3Day Withdrawal

Posted on | October 14, 2008 | 6 Comments

Walkers on Day 1 

I can’t believe another 3Day has come and gone again. They have all been incredible, and our fifth event was no exception. Thank you all for your kind words, your empathy and your stories, your well-wishes and good thoughts. Thank you to all of you who so generously supplied prizes for the contest. Thank you for spreading the word and sending your friends, and thank you for donating! There are so many good causes out there in need of support and I thank you so much for sharing what you could with this one, particularly during such tough and uncertain financial times. You all were a big part of this event and it’s preparations this year and I won’t forget it. I put all your names on my banner, and had so many people ask me about “The Knitters”. And I carried your stories in my heart and the names of your friends and loved ones as well – along with my aunt and my mom (whose picture comes with me in my event credential).

You all raised $1446 just from this raffle, and Tad and I combined raised nearly $5000 through other sources. Our team raised over $42,000, and the whole event with about 3000 walkers (and an incredible number of crew and volunteers to support us) raised $7.3 million dollars(!!!). In my work life, I am on the financial side of healthcare, so while I know that that is more money than we could ever dream of personally, in the costly world of healthcare and research that is exactly the kind of sum that is needed to make a difference. And I am so proud to have been a part of that (and you all should be too!) I’d like to share a few words from a 2007 event walker to her teammates which one of the team captains was kind enough to share with all of us – it really brings the point home.

“To my dedicated 3-dayers — walkers, crew and training helpers,
Tomorrow begins another 3-day journey. We have all spent months working towards our goals — some to walk 60 miles and some to support those walking 60 miles. The journey is long and both mentally and physically difficult. It can take sheer will and determination just to take another step at times. During those times, when you find it difficult, I wanted to give you a few things to think about:

Without routine mammograms, my tumor would have been missed.
Without ultrasound guided biopsies, they would not have known my tumor was cancer.
Without contrasting MRI, they would have never known there was a second tumor and odd cells in my other breast.
Without the sentinel lymph node biopsy during a mastectomy, they would not have known if the cancer had spread (it didn’t)
Without thin slice pathology, they would never have found tumor 3, 4 and 5 or that they were ER/PR positive, stage 1-2 and 3 forms of cancer
Without Genomic Health’s Oncotype DX test, they would have put me through aggressive chemo
Without hormone therapies, they would have given me a 70% survival rate for 5 years
Without you, I wouldn’t be alive in 5 years

At some point, every test, procedure or drug I have taken was new. It came to life as a result of research that was funded through events like the 3-Day. So, when the time comes, and we all know it does, where we question whether it is worth it — the answer is “Yes!” “

Thank you – all of you – for all of your warm support and for being a part of this.

Information on the usage of your donation funds can be found at the following links:

http://www.nptrust.org/about_npt/BC3Day.asp
http://cms.komen.org/Komen/GrantsProgram/ResearchGrants/index.htm

(an aside about Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the primary beneficiary of the event – The reason I choose to support this organization each year is that every advancement in the field of breast cancer treatment and research in the last 25 years has been funded at some point through them and would not have been possible without it. That’s powerfully persuasive.)

Mugging & dancing for the camera up the big hill into camp

I’ve spoken about Tad and I here and our reasons for walking, but I haven’t yet mentioned our amazing team. We started walking with a small group of other folks in 2004 who didn’t have teams of their own, and we banded together – we got so close on those first 3Days that we coined the term “3Day fam” to describe each other. Some walked in other cities during the following and rejoined us again (a couple of our members are walking in Philly this weekend, if you are anywhere near, check it out, you won’t be sorry!), some have crewed or cheered in off years, but most of the original crew was back this time – along with several more members that have joined us along the way. Our Sis joined us in our second year and has continued to walk with us each year since – Last year, my good friend Catherine walked with us; and this year, she and her husband and new baby (yes, she is the mom of the Sweet Soon To Be) made the trip from Raleigh on Saturday morning to cheer us all on. Each of these people, those from our lives who joined forces with us and those that we never would have met without this event – are all amazing. I wish I could take some time to tell you a little bit about each of them – but it would take me about 20 posts to do that. Suffice it to say that they all bring their own awesome strengths to the group, they all walk for their own reasons, they all inspire me in so many ways. We walked, laughed, cried, sang and danced our way through another 60 miles – and there’s no way I could do it without them. They’re some of the best friends I’ve ever had. They’re family.

The weather this year was amazing. In years past we have battled over 100 degree heat, fading hurricanes with lots of rain, and even wore space blankets a couple times, but this year’s weather was the best we have ever had for an event and we were so thankful. The mornings were bright and chilly, and there was always a cool breeze when the air did warm up. Perfect for camping!

Getting scanned out on a chilly Day 2, bright and early; Camp with it’s sea of pink tents

The remembrance tent. We go here for some quiet moments to think about those people that we miss and record their stories.

Practice for opening ceremonies

The ceremonies were very emotional. One thing that I love about the opening ceremonies is that instead of having a moment of silence to remember those who are no longer with us and think about our reasons for walking, we are asked to call their names aloud. And the chorus is powerful. Click here for a link to a participant’s YouTube video of the ceremony. Even though I’ve heard the words and was there, I can’t watch it without getting emotional. Carrying the flags was amazing – I was excited and honored to do so, but it also meant we got to lead off the walk – Tad, myself, several of our teammates, and some other amazing walkers who we had just met – I can’t explain it, but it completely filled my heart.

Tad’s carrying “Turning Points”, I’m carrying “Strength”

And Closing! The closing cermoney is just as powerful.

The one shoe salute to survivors

Another 60 miles completed with our awesome team

Now, you might think that with all that walking, I wouldn’t have been able to get any knitting in…

But how could I miss out on Kirsten’s fun Socktober project?!

Ok, all of you contest winners, I have a confession to make. I had NO idea yesterday was a holiday. Imagine my frustration at arriving at the post office with a huge bucket load of packages and finding the post masters doors locked! (We still celebrate Columbus Day? huh.) It’s all good, the packages were dropped this afternoon instead (albeit later than I had intended). Please let me know when you receive them so I don’t worry. On a side note, I hadn’t really expected the contest to get as big as it did with as many prizes, and I’ve been having some guilty twinges about all the transportation involved – I’m looking into carbon credit options to offset the shipping impact to see if that’s feasible.

Also, this was my first time running a raffle of this scale and I’m sure that there is room for improvement – I’d love your feedback on the whole thing – raffle, prizes, emissions ;) in case I decide to do this again (the contest, not the walk, I am most definitely walking!)

Thank you all from my heart! You are all amazing.

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