Monday, May 19, 2008

Relay For Life

On June 20th and 21st, Chris and I will be walking in the Relay for Life. This event is a fundraiser for The American Cancer Society. Although many of you were asked a few years ago to help us raise money when we did the Avon 3 Day Breast Cancer Walk (3 days, 60 miles and one of the most moving experiences of our life.), I am reaching out my hand and asking friends, family and strangers to sponsor either Chris or myself (or even both) once again.

Cancer has had a huge impact on my (Penny's) family. On November 20th, 1991 my mother lost her battle to breast cancer. When my father died, he had prostate cancer. I have also had many aunts on both sides of my family battle AND WIN the fight against beast cancer.

Currently, my second to the oldest brother has skin cancer which spread to his lymph nodes. His prognosis looks good! He had surgery last week, during which they removed the rest of his lymph glands and did not find any more cancer. The only areas of concern are some spots on his lungs and groin which were visible on a CT scan. In a few months, they will rescan and see if they can see cancer in those areas. My uncle on my mother's side is currently battling bladder cancer. This fight is not going as well. A few months ago they removed a tumor the size of a golf ball from his bladder. A month later they removed another one. Unfortunately this one was the size of his fist. At this point his doctors decided to remove his bladder. That surgery went fine. However the tube that brought the urine to the bag outside of his body needed to be fixed. He entered the hospital (fortunately) the night before his surgery. That night he began to have difficulty breathing. The cancer is now in his lungs. He has had a few set backs but we are all staying positive.

Needless to say cancer is big and bad in my family and I find the need to do what I can to help with research. If you feel you are able to do so, please sponsor me. If you can not afford to sponsor me , please consider participating in some way at a cancer fundraising event in your area.

Please feel free to donate in any amount. No amount is too small. I thank you. Chris thanks you, and my family thanks you! Please feel free to make donations using the following links:

My home page is http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeNewEnglandDivision?px=6234919&pg=personal&fr_id=7661

Chris' home page is
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeNewEnglandDivision?px=5052623&pg=personal&fr_id=7661


Thanks again! We will post details of the event here once it is over!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hey everybody!

just want to say awesome for relay for life. i participated in the relay for life out here in utah and it was amazing sad and just gives you a new look on life. i walked the full 24 hours out here except for a couple where i had to be able to feel my feet again. raised a total of 3200.00 and walked 32 miles. it was awesome and yes chase and matthew did it with me for a little while. i also had a wonderful helper who is a survivor and was seven years old and she was as beautiful little girl no hair but you wouldn't notice because of her big heart. so all in all it's great and good luck with your fundraising love and miss you all