For Brad Smith, Saturday’s Leukemia Cup sailing regatta on Elliott Bay isn’t about taking first place—it’s about having another shot at life.

In the fall of 2006, things were looking good for Smith. He had a rewarding job at Microsoft and was about to celebrate 10 years in remission from a bout with testicular cancer. He was feeling a bit rundown, but chalked it up to stress and some long days at work. Then a few large bruises inexplicably appeared on his arms. Smith went to see his doctor and had his blood tested. He was told his blood counts were dangerously low and to check into the hospital immediately.

Smith was diagnosed with acute myeloma leukemia (AML) and then acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), an aggressive bone marrow cancer and subtype of AML.

“It was pretty scary,” said Smith, 38. “At that point, every scenario is on the table. Are you going to recover? Is it something that’s not treatable?”

Back at the office, his colleagues reeled at the news. “Shockwaves went through the group,” recalled Smith’s former boss, Scott Burbank. “Nobody knew what it meant. We thought it was a death sentence.

“We thought everyone had to start saying goodbye to Brad.”

But instead of just waiting for the worst, Burbank got busy. A sailboat racer, he put together a crew in Smith’s honor for the Seattle stop of the Leukemia Cup Regatta & Poker Run, an annual fundraiser for cancer research that organizers say is the biggest sailing benefit nationwide. Burbank, Smith and two colleagues raised $13,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), which organizes the Leukemia Cup in locations across the U.S.

Burbank had imagined Smith watching the Leukemia Cup from the dock, likely bald from chemotherapy, possibly in a wheelchair. But to the joyful amazement of his colleagues, Smith was in recession and back at work just two and a half months after being diagnosed.

Skipper Scott Burbank (left) raced in the Leukemia Cup for the first time in 2007, after Brad Smith, an employee, was diagnosed with cancer.

Smith was treated with a combination of chemotherapy and a drug called all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), a vitamin A derivative. He also received daily infusions of arsenic trioxide, a drug made from the poison arsenic. A study released in 2007 found that 90 percent of patients with APL went into remission after being treated with arsenic trioxide.

Thirty years ago, Smith said, APL was among the most feared types of cancer, with a five-year survival rate of 35 percent or less. That number has jumped to about 75 percent since the advent of ATRA.

“That drug dramatically changed how treatable my subtype (of AML) was,” Smith said.

And it underscored to Smith the importance of ongoing funding for cancer research and benefit events such as the Leukemia Cup. Asked if he believes he might not be alive today but for recent advancements in research, Smith said, “Absolutely.

“The benefits from research and the speed at which those benefits can help patients are very real to me.”

In early 2007, Smith moved further into remission and began regaining his strength. A newcomer to sailing, he joined the crew on Burbank’s boat and began practicing for the 2007 Leukemia Cup. Smith’s mother came from Michigan to watch the regatta. His sister and family helped fundraise for the event, traveling from Indiana so Smith’s brother-in-law could join the crew while his sister and two nieces cheered him on.

Meeting the family and seeing how far Smith had come, Burbank said, was emotional. “I thought back to that day when everyone gathered in my office and how scary that was for all of us,” he said. “The hope was that everything would come out just fine and it did. It was really miraculous.”

The crew of terremoto! hoists the sail during a practice run on Lake Washington.

This Saturday, Smith will once again take up his position in the pit on Burbank’s boat, working the spinnaker and jib during Seattle’s Leukemia Cup race on Elliott Bay. He’s raced with Burbank about 10 times since his inaugural regatta two years ago and has taken to it.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” said Smith, an operations business manager at Microsoft. “I love being on the water.”

Smith is supporting the LLS in other ways as well. In March, he participated in the Big Climb, walking up 69 flights of stairs in Seattle’s Columbia Tower. The event, the LLS Washington/Alaska chapter’s biggest annual fundraiser, generated an impressive $1.3 million.

Additionally, Smith recently completed training for the LLS’s First Connection program, which matches newly diagnosed cancer patients with survivors who have had the same diagnosis and treatment. Smith didn’t have that person to talk to when he was going through treatment, someone who would understand the terrifying loneliness of the disease, someone whose presence was proof that he might survive, that life could one day return to normal.

Smith is waiting for his match. He will let that person know it’s possible to survive cancer not once, but twice. He will offer the most valuable thing a cancer patient can be given—hope.

He will tell the person this: “You can get into remission. You can be cured.”

The Seattle Leukemia Cup Regatta & Poker Run is on Saturday, June 6, and is the opening event of the 2009 Downtown Sailing Series. Boats can register up to the time the regatta and poker run start, and tickets for the after-party at Bell Harbor International Conference Center are available at the door. For registration and additional information, click here.