Blogging for a Cure

So I wasn't going to do this.  I have committed myself to raising $2300 for the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure and I'm still over $500 short of that goal.  As the captain of Relentless Optimism, I committed myself to helping get four other teammates to their fundraising minimums and to get our team to our goal of $16,600 before the end of July.  I've also signed up for the Dekalb-Adams Relay for Life, the Atlanta Race for the Cure and the Breast Cancer Network of Strength Walk to Empower and I haven't done a single thing to raise money for those deserving organizations.  But yet, here I am, dedicating this blog post to helping someone else raise money towards their own minimum for the Breast Cancer 3 Day.

Because of my other commitments, I felt like advocating on behalf of someone else would be like turning my back on my own commitments.  And one thing I pride myself on is honoring my commitments.  But then, I read this amazing post by Cat of the Fat Girl Walkin' blog.  Cat's new to the 3 Day.  I've gotten to know her a little bit through her blog and through Twitter.  I actually sent her some blog love a few weeks ago to reassure her that we 3 Day walkers stick together to accomplish our goals.  And today, Cat reminded me of a very important lesson:  it's not a competition, even though it is a fight.  She could not be more right.  It isn't about who gets to their fundraising minimum first or who raises the most money.  It's about raising money for a very important cause.  In the end, all the money that is raised for through the 3 Day goes to the same place: Susan G. Komen for the Cure and their very important work funding breast cancer research and advocating on behalf of breast cancer patients around the world.  

Some time after I read Cat's post, I also read this phenomenal post on the 60 Mile Thoughts blog.  And that's when it really hit home for me.  In that post, what we're walking all these miles for and what we're raising all this money for was laid out for me in black and white.  We're doing this to save lives.  In that post, Lauri reminds us that someone in the United States loses their life to cancer every 68 seconds.  68 seconds.  Just over a minute.  That one life could be someone's grandmother.  Someone's friend.  Someone's sister.  That one life could be my mom, who is currently battling cancer for the second time, after her breast cancer was in remission for a year and a half.  That one life WAS Marcia, just a year ago this past week.

So today I am doing something that I wasn't planning to do:  I am asking you to donate to someone walking in the 3 Day that isn't me.  She isn't on my team and she isn't even walking in my event.  Her name is Jackie Reitz and she is a member of the Betties for Boobies team that will be walking in the Dallas/Fort Worth event.  This year, she has asked all of the members of the 3 Day blogging community to take the time today to dedicate just one post to her fundraising cause.  In addition, she is asking each blogger to donate $10 to her fundraising activities in the hopes of raising $6000 in 24 hours towards finding a cure for breast cancer.  So today, I'm asking you to match my $10 donation to Jackie.  You can find her fundraising page at:

www.the3day.org/goto/jackier

Please take some time today or in the next few days to really think about what we're trying to do here.  We get ourselves all dolled up in pink and hit the streets pledging to walk 5 miles, 10 miles, 60 miles...  We laugh, we make boobie jokes, we try not to complain too much about blisters.  But in the end, what we're really trying to do is find a cure for breast cancer once and for all.  This won't be easy.  Breast cancer can occur in many different forms.  No two cases are exactly alike.  Remissions in other tissues makes it even more difficult to treat.  But we can do this if we work together.  Even if our efforts only result in one life being lost every 136 seconds, we will be saving half of the lives that would otherwise be lost.  So please, donate to Jackie, donate to Cat, donate to Lauri, donate to one or more of my teammates, donate to me.  Donate to anyone and everyone that asks you if you can afford it.  All of those small $10 donations really can change the world.  I promise.