Why I Walk

Let me start off by giving you all a few statistics:

-Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and is the leading cause of cancer death
among women worldwide.

-Nearly 1.4 million women are diagnosed with breast cancer globally each year.

-More than 458,000 people worldwide die from breast cancer each year.

-Somewhere in the world, a woman dies from breast cancer every 69 seconds.

-Over the last 25 years, breast cancer incidence rates have risen about 30 percent in westernized
countries, although incidence rates decreased in the U.S. from 1999-2006 in part due to lower
use of postmenopausal combined hormone use.
 
 
 
EVERY 69 SECONDS............A WOMAN DIES!!!
 
That very statement is a constant thought in my mind.   A woman dies and leaves behind a family.  Sometimes she is older and leaves behind a husband, children, and grandchildren.  And sometimes, that woman is young enough that she leaves behind her own small children.  IT BREAKS MY HEART!
 
I was lucky!  Sure I have 'down' days.  I still look in the mirror and the scars are very fresh.  On the 23 of this month, it will be 8 months since my bi-lateral mastectomy.  But despite the waves of pain that sometimes still come...I'm lucky!  I'M ALIVE.  My children still have their mother, my parents..their daughter, my siblings...their sister, and my husband...his wife.
 
I'd be lying if I said this walk isn't a whole lot about healing for me. IT IS!
 
But it's also about so much more.
 
It's about celebrating the lives of those who have gone before me, and continuing to honor their memory and fight.
 
And I am incredibly honored to be walking In Memory of Kendra McLean Kirsch.  As stated on my 3-Day site, I never got the honor of meeting Kendra.  Her mother and I go to the same church.  Glenda prayed for God to place His hand on me during my journey...just a few short months after losing her own daughter to the same disease.  The act of human kindness touched me so profoundly, and I am beyond words honored to be walking in Kendra's memory.
 
I'm also walking In Memory of Steph.  My aunt.  There's not a day that goes by that I don't wish she was still here with us....with her children and grandchildren.  I miss her terribly, but I have no doubt that she'll be with me during those three days.
 
I'm walking in hopes that the only thing my daughters ever know of this disease is the remembrance of what I went through.  I pray their bodies are never touched or scarred by it.
 
And I walk to show my gratitude for those who have walked beside me over the past 9 months.  I will walk to say 'Thank you'.
 
Each and every one of these training steps and those steps that I take during the 3-day have meaning and purpose just like the difficult ones I took during my treatment.
 
My steps won't cure cancer, but the money that is raised WILL!
 
Over the past 48 hours, 11 of my friends and family members have generously donated $655, putting my total donations at $1235.  I'm truly humbled and grateful.  I could not be doing this without each and every one of them.
 
If you would like to donate please visit my site at:  http://bit.ly/jcRnjl
 
EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS!