Fundraising Time Again

It seems like the 2010 3 Day Walk was just last week but it is time to start fundraising again for the 2011 walk. I hate asking people for money and other types of donations especially in this economy. I am just amazed at the generosity of my friends and family. No big plans yet to change our fundraising activities. We will have a Diamondbacks ticket raffle with a Chili Cookoff and a National Park trip raffle with an All You Can Eat Hot Dog BBQ. So far we have overnight stay gift certificates at Zion, Grand Canyon, Crater Lake, and Yellowstone National Parks. Keep an eye out here and I'll keep everyone updated on our final prizes and how to enter the raffle.

Right now we have six team members on Team Grand Canyon. We hope to end up with seven or eight. In the past two years we have raised over $35,000 and hope to raise another $20,000 this year. All donations are very much appreciated. Just click on the 3 Day widget to the left of this page to make a donation by credit card.

More AZ 2010 3 Day Pics

Tents at night - it was COLD this year, glad I brought my super warm new sleeping bag

Our home for the two nights

Souvenir

Three days of portapotties and hand sanitizer

View from the Survivor's Circle of the main stage at the closing ceremonies

Finishing the walk with big smiles

Sore feet

Lunch!

Many of the reasons we walk

Everything Team Grand Canyon needs for the 3 Day Walk

And we named him Kyle

Not sure where to go? Follow the ladies in the pink tutus

Friendly cross walk guy

View while taking a nap during lunch

2010 Arizona 3 Day Walk - Cheer Stations

By far one of the best parts of the 3 Day walk was the spectators. At almost any given time during the course there are people cheering, handing out goodies (Steph calls it Halloween for adults), holding up signs, dressing up, yelling "thank you for walking". There are two or so official cheer stations everyday with lots of people and pink. There are also all sorts of "walker stalkers" who are found several times a day all along the route. The people who live in the neighborhoods we walk through also come out, cheer, and decorate their lawns. Entire schools come out and line up to give us high fives. It is amazing to see the number of people are there to encourage us. And it is easy to get used to feeling like a rock star. Walking into work on Tuesday is kind of a let down - no one yelling "good job" and giving me otter pops. Here are some of my favorite pictures of our cheering spectators.

Team Grand Canyon with the sign my parents made.

I like this picture because one of the main reason I walk is for my friend Gladys who died way too young from breast cancer. Note the sign to the right - all along the route there are signs put up by the walk organization. One of my favorites reads - "Lunch One Mile"

Super heroes against breast cancer! That's me on the left.

We saw these two at almost all of the cheer stations.

Not just surviving...thriving!

Love, Love, Love This One!

Rock Stars Against Breast Cancer - it is the same group as the Super Heroes above. They changed outfits numerous times during the walk and we saw them many times each day.

Steph is Nacho Boobre.

We also saw this young man numerous times a day - he was always smiling just like this.

A couple of Judy's friends cheering the walkers along.

All sorts come out to cheer.

Look! It's my favorite cheerers!

These guys are great!

What it kind of looks like walking through a cheer section - without all of the noise.

If you are in the area next November, come out and join the fun!

Arizona 2010 Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk - Survivor's Circle at Closing Ceremonies

Leaving the stage at the end of ceremonies. That is me just to the left of the flag pole.

All of the other survivors joined us on the stage - hugging and dancing at the end of the closing ceremonies. We didn't even have to talk, we just looked each other in the eye and started crying. All of us had heard the word's "it is cancer" and all of us had to tell our loved ones of the diagnosis. It is this shared experience that made all of us have to walk. We are all committed to doing all we can to make sure that someday no one else will ever have to go through what we have gone through. Lots of tears and lots of love.

There were eight of us in the Survivor's Circle. It was a huge honor to be asked to participate.

"A World Without Breast Cancer" is what the flag says.

That's me just to the left of the flag pole

Walking in with our flags - I carried the "commitment" flag

Looking up at the center flag "A World Without Breast Cancer"

Being part of the Survivor's Circle is definately one of the top five highlights of my life. It was emotional in so many ways. I was proud to be there as a survivor. I was honored to represent those who are no longer with us. I was amazed at the dedication of the other walkers and crew members. I was tickled pink to be a member of Team Grand Canyon. I was just so thankful that my parents were able to experience it with me. I was hopeful for my future as a survivor. I was and will continue to be committed to ending breast cancer.

Click Here for a picture of me from the 3 Day web site. While you are there feel free to donate to Team Grand Canyon. We hope to raise $30,000 this year so every little bit helps! So, far we have only raised $10 so we have a ways to go. Glad we have eleven months!

I'll have some more walk photos posted soon.

