Remembering

I have been blessed with the opportunities to see so many wonderful things in my life.... from the Grand Canyon to Stonehenge to the Statue of Liberty to castles and cathedrals all around the world. But none of these Wonders of the World come close to comparing to the last weekend of October 2007, the weekend my mom and I walked 60 miles together.  I wrote a blog about it HERE , just after the event, but it is an adventure I think of often and felt that I needed to tell about it again...


Susan G. Komen lost her battle with breast cancer in 1980 and it was her 3-year fight that inspired her sister to begin the Susan G. Komen Foundation committed to raising money for research to STOP THIS DISEASE that takes the lives of too many of our loved ones. Since its beginning, the foundation has raised more than $1.9 billion toward finding a cure....  The work is not finished because STILL every year more than 200,000 women receive this diagnosis--JUST in the U.S. 

Mom and I walked those 60 miles in 2007 in honor of MoMo Fontenot, my grandmother who was a survivor of this awful disease.... We are so thankful for the years she had with us following her mastectomy... 


And I will always treasure that experience... Every morning when I get dressed, I see this photo on my dresser, crowned with my pink hat...and each time I look at it, I remember why we walked. 




And I remember why we must continue to walk..and continue to fight. We all know someone affected by breast cancer, but what are we doing about it? What CAN we do about it? The first step in fighting it is early detection, so ask yourself when was the last time you did a self-exam?? Every time your calendar changes and a new month begins, it is time for another self-check.... When was your last mammogram?? 1 in 4 of us will be diagnosed with breast cancer, so what are we doing to make sure that we catch it early?! 

Mom and I finished those 60+ miles in 3 days in 2007 and I hope that our walk brought the doctors a little closer to a cure, but we cannot stop there.... The clock is ticking and we cannot afford to wait.

This was my favorite shirt that we saw in those 3 days, but I am hoping for a day when we don't have to use to symbols any longer....but that we can stand up and say:

FUCK CANCER; WE WIN.

I have to believe that day will come in my lifetime....... 

my daughter (and yours) is depending on it.