great day,
Bob Rebello