The AZ 3 Day Walk is Over

What an amazing experience with an amazing six women. I was so honored to walk with them. I was honored to be one of the eight walkers in the Survivor's Circle. It will go down as one of the highlights in my entire life. I can't believe how lucky I was to be asked. I was worried about if I would trip or goof up in some way and then when I was actually carrying the flag in front of all the people I was just so tickled to represent the walkers that I didn't even think of anything else. Team Grand Canyon did an amazing job and I truely enjoyed my time with all of them. How blessed am I to have such an amazing women to walk with? I will have pictures up soon and some more blogs on my thoughts of the event.

Rehearsal is over and I did not trip!

The weather is beautiful and it was exciting to see everything being set up. I can't wait until tomorrow.

The Bags Are Packed and the Car is Pointed South

I can't believe the Arizona 3 Day Walk is here. It seems like we have been fundraising and training forever. I really want to give out a great big THANK YOU to all of you who gave our team such generous donations and to all of you who attended our events. The hard part is finished and now Team Grand Canyon gets to enjoy a few days of strolling around the Phoenix area.

I am very excited to have a chance to share this event with my close friends and the best part of the whole thing will be the time I get to spend with them laughing and walking. Thank you ladies. Thank you for all of your fundraising efforts, thank you for the great emails keeping the team informed, thank you for buying plane tickets and taking time off work to be in Arizona for a long weekend in November, thank you for all of the training miles you have done, thank you for all the Thursday team lunches, thank you for the raffle prize donations, thank you for making enchiladas (!) so we have a homemade meal the night before the walk, for all the logistics planning so we have a place to stay tomorrow night and rides to and from the event, thank you for your commitment to end breast cancer, thank you for being my friends, and thank you for walking next to me these next few days. As you all know, I'm not always very good at expressing myself but please know, having each of you on the team means more to me than I know how to say. There is no doubt that having cancer sucked but if I had never been through it, I would not have had this amazing experience with you. I am so happy that back in 2008 you could not say no to a bald woman. And am happier that you enjoyed it enough in 2009 that Team Grand Canyon is back in 2010 and more than double in size. If I have learned one thing in the past two years it is that one person can make a huge difference in the world - just think of what the seven of us have accomplished!

Here's to a walk full of laughs, sore feet, walker stalkers, tents, cheering, community showers, singing, portapotties, a few tears, lots of pink, making new friends, and the knowledge that each day bringing us that much closer to a cure! We walk because we can and because everyone deserves a lifetime.

The AZ 3 Day Walk Starts on Friday!

The walk is finally here. The seven of us have raised just over $19,500. Not quite our goal of $20,000 but close enough. The logistics have been worked out and it sounds like we will have quite a few of our friends and family cheering us on at the cheer stations. I am just so excited that I can hardly stand it that my parents are coming for Saturday and Sunday. They made us some very generous donations and were a huge help as our cooks at our fundraising BBQ.

I drive down early on Thursday morning and have to go a rehearsal of the opening and closing ceremonies that afternoon. I hope that if I am going to trip and drop my "commitment" flag, I do it at the rehearsal and not in front of the 1,200 walkers.

I will be posting pictures on facebook during the walk and will hopefully be doing some short live blogs here. My camera batteries are charging right now and I have a new phone with internet access.

This year I have a much warmer sleeping bag for the two nights in the tent so I plan on getting more sleep. I'm bringing warmer pajamas also. I was tickled last night when I was able to fit my huge sleeping bag into my duffle. Not much room for anything else but that is OK since the bag also takes up most of the 35 pounds we are allowed to bring.

I hope to at least walk more than I did last year and I'd love to complete every mile on Sunday. I have a better plan to avoid blisters this year which will make the walk much more enjoyable. I had horrible blisters on the bottom of my feet starting on the first day in 2009. It made walking the final day pretty miserable. Not this year!

Have to run to watch Conan! Nice to have him back.

Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk Fundraising

Team Grand Canyon hit the $17,000 fundraising mark today! All seven of us will have raised the $2,300 minimum amount to be allowed to participate in the walk which is only 3 and a half weeks away.

It is not too late to donate! :)

Linda's donation page

I have been training as much as I can with a busy work schedule and some more health issues. I hope to get some good miles in this weekend.

Some fun news - I have been nominated and chosen to be a member of the Survivor's Circle this year at the opening and closing ceremonies. I am will be carrying the "commitment" flag and am very honored to be chosen.

I've started training for the Arizona 3 Day Walk

It is just over 23 weeks until the walk in November. I plan on walking the whole thing this year so am following the official 3 Day Walk 24 week training plan. Today was the first three mile walk and I was late getting home from work so these first three miles were on the treadmill.

