It's the Journey

As I'm sure you are well aware, this weekend I walked in the Atlanta 2 Day walk for breast cancer. The organization is called, "Its the Journey." And that was definitely true. I cheated by walking this weekend. I didn't have to raise any money because the team already did all of the work. I signed up for a weekend away from the kids. I thought I was walking to raise awareness for the issue of breast cancer but really, it raised my awareness of a truly horrible disease. I thought this was a disease that affected middle-aged women butI was astounded at all of the young women who were there as either survivors or in the middle of their battle. I learned that 1 out of 200 women who are thirty will develop breast cancer by the time they are 40 and 8 out of 200 by the time they are 60. Our team was established for someone I never met, Sara Papp, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 26. Let me let you think about that a minute, 26! Unfortunately, she lost her battle in 2009.
As I was walking, the walk seemed like no big deal. We had lunch at mile 10. No sweat. By around mile 12, my feet were starting to feel the stress but I kept going. By mile 18, I was truly thinking, "this is dumb, why am I here." By mile 19, I realized that it was only a walk. I was in good shape and I could finish this last mile of the day. It was a "walk in the park" compared with someone who has just found out this life changing news. The next day, tired and sore, we journeyed a little farther; 10 more miles. No one had the stride or the energy of the morning before. We were tired, sore, and blistered but it was almost easier because the ceremonies of the night before and that morning. The night before I saw the pride in a husband who's wife finally acknowledged that she was a survivor. I watched a woman who was in the middle of her battle remove her wig in front of 1000 people and that morning I saw a 20 year old girl who was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 16. 16! I have two girls, that shot right to my core.
There was a rabbi who spoke Sunday morning who said we were praying with our feet. Every painful step of those last 10 miles I tried to remember that I was praying for all those survivors including Kris (my teammate) and Aunt Sharon, the families of those like Sara who lost their battle and for a cure so that women will not have to worry about this terrible disease.