I am giving up on managing more than one blog. I can barely keep up with one. So I'm going to migrate some of the 3Day blog posts over to my regular blog. This is originally from January 20, 2009, right after I signed up for the event. Read on.
So, a lot of people ask why we walk, and I don't always have a prepared answer. I walk for a lot of reasons: it's fun, it feels good to give back, and to protect the people I love. The walk is really inspirational, which is why I chose to talk about it for my inspirational thought at a recent Toastmasters meeting. Since I got some good feedback (several of the women said I almost made them cry, and one guy said my passion really came through) I figured I would share. Here it is:
"The battle against breast cancer seems like a personal battle; something you have to fight alone. There’s the physical fight, against the bad cells. Then there’s the fight against your self-image after hair-loss or a mastectomy. And finally, there’s the fight for hope. The hope that you’ll get through it, that it will all be gone after one round of treatment; the hope that it wont come back…
Watching someone you love go through this fight can make you feel helpless. And since I hate that feeling, I decided to do something. I started walking in the Breast Cancer 3Day. For three years now, I’ve participated in the Breast Cancer 3Day in Philadelphia. The event is a three day, 60 mile walk throughout the city. It’s held in 13 cities across the United States, and it raises money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the National Philanthropic Trust. Every participant has to raise a minimum of $2,200. Aside from the donations we got from our friends and family, my team had a Cheeburger Cheeburger dinner fundraiser, and a car wash. We spend almost a year fundraising, and about six months in training. During the event we camp out at night in pink tents, sing karaoke after dinner, and during the day we walk… and walk… and walk.
The walk itself is organized very well, and every two or three miles there are pit stops with food, bathrooms, and medical stations to make sure that everyone is being taken care of. Still, three days of walking and camping and fighting can offer a rollercoaster of emotions. At one point, I was standing in line to use the port-a-potty, and the woman in front of me had a dozen ribbons streaming down from her hat – each with a heart at the end, and the name of someone she loved who had been touched by breast cancer. I was tired, sore, freezing cold… and moved to tears. Even with the cheering stations and the support of the crew, sometime around the 40th mile, your spirits start to dip. The walk is exhausting, and there are times when you want to give up. You think you may not be able to finish. Your knees are sore, and you’ve probably got a blister or two. But then you see a sign that says “Blisters don’t need chemo.” It’s just printed on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of pink paper and taped to a street sign. But it renews your spirit. It reminds you how much harder the fight could be. It reminds you why you’re walking, and now you KNOW that you can finish the walk.
You’ll finish it for your mom, or sister, your father, your aunts. You’ll finish it for the daughter you may have one day. You’ll finish it for friends and strangers. You’ll finish it for the woman walking next to you. You won’t feel helpless anymore. You’ll know that you’re fighting for the future, and you’ll feel strong. And you’ll look around at all the other people fighting with you, and you’ll feel the hope…. because no one is fighting breast cancer alone. We are all fighting together, and that’s a good thing... because none of us is as powerful as all of us."
