Another 60 Miles? Yeah. I Can Do That.

Do 1 in 8 women in the United States still get invasive breast cancer in their lifetime?

Is breast cancer still the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women worldwide?

Is a women in this country diagnosed with breast cancer every 4 minutes?

Were almost 40,000 women expected to die of breast cancer in this country in 2011 alone?

Yes.

Until the answer to all of these questions is "no", I can walk 60 miles.

I can walk for a friend and a former class mate who are fighting to rid their bodies of this disease.

I can walk for the researchers who live their lives to save the lives of others and need precious dollars to continue their work towards a cure.

I can walk for the uninsured single mom who can't afford her own screening or treatments and has kids at home who need their mother.

I can walk in memory of the almost 40,000 women who died of breast cancer last year.

I can walk for the teenage girl who held up a sign as I passed her on the Berkeley campus last year that read, "My mom had surgery yesterday; thank you so much for walking." I think of that girl, and her mother, and wonder how they are, often.

I can walk to celebrate the millions of women in this country who have stared down breast cancer in their own bodies and survived.

It is not easy; there are hours of commitment to training, fundraising, and blisters, and aching muscles and cramping arches and calves. There were moments last year during the walk when my feet barely fit back into my shoes and I wanted to get on the bus & give up. But it is nothing compared to fighting for your life against breast cancer.

I hope you'll find a way to donate to this cause--all of us know someone who has been, or will be, touched by this disease in our lifetimes, unless we can stop it. Please take a moment to click on the Susan G Komen link to the right of my blog and make a donation, however small, to help me reach my goal of $2300. There are no words to express my gratitude, but you will know, when the cure is found, and I believe it WILL be found, that you had a hand in making it so.

Thank you so much.