Martha Shaw

I am dedicating my training and fundraising efforts to Martha Shaw. She is my Hero, as she is of many who knew her far better than I."Heros" are the those who TNT (Team In Training) participants are training and fundraising in honour of.

Martha had Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She died at the age of 35, in 1997, 5 years after disease had first been discovered and when my son, Noah, was only 9 months old. I don't know how the advances in research and treatments which have occurred since 1997 might have helped her, but they have helped change the course of these diseases for others. With the continued advances in many different types of research the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society helps fund, more people are surviving these cancers every day.

Martha is the daughter of Larry and Joni Shaw of Illinois and the sister of Kathy and Dorothy. Joni's mother, Dorothy and my father, Paul, were brother and sister.

One of Martha's many gifts was her musical talent; music was the focus of how she gave to life. As a child, she was in the Cherub Choir in the St. Paul Lutheran Church in Villa Park, Illinois and continued on to playing her violin at services there.

Martha was a graduate of Jackson Jr. High, Willowbrook High School and Augustana College. She was a concert master at each of these schools. She was a member of the Chicago Youth Orchestra for several years, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Elmhurt Symphony and the Rock Island Symphony. In high school, Martha performed a Mozart concerto with the orchestra and was awarded the yearly music scholarship from the music boosters club. In college she was a member of the Sigma Alpha Iota, an honourary music fraternity. She graduated from Augustana with a degree in music education.

Martha taught Suzuki violin at Wheaton College, and traditional violin in her home. She was a wonderful teacher and dearly loved by her students and colleagues. Martha created and gave everlasting beauty to life, most particularly through music.

Through St. Paul's, The "Martha Shaw Music Scholarship Program" was begun in 2000 to carry on Martha's love of nuturing the talents and enriching the lives of young people.

I am hoping that others who knew her will continue on and add more here about Martha. If there is any trouble with it, just put in your post so I contact you. Thank-you.

Family history of cancer

As well as Martha having cancer, what I know of from my Dad, Paul Clemens's side of the family, is that his youngest sister, Aunt Lillian, died of pancreatic cancer in her 40’s. My Aunt Dorothy, (Martha’s grandmother) had breast cancer but died of pancreatic cancer as well. And my Uncle Johnnie died from colerectoral cancer.

My Mom also died of cancer at the end which we discovered because the medicine for the congestive heart failure wouldn't work. She died 6 months before I became pregnant with Noah and I often wonder how much her spirit helped guide that!