I was told about this walk by a cousin just days before, on Tuesday. How I hadn't heard about it I don't know. But what I know is that it definitely needs more publicity for next year. I am up at the dermatology clinic every 3 weeks, if not more, and there wasn't any signage or anything for it. Also, I follow many melanoma pages and also nothing.
I put out my fundraiser feelers on Thursday night and within one day I had reached my goal (only $100 but still) by race day I had raised over $340. By the end of Saturday I was close to $500. My army is amazing!! They have been soooo giving through all this and then continue to give. It truly amazes me. Because of my amazing army, I am the #2 fundraiser for the walk overall and was given a prize of $100 gift card to Best Buy for being the fastest fundraiser. Pretty amazing if you ask me!
The walk had maybe 50 or so people there, no signs, very minimal. It made me frustrated to think that if it were a breast cancer walk that there would be 100's if not 1000's of people there. It also doesn't help that October is breast cancer awareness month so it already is overshadowed. I was still grateful for the people that were there and you could tell that they all were affected by this horrible cancer personally.
I was joined by my cousins Brooke and Jayne as well as my #1 supporters Maryann and her son Jack. I knew I wouldn't walk the full 5k and when I woke up that morning I was very nauseous so I wasn't even going to walk at all. Luckily Maryann encouraged me to at least try to walk some of it and so I did. I made it maybe 1k, or half a lap around the park (which has some gnarly hills) and then decided to not push my luck. I then watched all the amazing participants finish. It was a good day overall.
Jack, who is 6, is one of my little buddies. I guess when his mom (Maryann) said that they were going to come to the walk for me he said "but she isn't even sick anymore, I mean I don't even really notice her neck anymore." Sweet kid. But sadly I am still sick. I may not look like it so much anymore, but it is a battle with myself. I put a good face and foot forward and try to act not sick as much as I can but sadly I am still sick. I still have a cancer inside me, it just isn't beating me up as hard as it has a few months ago. Every day is a battle with fatigue, headaches and nausea. Thankfully the nausea has gone down but I still feel as though I could sleep all day. I force myself out of the house just because I know I shouldn't just sit around all day. I'm glad people think I am doing better though - as I am MUCH better than I was earlier this year. Sweet kid for being so honest about it all.
That said, I am not going to let this bring me down. I hope to get more involved with the walk for next year and make it bigger and better. Here is to fighting melanoma one step at a time!
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