Verona residents Tim Drost and Natasha Hiden-Burns competed in the Long Branch Half Marathon earlier this month and their team topped its fundraising goal for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
In November 2000, Drost was diagnosed with hairy cell leukemia, a treatable but incurable form of the disease. Drost ran the New York City Marathon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program after his first chemo treatments in 2003 and then, in 2008, his sister and brother-in-law, Carolynn and Jesus Navarro, started the New York Sports Club Caldwell sub-chapter of Team in Training in his honor.
The team, which had already raised over $100,000 for blood cancer research, set a goal of $45,000 for the half-marathon race. It had the support of several Verona businesses, including Frank Anthony’s restaurant, O’Neil’s Restaurant & Pub and Dog’s Best Friend, which is the dog training and walking business that Hiden-Burns runs with her husband.
And so when all the donations were counted last night, Drost’s crew had raised $45,334.80.