We had our first fundraiser a couple of weeks ago. We raffled a bunch of Diamondbacks baseball tickets and had a chili cookoff. We made just over $2,300. We have six people on the team so far this year and we each need to make $2,300 to walk so it was great to make enough to put one person over the top and another that much closer. We are thinking about having a dessert cookoff next.

I hurt my back a couple of weeks ago. I was just lifting my bags and getting out of the car. The pain was immense so instead of my usual suffer and take it game plan - I went to the clinic the same day. The doctor was just going to give me some pain pills and muscle relaxants since she believed that I could not have hurt myself too badly just getting out of the car. Then I told her that I had had chemotherapy a year and a half ago. She said that because of that I am an excellent candidate for osteoporosis and that she wouldn't be surprised at all if I had broken something. She sent me right in for X-rays. She looked at them and said that she did see something and had sent them to Flagstaff for the radiologist to review them also to make sure she wasn't seeing things. I had a good 45 minutes sitting there in horrible pain wondering what it meant if there was something. To keep this long story from being too much longer - she same back in and said that apparently was seeing things and that I was cleared to go and take my pain pills. Having had cancer puts a whole different spin to all sorts of things. Guess I will have to mention this to my oncologists the next time I am in just in case he wants tests done also. My back is much better now, it took just about a week before I could get around easily. It has been a great motivator to get off my butt and start walking.

Three more miles tomorrow!

Dusting off the walking shoes

Hi Everyone -

I signed up again for the Arizona Susan G Komen 3 Day Walk for a Cure. And once again I am pounding the pavement looking for donations. Anything you can afford would be very helpful. I know I promised pictures of last year's walk and I plan to have them up this week so keep an eye out for them.

Thanks!

Linda's Personal Page on the 3 Day Web Site

The First of Many Photos from the 3 Day Walk

One of my favorite photos

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That's me dead center, looking at the camera and waving. I'm in the sunlight and you can see only part of my face.

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At the end of the three days of walking everyone walked into Phoenix Stadium for a closing ceremony. I learned on the first day of the walk that the survivors on the walk were to walk in together last behind the other walkers and the crew members. It disturbed me at the time that I would not be walking in with my teammates - Steph and Kristin. We had made the journey together and I thought should finish together. But as I thought about it more, I realized that yes I had made the journey with them, but I had also made a journey that all the other Breast cancer survivors had made also. As survivors we may have not made our cancer journeys together, we did however make the same journey; from hearing the diagnosis to having to tell our friends and family to dealing with the elephant in the room to making treatment decisions that we will never know if they are correct or not to dealing with medical bills to the pain and struggle of treatment to living with the fear that at anytime it can come back and that this time it doesn't go away to deciding that we weren't only going to fight the cancer in ourselves but we are going to join the fight to make a difference and end cancer once and for all for everyone by participating in the walk. I decided that the walk was like my like cancer journey - my friends were with me during the whole journey but in the end it was still a journey by myself. I needed to walk in with the other survivors and show myself to the world as a representative of a survivor. Cancer may not define me but I am one of the many faces of cancer.

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It is hard for me to put into words the feeling I had when they had us survivors join together before we walked into the stadium. I have to admit that I have been really struggling with my self esteem since I finished treatment. Let's face it I am not even close to the same person as I was physically or mentally since my diagnosis and I've been embarrassed to have had cancer and have tried to forget about the whole thing. I was really nervous before the walk to face it all again. There were 200 or so survivors on the walk out of 1,800 walkers. When I walked up to the group of survivors and saw the smiles and tears, I was as proud as I have ever been to be a part of such a group of wonderful women. Very few of us knew each other but we all held our head's up high and looked each other in the eye as we hugged and cried and laughed and appreciated each other. We may not have know each other's names but we knew each other's journeys.

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I will have quite a few more posts about the 3 Day Walk. We raised over 4 million dollars to fight cancer and end it forever. That is first and foremost the most important part of the walk. For me personally, I learned to say...

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"My name is Linda and I am proud to be a breast cancer survivor. I walk because Everyone Deserves a Lifetime."

Greetings from the Arizona 3 Day Walk

It is day one and this is the most amazing experience. I am back at camp and have shower and set up our tent. I walked ten miles today which is double what I thought I would be able to do. It is easy though with all of the people cheering and walking with my great team. I'm getting a chair massage in a minute and thought I'd do a quick post. I have two blisters on the bottom of my feet and a broken toe nail. And I am of course a bit sore. Lots and lots of walkers - the logistics are amazing (that's the accountant in me!). Lots of pink too!

I'll check back in tomorrow!

