All that talk about craziness in Thursday’s summer reading recap got me thinking…
You know what’s really crazy? I’m talking really, really crazy?
Wearing a chicken costume to a meeting (with 100+ people in attendance) at your kids’ school.
Yep. I did that. Yesterday.
Letting your 8-year old play with fire.
I did that, too.
The aforementioned fire-handling child’s collection of stuffed bunny rabbits proudly on display.
Wascally wabbits galore.
Scoring this on SpellTower.
Go ahead. Try. I’ll wait right here.
How doggone cute this baby in a Viking hat is.
Whipping up on dyslexia.
Thank you, Schenck School. You are chock full of miracle workers.
The Most Interesting 3-Year in the World.
“Where can a man find a good cognac around here?”
I never tire of trotting this out because it’s still funny. Every. Single. Time.
The caveman photo manipulator from the Smithsonian.
It’s free! It’s funny! Winner, winner!
Anyone who wears a Transformers helmet while driving.
For a brief moment, I was Bumblebee’s co-pilot. Oh, yeah.
Thinking this was a good idea.
The horse (?) is named Larissa.
The hotline to Ric Flare in the Braves’ pressbox.
There’s also a direct line to Manscaping. So resourceful.
Kissing a dolphin.
Wearing orange-striped tube socks. In public.
A gerbil eating a Cheerio.
Letting your children build a 2,500 piece K’Nex contraption in one of their bedrooms.
A dog who likes to sunbathe.
Beating the claw machine twice. In the same day.
Crazy.
Walking 60 miles in 3 days.
Hold up.
That last thing wasn’t crazy.
That last thing was one of the best things I’ve ever done.
What’s really crazy is that an estimated 232,670 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed this year.
Fourteen percent of all new cancer cases this year will be breast cancer cases.
More than 150,000 people in the United States are currently living with metastatic breast cancer.
40,000 people will die this year from breast cancer.
At just 43, I have way too many friends who are battling breast cancer right this very minute.
One of my sweet friends had to wear this scary contraption on her head for a Gamma Knife treatment yesterday,
sending high intensity radiation into her brain to attack metastatic cancer cells.
Lynn is one of the bravest women I know.
Another amazingly brave friend of mine went head-to-head against Triple Negative Breast Cancer and won.
Take a minute to read about her journey. Shelley is only 40.
At just 43, I know way too many people who’ve lost their lives to breast cancer.
We’ve come a long way since 1975, when only 75% of those diagnosed with breast cancer would survive at least 5 years. Still, there’s more work to be done.
We all say we’re aware of breast cancer. But are you really? Do you know about Triple Negative breast cancer? Metastatic breast cancer? Inflammatory breast cancer? We still need to raise awareness of the multiple, terrible ways breast cancer can rear its ugly head.
And most importantly, we still need to find a cure.
In the past 30 years, Susan G. Komen has spent $685 million on research for a cure. Komen currently supports over 500 active research funds in 48 states and 18 different countries. Last year alone, Komen pumped over $91 million dollars into metastasis research. But this still isn’t enough. I’m still scared; I’m scared for my family; I’m scared for my friends. The $6,925 you all helped me raise last year went a long, long way towards helping find a cure for Lynn and Shelley. That $6,925 has helped keep my cousin Angie and my friends Valerie, Mary Ann, Elaine, and Ellen alive. But that $6,925 has not discovered a cure.
Yet.
And that’s why I’m doing the 3-Day Walk for a Cure again this year.
My team, Feet to Beat Breast Cancer, first walked in 2005, and since its inception has dedicated itself to raising funds to support the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Last year alone, the team raised close to $100,000–and about $83,000 of that went directly to research for a cure.
Would you please support me as I move into a space that makes me uncomfortable? Would you consider donating to help me help our team fund research so that one day NO ONE will have to go into battle against breast cancer? The link will take you to my personal page on the 3-Day website where you will find a way to make a donation.
If a monetary donation is not in the cards for you right now, may I still count on your support and prayers as I undertake this awesome challenge once again? Walking 60 miles is nothing compared to that journey so many women and men must take once they hear those awful words: breast cancer.
So far, I’ve been very, very fortunate. Among those names listed above, I know them as cousin or friend, but not mom or grandmom or, thank goodness, me.
So let’s do something really, really crazy:
Let’s work to make this a world that’s entirely cancer-free.
We can do it. I know we can. Every penny helps.
Thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart.
You can click right here to make a donation!
Please visit the 2014 3-Day home page for more information.
The Susan G. Komen Foundation graciously accepts matching gifts; please check to see if your business or company makes matching donations!
J, T, and Theo B. 