The 3 Day

Andrew and I decided back in January that we would be walking the Susan G. Komen 3 Day.  It wasn't something that we hemmed and hawed over or something we always said we wanted to do some day.  It was a decision that we made one day through text messages and the next day at about 5:30am before I worked out or got ready for school, I signed us both up.  In our eyes, it wasn't a decision that needed a lot of discussion over.  We are going to do it, done.


Well, I should preface this decision a little.  We did put some thought into it.  We did have some reservations about it ($2300 each?  That's a lot of money to raise!).  However, there was never a question in our minds about whether or not we would do it.


In the middle of January when we were back at "home" in IL for one of our routine visits, Andrew found out that his mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time.  The first time that she had breast cancer, Andrew and I weren't "dating" (I use the term loosely since we've pretty much been together since we were 8 years old).  Andrew was in middle school.  Beth had a ductal tumor that was removed and then went through radiation.  For 14 years she was in remission.  Suddenly this big C word was back.  Andrew told me in the car as we drove back to WI.  I immediately started sobbing as he told me what he had learned that weekend.  Andrew is not the type of person who wears his heart on his sleeve and I cry at the drop of a hat, so I wasn't all that surprised that his water works weren't on.


Over the next few days, we learned that it was a lobular tumor which has a greater possibility of spreading.  Beth soon had to make the difficult decision of how to proceed: lumpectomy, mastectomy, bilateral mastectomy.  And as she was deciding what time of surgery to have the following week, we talked and talked about what we could do.  What could we possibly do to show our support?  Beth eventually decided to have a bilateral mastectomy and we decided to walk.


On January 31st, Beth went in for surgery and we started our fundraising.  The surgery was a success and our fundraising efforts got off to a slow start.


Now I'm the type of person who doesn't like to ask for help.  So asking for money is extremely difficult for me.  I don't want to bug people and I don't like to put myself out there.  However, I don't have to go through chemotherapy like Beth does.  I didn't have to get a port put in yesterday to aid in that chemotherapy.  So walking 60 miles and asking people to donate to my $2300 goal isn't really that big of a deal now.


If you would like to donate to our team, please visit my personal page.