The 3 day walk for breast cancer

Ok so a couple months ago I signed up to do the 3day. What is the 3day? I'm glad you asked! The 3day walk is a walk that takes place over 3 days each day walking 20 miles a day. Yes, that is a lot, and no I'm not crazy.

In February 2006 my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. I watched someone go through surgery to remove lump and lymph nodes. Then do chemotherapy, then the loss of her hair and eventually radiation. Cancer sucks big ones. The one or 2 funny things through this was when my dad shaved her head for her when she began to lose it. In preparing my kids to see her for the first time without hair (Kaitlynn was 5, Keegan was 2 1/2) I told them Neno (my dad) had given Noni (my mom) a haircut and he cut it all off! I then asked them if they wanted Neno to give them haircuts, their eyes got big and they said no thanks, we'll stick with Miss Lissa (our 'hairlady'). Ya know what? It never fazed them, at first they couldn't figure out why my mom wouldn't take her hat off at the restaurant. The next part I loved was she bought 3 jetskis/seadoos whatever you wanna call them. She said I'm not sitting around being bored. She would do chemo Friday mornings and then head to the lake and jetski all weekend while she still felt good. When I went for my lovely yearly exam I told my doctor who knew my mom what she had done and was doing she thought it was pretty great. Might as well have some fun, right? lol

So, in other words she kicked cancer's butt! GO MOM! Mom is healthy and here. Her tests come back great!

So as I began training a couple months ago, I convinced a friend to do the walk with me. We'd load up the kids, meet at a local park or head to a local highschool and walk the track. Training begins with 3 miles. Walking a normal pace this can be done right at an hour. Then 24 weeks out from the date of our walk November 5th-7th we are sent out a virtual training email. It gives you a weekly walking schedule, basically walk every other day 3 miles and each week one of the days jumps up a mile. Three miles has been easy, this week we throw in a 4 mile walk, one more no biggie. That way over the course of the 24 week period we gradually build up to 18-20 a day. I am so excited! I have even joined a team called Legacy Makers headed up by Christie DeVitt. For those of you local, Christie was diagnosed early in her pregnancy, chose to keep her pregnancy and did a modified course of treatment including chemo I think. Two years later she is healthy and here and so is precious baby girl Laney! I met Christie's mom at Sam's Club. She happened to have on a 3 day event shirt so I asked her if she had done the walk and she said she hadn't done the walk but 'crewed' it (helping set up hand out waters etc.) and that her daughter Christie and other family and friends had. I told her I'd signed up recently to do the walk for the first time and had just had a friend to sign up to do it with me. So we chatted a bit and she asked if I remember the story on the news of the woman with curly hair and was pregnant when diagnosed etc I said yes, I've always wondered what had happened. I then learned the fantastic news that all was well! We both nearly cried and only had met just moments before. Crying with a stranger now friend in Sam's, I'm sure no one thought we were crazy. Haha! She then proceeded to give me her daughter's phone number and her kids names that had Facebook so I could go look at the pics of the event and to make contact to join their team. She is such a sweet lady and has a catering business so people if you need a caterer, let me know, I know one. So now I am a member of the Legacy Makers team. I am so excited and blessed to be a part of a group who has done this 2 times before and this being their 3rd year.

First you register, then you fundraise. And fundraise, and fundraise some more. Each walker has a minimum $ amount that must be met, and its a big one. Each walker must raise $2,300 to participate. I want to do better than that. I like even numbers, originally thought just bump it up to $2,500 and then thought why not $3,000! Wohoo! I can do it! How? Not sure. Can I? Absolutely! Do I know a lot of people? Yep! Do they love me? Do they love the women in their families? YES! I pray there is a day soon where doing this walk is no longer needed to raise funds for research. I walk for me and my daughter, I walk for you and yours. Shortly after I posted on Facebook what I was doing a friend from HS said his grandmother had just been diagnosed with BC the month before. He said your walk will help her fight. On an early walk, my husband met me and the kids at his former HS where the football team had just finished practice and his former coach was still out there so he got to talk to him. As I made my way around the track to where they were talking my husband introduced me to his former Coach, Coach Henderson. Coach then proceeded to tell me he was proud of me for what I was doing and thanked me for it. I was a little shocked and kinda confused. He then told me his wife was a BC survivor. Wow, BC has touched so many people. So when I do my training walks, or I get tired of this or that, I remind myself, there is someone who can't and wishes she could be out walking. There is someone up the road with an I.V. in her arm getting chemicals pumped into her body. There is a woman who is afraid to look down because she knows here breasts aren't there, she won't let her husband see her scars. They are young and old, single and married, with and without kids wondering if they will ever be able to have kids, and those with and without family support. It is scary. It is not fun. It sucks.

I walk for you and yours, but I also walk for me and mine.

Now off to bed, because you see, I have a walk to train for and I'm training in the morning.
Check out http://www.the3day.org/ and join me on this adventure! www.the3day.org/goto/amazingamy