Weekend to End Womens Cancers . . . . Thankyou for Your Support

It's almost been 2 weeks since my incredible journey at The Weekend to End Womens Cancers in Toronto.  It was an experience I will never forget for many reasons.  When ever someone would ask me if I trained for the 60km walk, my response was always, no, how hard can walking be?  Well, I found out how hard it can be when all of my past injuries came out of hiding. 

There were many times of inspiration along the route, many moments of pain, emotion & reflection.  It was a personal journey and yet it was a time of friendship and laughter. The support from strangers with signs and neighborhoods of people standing on the sidewalks clapping and thanking us. I saw many people with photo's of loved ones on their t - shirts who they were walking in memory of, but it wasn't until the second day that the true meaning of the walk stared me in the face, literally.

It was on the second day, at the lunch stop, I had developed an old familiar pain in my right knee that radiated down my shin and caused complete lock up.  Oh great, I thought to myself, I still have 12km to go and I've lost use of my right leg.  The pain had caused complete loss of appetite and an agonizing mental struggle.  Do I continue on and possibly do some real damage or do I bow out gracefully and take the ride to the finish line?  It was during this mental struggle that I received a text message from my mother.  My sister in law had been in labor for the past day and a half and the doctor said that the baby would be here in the next 2 hours.  My heart started to pound and my mind was racing, suddenly I felt an overwhelming need to be with my family. 

That was my answer. With the support and encouragement from my team, I walked until a sweep vehicle came along that could take me to the closest pit stop.  Before we made it to the pit stop, we picked up another women who had also blown a knee.  She got in and announced with much pride, "That's it I'm done, my knee is finished and so am I".  We were all discussing our experiences of the walk and our pain and what we had seen when this women mentioned that she had just been through her "first round" and felt pretty good.  Oh my God, I thought, this women has cancer.  "What kind are you fighting"? I asked.  She said "Breast Cancer, second time".  It was that moment, looking at her shaved head and beautiful blue eyes, that I saw the reason why I had walked in The Weekend to End Womens Cancers.

After being picked up at the next pit stop and whisked to the hospital in Cambridge, my parents helped me hobble up to the fourth floor, where my sister in law was still in agony trying to get her baby out.  The anticipation of my first niece or nephew's arrival was unbelievable.  I spent about an hour thinking of all of the wonderful moments I've shared with my brother to this day.  I was about to add one more.  With a grin on his face from ear to ear and a camera in his shaky hand, he announced that he had a daughter.  "Look at her, isn't she pretty" he said.  Watching my brother become a father for the first time, was a moment I'll never forget.  We went in the delivery room and still smelling of sweat and A535 & wearing my super hero team shirt, I held my niece for the first time.  For the second time that day I was staring into the beautiful eyes of another reason why I walked in The Weekend to End Womens Cancers. 

Thank you so much to everyone who donated, encouraged & supported me through this journey.  Thankyou to my amazing team, "Smiling Eyes For A Cure" for your friendship and your support.  Thankyou to all those who participated in my "Shoot for A Cure" event & Gift Certificate campaign. Thankyou to The Timeless Material Co. for letting us use the grounds & retail space for our shoot.  Lastly, thankyou to my family & amazing partner, James, for your words of encouragement when I needed them most.  Although my knee is still suffering, I will never regret the amazing journey that I took in hopes to get one step closer to a cure.