Liz Ford (right) and her daughter Emma are working to raise $200,000 to pay for a bone marrow transplant operation for her son, Arlo Tejada.

UPDATE: Arlo Tejada's cancer is in "complete remission" according to his do...

On July 21, 2010, Liz Ford was told she had breast cancer.
But on that day, one that would drive most people to their knees, being a mother and loving and supporting her son Arlo Tejada was more important.
Hours before her doctor told her the bad news, Arlo, a handsome rafting guide named after folk singer Arlo Guthrie, was informed that he had hotchkins lymphoma.

“I was kind of shocked, just numb,” Ford said. “But I was thinking about him.”

Ford, a ceramics teacher in District 20 and a regular participant in the Jack Quinn’s Running Club, stayed busy. She began chemotherapy and lost her hair, but she kept moving.

Her runs with the Jack Quinn’s group became walks, but she had a goal. She was nearing 100 club runs, which is like royalty for Jack Quinn’s runners.

Her final round of chemotherapy ended on Dec. 13. A day later she walked the 5K course and joined the Jack Quinn’s Century Club.

“I’m the kind of person who just has to stay busy,” she said. “ That’s why I kept going to Jack Quinn’s. If I keep moving I can keep from getting depressed.”

Now she’s reaching for a bigger goal. Arlo’s health insurance will not cover a bone marrow transplant. Ford and her daughter Emma are working to raise $200,000 to cover the cost of the operation.

"Right now he is going through a new regimine of chemo - massive amounts of drugs - to try to put it in remission," Ford said.

She is collecting money through the National Foundation of Transplants in honor of Arlo Tejada at this website www.transplants.org/donate/arlotejada.

There is a sentence on the donation page that reads "My gift is in honor of the following NFT patient's fundraising campaign." Ford is asking those who donate to type Arlo Tejada's name there to ensure that the money goes toward his cause. The donations are tax detuctible.

Ford will be at the Jack Quinn's run tonight