Thirteen miles is a long way to run, especially for someone who has never run a step prior to this year. But the 30-year-old social worker is determined she’ll make the long trek. DaSilva’s confident she’ll make it home because she’s running for something that has hit home.  She will be competing in Sunday’s race as a member of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training (TNT) program – an organization that raises funds for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma research. DaSilva, who is just $51 short of her fundraising goal of $2,500, will be running the race with her daughter on her mind. On Aug. 5, 2005, at the tender age 3, young Chezney was diagnosed with a form of cancer known as T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. It’s non-Hodgkin Disease where a tumor develops in the thymus, or the upper chest cavity. “After she was diagnosed, I thought this would be a nice thing to do,” DaSilva said. “It’s something that I am doing for her in her honor.”  *** The good news is Chezney has been in remission for more than a year. She’s now an active six-year-old kid that on Tuesday afternoon was sharing some valuable playtime with her young friend Nyila. As one would expect, though, it wasn’t always that way. Just about a week before she was diagnosed with cancer, DaSilva could sense that something was wrong with her only daughter.  “It was like the last week in July because she hadn’t been eating,” she said. “She wasn’t playing in school. She had vomited a couple of times in (preschool). We had already gone to a pediatrician, and the pediatrician thought it was just a virus and it would pass.” “We went to (another) pediatrician, who did a urine test and suggested we go to (Hasbro’s Children Hospital) for dehydration. When we were there, they admitted her that night because she wasn’t taking any fluids.” What the team of doctors at Hasbro would detect in Chezney is a parent’s worse nightmare. After a biopsy of her chest, they found a found a cancerous mass. “At the time, we had friends that were getting married and we were both going to be in that wedding,” DaSilva recalled. “My sister had flown in to see us for the bridal shower and then you find out that your child has cancer. It was like the last thing on my mind. I never met a child with cancer. At that time, you just think the worse for everybody.” With her mom by her side, Chezney spent three weeks in Hasbro where she went through extensive treatment where she underwent chemotherapy and had countless samples of bloodwork taken from her. During the treacherous three-week period, she even fell into a coma at one point.  In September, Chezney finished a long, 108 weeks of treatment. Since that time, her weekly and bi-weekly visits are now a month apart. By the end of this week, it will be every other month.   Through it all, DaSilva is amazed at how well her daughter has handled herself. “Since she was three, this has been her life,” she said. “She says she doesn’t like the needles, but she just does it. She’s pretty much a trooper. She’s always had a lot of energy. She’s just very resilient.” *** DaSilva learned about the Team in Training program after receiving a flyer in the mail. She didn’t respond right away, but eventually felt it was something that she had to do. She joined TNT in early February after attending an orientation meeting. Running was something that she was certainly not familiar with. “I exercised a little,” she said. “I would go for long walks, which would help me with my stress and stuff. But never did I run.” In her first run for TNT, DaSilva ran two miles near the Brown University Stadium. She finished the week running just under 10 miles. DaSilva realized running wasn’t that easy. “I think the schedule asked us to run three miles. The first day they said just run what you can,” she said. “I ran out one mile and back. After that I said, ‘I am completely out of shape. I don’t think I can do this.’”  Just one week after her initial run, DaSilva completed a five-mile run. Less than three months later, she’s averaging five miles a day. Her pace has quickened, too. At the beginning, she averaged about a 15-minute mile and has now chopped that down three minutes on her long runs. During the cold winter months, DaSilva did a considerable amount of her training at Bailey’s Total Fitness in Pawtucket. She would go early in the morning because of her work schedule. There were many times that it would be tough to get out of bed for that 5 a.m., run. But all she had to do was look in her daughter’s bedroom or up on the curio closest, and that would give her that extra boost of energy. “There would be some days where I just wouldn’t want to go,” she said. “What would pop into my head was she had to do 20 weeks of shots in her thighs and she hated that. She would scream. That’s what would make me go. Sometimes I would be on the treadmill and say, ‘Why am I doing this?’ And, it would be that. It would be remembering what she went through.” The Willow Tree Half-Marathon runs on a course that stretches from the Johnson & Wales Harborside campus on Allens Avenue to the downtown J&W campus on Weybosset Street. It will be held in conjunction with the Cox Sports Marathon and the New Balance 5K, a unique event managed by Eiden Sports Management.  When DaSilva competes in the half marathon, she knows she’ll experience some aches and pains along the way. She knows it will be difficult. But she also knows the ordeal her daughter went through. In a sense, she went through her own little marathon. When DaSilva finally does cross that finish, which she promises she’ll do, she knows the special feeling that will be inside her. “I think I’ll have a smile on my face and I’ll just be looking for my daughter,” she said. “She has taught me so much. Initially, when cancer came into our lives, I felt defeated. But now it’s changed our lives in such a positive way.” *** If you’re interested in making donations to DaSilva and her daughter for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, you can visit her TNT website at www.active.com/donate/tntri/landarun4acure. Checks should be made payable to LLS and are tax deductible.  You can also pay by credit card through her website….It’s too late for mail-in or online registration, but you can still register for this weekend’s event. Registration for all three races will be held on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Harborside campus. It will cost $75 for the marathon, $50 for the half marathon and $24 for the 5K. On race day, registration for the marathon ($80) and half-marathon ($50) will take place at the Harborside campus from 7:15 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. Registration for the 5K ($25) will be held at the Weybosset Street campus. The races begin at 9 a.m.