Yesterday my mother in law and I finished the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. It was the MOST amazing experience of my life. I learned that early detection saves lives! I met and heard some of the most inspirational stories, girls my age that had lost their moms OR were SURVIVORS themselves. There were 2 women that I met, barely older than I am, one was walking BALD AND PROUD and the other was talking about how tired chemo made her (she still walked almost 20 miles). Breast Cancer is no longer our mom or grandma's disease. Women are being diagnosed as young as 19 years old. During the weekend they handed out a ribbon every 3 minutes to signify the number of women that are diagnosed with breast cancer. Every 3 minutes another woman is diagnosed, that is 480 women PER DAY diagnosed with this horrible disease.
Walking that far is very daunting but there are so many cheering sections along the way. The motivation comes from inside, I kept thinking how no pain in my feet or legs compared to chemotherapy, radiation or a mastectomy. There were so many men and women that were there with a sign saying survivor, how could I not walk. Besides, there were TONS of volunteers and honking horns and carrying funny signs and cheering in both in cars driving by and on the side of the road... as early as 7AM on Saturday!
There was Geoffrey, who wore a pink polo shirt holding a handwritten sign that read: "Go Mom." He was at nearly every mile cheering for everyone who walked. There was April, who drove her black SUV to several undesignated stops along Saturday's 26-mile route. She opened all four doors, blasted music and danced. She played all the best music and the girl was DANCING! I looked forward to the April sightings.
There was the guy who came out on his beachfront property on Seal Way in Seal Beach wearing nothing but underwear Saturday morning. None of the ladies seemed to mind. Perhaps we woke him up, but he still clapped for us. There were so many young people, little girls starting at younger than 4 years old handing out lollipops some wearing little cheerleading outfits telling us how great we were doing and boys handing out water bottles. There were the girl scouts handing out wet towels and both boy and girl scouts pitching tents at the wellness village!There was a family who grilled hot dogs and had hundreds of beverages for us out in their front yard, as though the Avon Walk was a big block party celebrated annually.
Then Sunday there was a guy who stood on top of his car in jeans and a cowboy hat and made us laugh. He even answered his phone once and admitted to one of his boys that he was standing on top of his wife’s car with his shirt off dancing to Madonna just to cheer us on... What a great way to keep a bunch of ladies motivated. There was even a guy with beer and coffee outside his home bright and early. He could've been inside drinking a beer and watching football, but he was busy handing out beverages to a bunch of ladies with tired feet and blisters. There were kids cheering in pink shirts and dogs wearing pink collars and leashes. There was an older woman who stood near the finish line clapping and yelling: "Thanks for walking for me."
Then I saw my husband and daughter, both holding signs. My little girl had a sign and on one side it said Congrats to mommy and the other side to Grammy, my husband has all sorts of signs with cute sayings, I think my favorite said "this is your breast performance". Seeing the two of them at the end of this journey made me so thankful to have my family.
There are nine cities that host the Avon Walk, Los Angeles raised a record $5 million. It was so hard not to be inspired by every person that was walking. I know people that have lost loved ones and although I wasn't walking for one person in particular I was walking for all of us and you will see me there again next year and hopefully every year and ideally never with a name on my back.
Walking that far is very daunting but there are so many cheering sections along the way. The motivation comes from inside, I kept thinking how no pain in my feet or legs compared to chemotherapy, radiation or a mastectomy. There were so many men and women that were there with a sign saying survivor, how could I not walk. Besides, there were TONS of volunteers and honking horns and carrying funny signs and cheering in both in cars driving by and on the side of the road... as early as 7AM on Saturday!
There was Geoffrey, who wore a pink polo shirt holding a handwritten sign that read: "Go Mom." He was at nearly every mile cheering for everyone who walked. There was April, who drove her black SUV to several undesignated stops along Saturday's 26-mile route. She opened all four doors, blasted music and danced. She played all the best music and the girl was DANCING! I looked forward to the April sightings.
There was the guy who came out on his beachfront property on Seal Way in Seal Beach wearing nothing but underwear Saturday morning. None of the ladies seemed to mind. Perhaps we woke him up, but he still clapped for us. There were so many young people, little girls starting at younger than 4 years old handing out lollipops some wearing little cheerleading outfits telling us how great we were doing and boys handing out water bottles. There were the girl scouts handing out wet towels and both boy and girl scouts pitching tents at the wellness village!There was a family who grilled hot dogs and had hundreds of beverages for us out in their front yard, as though the Avon Walk was a big block party celebrated annually.
Then Sunday there was a guy who stood on top of his car in jeans and a cowboy hat and made us laugh. He even answered his phone once and admitted to one of his boys that he was standing on top of his wife’s car with his shirt off dancing to Madonna just to cheer us on... What a great way to keep a bunch of ladies motivated. There was even a guy with beer and coffee outside his home bright and early. He could've been inside drinking a beer and watching football, but he was busy handing out beverages to a bunch of ladies with tired feet and blisters. There were kids cheering in pink shirts and dogs wearing pink collars and leashes. There was an older woman who stood near the finish line clapping and yelling: "Thanks for walking for me."
Then I saw my husband and daughter, both holding signs. My little girl had a sign and on one side it said Congrats to mommy and the other side to Grammy, my husband has all sorts of signs with cute sayings, I think my favorite said "this is your breast performance". Seeing the two of them at the end of this journey made me so thankful to have my family.
There are nine cities that host the Avon Walk, Los Angeles raised a record $5 million. It was so hard not to be inspired by every person that was walking. I know people that have lost loved ones and although I wasn't walking for one person in particular I was walking for all of us and you will see me there again next year and hopefully every year and ideally never with a name on my back.
Opening Ceremony - We were there at 6:15am on Saturday
Lets get walking... just a sea of pink
Just before mile 20! There were lollipops in the bucket
Hitting mile 20 felt AWESOME! 6.2 miles left...
1 comment:
AMAZING Shana! You, your mother in law, the rest of the walkers and the supporters! I get your writing to a tee... it felt like you took me right back to the walk I did with how you described the people and the stories along the way. I agree 100%... totally the best experience ever to be part of.
I am VERY proud of you! Your heart is BEAUTIFUL!
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