I'm Heading Out to Phoenix This Morning

The 3 Day Walk starts tomorrow morning. We are supposed to be there by 6:30 am. Looks like the weather will be great and I have everything packed that's going to be packed. Thanks again everyone for all of your generous donations and well wishes. I'm very excited that it is finally here and ready for a fun weekend with friends, new and old while contributing to a cause that is very personal for me. I have the camera all ready to go so will have lots of photos to share when I get back on Monday.

Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk

Thank you so much all of you who have donated. I have a couple of more months before the walk in Arizona and hope to reach my goal of $6,000. I am almost there and it is due to all of you.

I've never been involved with collecting donations for a cause before and I am humbled by all the generosity I have seen from my family and friends.

I have attempted in my own words to describe the horror of being diagnosed with cancer and the torture of the treatment that ensues in this blog. It was one year ago that I started chemotherapy. I remember vividly the pain of that first weekend. I was unable to even get up from my bed for days after the treatment I hurt so badly. I was alone and was as terrified as anyone could ever be. How was I going to survive this? Would it get worse? (It did) What is the reason this is happening to me? Did I make the right treatment choices? Was I going to die? It still takes my breath away and brings me to tears thinking about it. Chemo is a horrible terrible thing. There has to be a better way to beat this horrible disease. I knew that if I made it through my treatments that it had to mean something. All of that pain and effort had to lead to more than me - or at least the pre-cancer me.

I now have a few simple goals. I hope to get better at supporting others going through cancer hell. I try to live every day thinking "any day that's not a chemo day is a great day". I try not to think about it too much but I could have a recurrence at any time and I don't want to be kicking myself for not enjoying the time I have being relatively healthy. There was a quote in the radiation waiting room in the cancer center - "happiness is not a destination, it is a way of travel". I spent many an hour staring at it and contemplating how true that can be. I swore if I made it through all the treatments I would be one happy traveler through life.

My new passion is raising what I can to fight breast cancer and to support breast cancer patients. If you would like to contribute to my walk or learn more about it please click here.

everyone deserves a lifetime

Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk

It's official - I've signed up to participate in the walk this next November here in Arizona. Just like it says - it lasts three days and we will be walking 20 miles each of those days for a total of 60 miles. Eight five percent of the proceeds go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. According to the website every advancement in breast cancer research, treatment, education and prevention in the last 25 years has been touched by a Komen for the Cure grant. The remaining fifteen percent goes to the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund, which provides ongoing support to breast cancer initiatives, so that strides made today can continue to propel us toward the goal of a world without breast cancer. I've agreed to raise at least $2,300 in donations. I know I can raise even more than that, and have set my team's goal at $3,000 per person. Here's the hard part for me I hate asking for $ in today's economy but I would appreciate any help you can give. Would you please consider making a donation of any amount? Keep in mind how far I'm walking - and how hard I'll have to train. You can donate online at http://www.the3day.org/. Just click on Donate Now and search for my personal fundraising page. You can download a donation form and mail it to the address on the form. You can also call 800.996.3DAY to donate over the phone. So, far I have a team of three - we are Team Grand Canyon. If anyone wants to join us on our walk we would love to have you join our team. Just let me know and I'll help you get signed up.

According to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, more than 200,000 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and nearly 40,000 will die from the disease. That’s why I’m walking so far. To do something bold about breast cancer. I hope that you'll share this incredible adventure with me by supporting me in my fundraising efforts.

During my breast cancer journey the Susan G. Komen organization was there for me every step of the way. The day I showed up for my first surgery consultation I was given a very informative breast cancer manual printed and paid for by them. They pay for a breast cancer support room at the cancer center. It is filled with all sorts of great helpful items they pay for and give out to patients at no cost. My personal favorite - they provided me with a weekly massage while I was in radiation. It was the most wonderful thing in such a trying time. Even last week I noticed a pink ribbon on the machine as I got my mammogram. Susan G. Komen had helped pay for the state of the art equipment. From personal experience I have seen what a great organization they are and I am proud to be able to participate in one of their big fund raiser events.

Other Cancer Blogs

I have no idea why it helps to read other people's experiences with cancer but it does for me. I guess maybe it's knowing that I'm in good company and am definitely not alone in what is happening to my body and mind (and hair) that comforts me. I added a new blog on My Favorite Blogs List on the left side of this page. It's called "...Lace Up Your Gloves..." I saw one of Jen's posts on the YSC board and have spent the last couple of hours reading her blog. Jen is amazing - if you have a chance read about her journey and watch her video about why she participates in the Arizona Breast Cancer 3 Day walk. It's a 60 mile fundraising walk benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure. It looks like it is in November next year. I hate fund raising but I love to walk. I've requested a brochure. I'll read it over - maybe I'll give it a try next year. www.the3day.org