I told you previously that the reasons that I signed up for this event are many and varied. I'll admit I think I've tried to downplay my reasoning, but over the past couple of week, I've found myself getting very emotional when I think about my run and the reasons and people behind the formation of Team in Training. Maybe it's the holidays making me sentimental, but I feel that maybe it is time to let you a little deeper into the soul of my participation.
Most of the family: Back row l-r; Jacob, Juli, Jerrica, Jason. Front row l-r; Jade, me, Mom, and Jess.
I have a very large family. I am the oldest of 8 kids. I grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm. I adore all of my siblings, even when they drive me to distraction or make choices in their lives that I don't agree with. Being the oldest child, I grew up worrying about everybody, wanting to be sure that they were safe, happy, and healthy. To say that I can be overprotective is probably the understatement of the century. I've been known to refer to my brothers and sisters as my 'kids', which may seem odd to some people but I'm guessing most of the big brothers/big sisters out there understand where I'm coming from. We're the ones that blaze the trail, even if we never conciously think that we are trying to set a good example and ensure they have an easier time of things than we did. No matter how old they get, they are always going to be my little brother/sister, and I'm sure that my habit of calling even my 20-something siblings 'kiddo' is a source of never-ending frustration to them. But I love them, and so I worry.
I worry that someday our family luck will run out, and that illness will overtake one of my 'kids'. Cancer would be something that I could not make easier for them, it's not something that I can protect them from, and it scares me to death. For years I have donated to cancer research through places like St. Judes Children's Research Hospital, hoping that karma would smile on my family because of that and figuring that I was doing my small part to help if the unthinkable would ever happen. So far, the fates have continued to smile on my family, but I know that others are not so lucky. Every 4 minutes someone is diagnosed with blood cancer, and every 10 minutes someone succumbs to the disease (http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_page?item_id=12486), which means that in the 30 minutes or so that it takes me to write this blog, 3 people will die of blood cancer. Donating a small amount every month was no longer enough for me.
Many of the people in TNT that I am training with have personal stories about being touched by cancer. We have people who have lost loved ones, people who have loved ones fighting, and cancer survivors themselves. While the stories of loss break my heart, the stories of survival keep me going. I may not be able to save everyone, but I know that in doing this event I am helping to get the world one mile closer to a time when these losses no longer occur. I dream of a time when families do not have to fear cancer, when children don't have to go through chemo, when hope is realized.
I run toward a time when we can all run together.
No comments:
Post a Comment