By MATT CHANDLER
Buffalo Law Journal

Chris Sachs won't be forgotten.

The Iraq War veteran and Western New York native died Nov. 7, just eight weeks after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. He was 36 years old.

Aven Rennie, a partner in Magavern Magavern Grimm LLP, knew Sachs' story intimately. His stepmother, Susan Lankenau, is an associate at the firm, and Rennie watched the quick progression of his illness.

"It was an amazing thing to see his family come together and support Chris," she said. "I was on the sidelines watching what they went through."

On May 24, Rennie will step off the sidelines and onto the streets of Buffalo as she runs a half marathon - 13.1 miles - in the Buffalo Marathon. She'll be part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team in Training, which is raising money for research and treatment of blood cancers.

Rennie who describes herself as "the black sheep of a running family," says she has never competed in an event of this distance, but is doing so as a way to pay tribute to Sachs and help honor his memory.

"For me, it is a very personal way to try to give meaning to his loss," she said, "to do what little I can to raise funds and hopefully prevent this from happening in the future."

Though her running has been limited to the occasional Turkey Trot, Rennie said it was Richard Grimm III, a partner in the firm, who pushed her to participate.

"Rich has been doing Team in Training for years," she said, "and he asked me, ‘Is this the year you are finally going got do it?' " After repeatedly bowing out, Rennie decided that this year, she would run for Sachs.

After committing to raise $1,500, she began training in preparation for the May 24 event. Today, she stands $567 short of her goal and is rehabbing a pulled calf muscle, but Rennie's focus is elsewhere.

"This is about Chris," she said. "He is the hero here."

According to Nancy Hails, executive director of the Western New York chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Rennie's team has approximately 100 people training for fundraising runs and bike rides this year. Hails said 895,000 volunteers who have run, walked and biked for the organization over the last two decades have raised more than $950 million.

Lankenau remembers Sachs as someone who overcame a lot.

"He earned his master's degree in chemistry after saying he would never go to college," she said. "He earned his MBA online while he was in the military. It was how he was; he always went out and excelled in whatever he chose to do."

Calling him "the glue that kept our family together," Lankenau said the support Rennie and others have shown has made a difference as she grapples with her stepson's death.

"That she (Rennie) would spend her time training, and doing this in Chris' memory, it means an awful lot to me," she said.

For more information, contact Rennie at 856-3500 or visit the Web sites teamintraining.org/wny and forchrissake.com.