Andrea Mogensen Shumate, 25, graduated from Klein High School in 2000. As a lifelong member of the Spring/Klein community, Andrea was an active member of her high school tennis and color guard teams. After high school, Andrea married James, 27, and "Baby" James would enter their lives shortly after.  James is a Marine who proudly represented our county in Iraq.  Upon returning from Iraq, James and Andrea decided to add on to their family. They never imagined the situation they would be faced with 4 weeks after Jackson was born.

A lump appeared on Andreas shoulder shortly after Jackson was born. It was cancer--Sarcoma Cancer which is extremely rare and highly malignant. Andrea began treatment at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center here in Houston which we all knew would bring her back to the vibrant young beautiful woman we all knew. God had another plan for Andrea.....I never imagined we would bury Andrea a year after she was diagnosed leaving behind 2 children in pampers and a husband struggling to deal with the loss of his best friend and the mother to his children. Ironically, she died on Memorial Day--the holiday intended to recognize our fallen heroes of war.

I decided I would sign up and run/walk/skip/trot/crawl a marathon to help the family raise some money and give Andrea a trip to look forward to. Yes, I Randi Henson, signed up for the Chicago Marathon, with it being my first marathon to ever train for. For those of you "nonrunners", a marathon is 26.2 miles!  My dear friend Mary Elise trained to run Chicago with me. It never occoured to me that I would be running in memory of Andrea and that she will be with me only through spirit--and that the race would be cancelled after 18 miles due to extreme heat.

Before Andrea died, I promised her I would make sure her family was financially taken care of. I could not promise her I could make her better, take away her pain or that everything would be ok--BUT I could promise her that I would make sure her boys will have the chance to go to college and that her medical bills will not cause her family to go without. With that being said, I created this site to give everyone an opportunity to see Andrea's story for themselves and to collect donations.

After babysitting Andrea's son while she was receiving chemo, it occurred to me that our medical center needs nonprofit childcare. With that being said, the   Amschwand Sarcoma Cancer Foundation is looking into ways to meet the childcare needs of cancer patients NOW and we are 100% committed to doing that in honor of Andrea. Our community could greatly benefit from childcare assistance during a medical crisis.  You can find free childcare at a 24-Hr Fitness, but scheduling childcare during a medical crisis is almost impossible.

You can make a donation directly to her husband for immediate financial assistance OR towards daycare expenses for the Shumate boys.

Please continue to pray for Andrea's family members and friends as they struggle to move on after the loss of Andrea. Words can't even begin to describe the tough road ahead of them. Her family faces a "marathon" each day when they roll out of bed. Unfortunately for them, it will last for the rest of their lives.  It's a daily struggle and please pray for the healing of their hearts! I would also like to thank the following people for making "Run4Andrea" such a success!

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