Ready to Relay
Well , Relay for Life is this weekend, some of you may know from experience or from reading Buddha Girl, but I'm a big supporter of this American Cancer Society annual event. My oldest child and my husband are cancer survivors, my dad lost his battle with cancer and I have too many friends to mention who've been touched by it.
We walk, we raise money, we laugh, raise money, cry, raise money, eat, raise money...you get the pattern here right. Well so far, my very small team of 5 members has just over $27, 000 dollars raised this season and I'm damn proud of it.
Emily was diagnosed at 22 months, she endured 2 and a half years of treatment and will be 4 years cancer free this December. Yes you can say I'm happy. There are days when I feel she's my cross to bear, but most days she's just my doll, my miracle, one of the few loves of my life.
Relay is always fun, tiring and fun and very rewarding. This year I'm working on Advocacy and will be attending the Celebration on the Hill in September in Washington DC as a Celebration Ambassador from my state. I'll get to lobby with politicians, and hob nob, and more importantly maybe get their ear for a few precious minutes to implore them to keep on funding cancer research, therapies, diagnostic, preventative treatments and ask them to continue to address the disparities that exist in quality and availability of care as well as lack of health coverage for far too many folks. My advocacy function this weekend will be to recruit Celebration supporters and ACS CAN volunteers to help with these efforts year round. We'll also be getting signatures on the WALL OF HOPE banner. Every Relay around the country is having a banner signed by participants, then in September we'll hang these banners on the Mall in DC and create the WALL OF HOPE, we'll present our elected officials with these signatures on the banner and on our petitions to show them the support we have throughout the country for these efforts. We are not party affiliated. We do not endorse candidates or come out against them. We endorse and rally around our goals, we push them. The 2015 goal of reducing cancer related deaths and occurances by 50% is a real and attainable goal. If by 2015, a mother very much like myself 6 years ago is sitting in a hospital room being told her child has cancer and to cure it they'll give her some pills and that's it, and she'll be back to herself in no time with little to no side effects, if they can tell her that the insurance she pays so much for will actually cover this and she won't go broke, it they can tell her that her child won't suffer from pain for the next 2 years from needles and ports installed in her little body and bone marrow tests and all the other fun stuff that goes along with it, IF that can happen, my time and efforts are not lost. My job will have been done. Even if we're just a little closer to that being a reality, I will have succeeded.
So I Relay, I talk, I ask for money, I walk for 24 hours one day a year, I light candles to remember the friends we've lost, and to celebrate the ones that lived. That's why I Relay.
Now go away from here and find your space to make a difference. Find your cause and purpose and do it.
Lots of love,
lil'sis
We walk, we raise money, we laugh, raise money, cry, raise money, eat, raise money...you get the pattern here right. Well so far, my very small team of 5 members has just over $27, 000 dollars raised this season and I'm damn proud of it.
Emily was diagnosed at 22 months, she endured 2 and a half years of treatment and will be 4 years cancer free this December. Yes you can say I'm happy. There are days when I feel she's my cross to bear, but most days she's just my doll, my miracle, one of the few loves of my life.
Relay is always fun, tiring and fun and very rewarding. This year I'm working on Advocacy and will be attending the Celebration on the Hill in September in Washington DC as a Celebration Ambassador from my state. I'll get to lobby with politicians, and hob nob, and more importantly maybe get their ear for a few precious minutes to implore them to keep on funding cancer research, therapies, diagnostic, preventative treatments and ask them to continue to address the disparities that exist in quality and availability of care as well as lack of health coverage for far too many folks. My advocacy function this weekend will be to recruit Celebration supporters and ACS CAN volunteers to help with these efforts year round. We'll also be getting signatures on the WALL OF HOPE banner. Every Relay around the country is having a banner signed by participants, then in September we'll hang these banners on the Mall in DC and create the WALL OF HOPE, we'll present our elected officials with these signatures on the banner and on our petitions to show them the support we have throughout the country for these efforts. We are not party affiliated. We do not endorse candidates or come out against them. We endorse and rally around our goals, we push them. The 2015 goal of reducing cancer related deaths and occurances by 50% is a real and attainable goal. If by 2015, a mother very much like myself 6 years ago is sitting in a hospital room being told her child has cancer and to cure it they'll give her some pills and that's it, and she'll be back to herself in no time with little to no side effects, if they can tell her that the insurance she pays so much for will actually cover this and she won't go broke, it they can tell her that her child won't suffer from pain for the next 2 years from needles and ports installed in her little body and bone marrow tests and all the other fun stuff that goes along with it, IF that can happen, my time and efforts are not lost. My job will have been done. Even if we're just a little closer to that being a reality, I will have succeeded.
So I Relay, I talk, I ask for money, I walk for 24 hours one day a year, I light candles to remember the friends we've lost, and to celebrate the ones that lived. That's why I Relay.
Now go away from here and find your space to make a difference. Find your cause and purpose and do it.
Lots of love,
lil'sis
I think what you guys did is awesome. I can't imagine what you must have gone through when your child was diagnosed with cancer. That would be my worst nightmare. Thank goodness she is doing well. I hope we find a cure in our lifetime...
BTW, thanks for stopping by my blog. You're welcome to come by anytime!