There will be a sailboat with family and friends, and perhaps even blue skies and an easy wind. That much will be fun.
There is also the reason, and that part is difficult.
On Saturday, scores of sailboats and powerboats from around Puget Sound will take to Seattle’s Elliott Bay for the 15th annual Leukemia Cup Regatta. The event — a genuine race for some, a leisurely boating outing for others — benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, with proceeds to fund research in the fight against those two diseases and other blood cancers.
The regatta is particularly meaningful for Ken Sahlstrom, skipper of the 25-foot sailboat Zephyr, and crew members Reid Weaver and Rick Dunn. All are Monroe police officers. All have experienced the tragedy of leukemia in their own families.
In September 2006, Sahlstrom and his wife, Jill, lost their 17-year-old son, Jonathan, nearly two years after he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In December of that same year, Weaver and his wife, Priscilla, lost their 15-year-old son, Jackson, to the same illness nearly four years after his diagnosis.
Sixteen-year-old Callahan Dunn, the son of Rick Dunn and his wife, Christy, was diagnosed with ALL when he was 19 months old. He was successfully treated and today, 11 years later, is considered a cancer survivor. He will join his dad on the boat for Saturday’s regatta.
“I think everybody has a good time,” said Sahlstrom, who is sailing in the regatta with Weaver and Dunn for the fourth straight year. “I don’t think so much about our loss on that day. It’s more of a focus on sailing for a cure. That’s what it’s about.”
And yet the race itself has grievous memories for the “Zephyr” and its crew. Three years ago, Jonathan Sahlstrom and Jackson Weaver sailed with their dads. Within months, both boys were dead.
“We have a good time (on race day), but … it’s tough,” Weaver acknowledged. “My wife doesn’t like to go. It’s not because she doesn’t like (sailing) or she doesn’t like to be around everybody. It’s just tough.”
“Every year that goes by, the day (of the regatta) is going to be a remembrance of that,” Dunn said. “We’re always thinking about those boys, and it makes this really a poignant thing.”
Like many cancers, leukemia is a cruel, pitiless and often lethal disease. Research has made progress, but leukemia’s cause or causes continue to baffle scientists. Genetics seem to play a part, as does geography, but it remains unknown why any one person gets sick.
Likewise, no one can explain how the sons of three Monroe police officers were stricken with ALL, the most common of leukemias for children 14 and under.
“It’s incredible that it happened to three of us,” Sahlstrom said. “I questioned the people at Children’s Hospital (where the boys were treated) about that, too. Was there some answer to this anomaly, that three of us from the same department should have sons with the same cancer? They said, no, it’s a coincidence.”
“It’s staggering,” Dunn said. “What are the odds?”
This year there will be added poignancy for the crew of the “Zephyr.” Noah Sahlstrom, Ken Sahlstrom’s 19-year-old nephew, will be flying in from Minnesota just for this event.
Noah Sahlstrom has cancer.
“I don’t know how this sail will be for me emotionally,” Ken Sahlstrom said. “Noah, who was Jon’s favorite cousin, has an aggressive form of cancer, and they’ve given him a year or a year and a half to live. So it could be hard.
“It’s going to be good, too, but it’s also going to be pretty emotional for me, because I know Noah well, and I know why he’s coming. But he wants to do this. He wants to be on the boat.”
Three years ago, Jonathan Sahlstrom made that same decision after his dad brought up the idea of entering the regatta.
“I said to him, ‘Jon, this is something we can do to help others so they don’t have to go through what you’re going through and what Jackson’s going through. We can help find a cure for cancer.’ And he said, ‘Oh, Dad, we have to do it.’ “
It would turn out to be Jonathan Sahlstrom’s only race, as it was for Jackson Weaver. But a belief in the promise of medical research and a determination to contribute have brought the “Zephyr” back year after year.
“This is a way for us to participate in something we believe in wholeheartedly,” Dunn said. “And it’s a way for us to give back. To do something (in return) for all the things that have been done for us.
“It’s a sad day, but it’s a good day,” he said. “We’re trying to do something that will help find a cure, and to do something symbolic in memory of Jonathan and Jackson.”
To help
The 15th annual Leukemia Cup Regatta begins at noon Saturday on Seattle’s Elliott Bay. The event raises money to fight leukemia, lymphoma and other blood cancers, with skippers and crew members seeking donations to sponsor their boats.
To support the “Zephyr,” skippered by Ken Sahlstrom, checks made out to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society can be dropped off at the Monroe Police Department at 818 W. Main St., Monroe. Donations can also be made electronically at http://wa.llsevent.org/ksahlstrom.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
