Stroudsburg woman donates time, training for cancer research ...

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When Khaleeqa Rouse competes in the Ironman 70.3 Pocono Mountains Sunday, she will be doing so to raise money for cancer research. She wears bracelets with the names of people she knows who had died from cancer, and the name of one survivor.David Kidwell/Pocono Record

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By ANDREA MARILYN GARCIA

October 01, 2011

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One by one, Khaleeqa Rouse solemnly counts each bracelet on her left arm, slowly recognizing each individual's name and their story.

Raymond Britto, esophagus cancer.

Tasjae McAllister, leukemia.

Thelma Hobson, pancreatic cancer.

More names and more cancer types follow in her grim recitation. The bracelets memorialize 10 cancer patients, all but one of whom succumbed to the disease.

"I look at my wrist and it reminds me of their struggle, then I know I can get through this," she said.

Rouse will be participating in Sunday's Ironman 70.3 Pocono Mountains triathlon as a member of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training, which raises money and awareness for leukemia and lymphoma research, patients and survivors.

Rouse, 27, is not your everyday athlete. The Stroudsburg woman lost 65 pounds in the past 18 months after joining Team in Training.

"I was in a bad place in my life, and this weight was like an anchor," she said.

When she saw a TV commercial for Team in Training, she decided to change her life.

"There was no looking back. You have this great motivation behind you because you are doing something that is more than yourself," Rouse said.

The first bracelet started as an honorary emblem to her aunt, a breast cancer survivor, which she wore as a motivational tool during training. That's when she got the idea for others to donate in memory or honor of a cancer patient. She would wear the names throughout training.

The bracelets are different from the rubber elastic ones popular with other causes. Rouse's bracelets are strung together, decorated with colorful beads with white, candy-sized letters spelling out the names.

"I haven't taken them off since I put them on," she said.

Only $300 away from reaching her $2,800 goal, she is confident that the money will be there.

Though this is Rouse's first Ironman event, she hopes to continue with other contests next summer, and continue fundraising for cancer research.

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Source: http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111001/NEWS/110010328/-1/rss01

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