That's a very touching reason to walk in the walkathon, rockerchik. It's nice you have a personal reason to walk this park since your Grandma had a connection with it. I have a personal reason to walk, too. My best friend, Beth, developed Acute Leukemia 2 years ago (about 6 months before Mike's was diagnosed).
She had 18 months of remission and changed her diet to very healthy options and thought she had licked it. But at Christmastime this year she got run down and it came back right away. She had another round of chemo for a month and got treatment for an absess in one of her teeth that weakened her immune system and was able to maintain her remission for another 6 months.
They talked about doing a stemcell or bone marrow transplant at that point but she did not want to go that route without trying alternatives first. But when it came back after just 6 months she agreed to go forward with it and they just did the procedure last week.
So far, so good. But she has 5 more weeks in the hospital before her new immune system is strong enough to handle going home, and then she's going to have to adjust her routine to keep herself protected from other health risks for at least the next year.
So, she is the reason I'm walking in this walkathon, but I have other reasons for wanting to walk for cancer research, too. My Mother is a sucessful breast cancer survivor but my Father's mother was not so lucky, her's turned from breast to bone cancer.
I was positive about Beth's & Mike's treatments being successful because I knew that one of the boys in my 8th grade class had been successfully treated for leukemia back in the late 70's - so it wasn't an automatic death sentence like the more difficult-to-diagnose ones - like colon cancer and brain cancer. And I've lost friends to those over the past 10 years, too.
Hopefully, with more research & treatment funds being raised over the next 10 years they'll be able to find even more cures and give more people access to the treatments they need.
Rock on @ the walkathon, people! I signed up today so let me know if you want to sponsor me!
Lyn
I just got my walking papers and am so excited about this event! My grandma died of cancer (it will be 3 years in June) so this event holds a special meaning to me. Her cancer was found by accident while she was holding her throat area, she felt lumps and upon being seen by a dcotor it was found that she had lung cancer. She tried all the treatments and fought the fight but it spread too rapidly and finally too her brain. She gave me false hopes when she made a special trip to see my daughter's 1st birthday a few months prior to her death. She lead us to believe she was in remission, I guess so that we would not talk her out of coming. It was a special visit as I spent a lot of one on one time with her. I did ask her upon her last days if she was afraid to die and she said no she enjoyed her life and had many fond memories. Grandma had 9 children and had very strong family and work values. So in addition to me being a fan of Mike Peters, and The Alarm, this walk is in memory of Grandma. Grandma would love it as she loved the park and the concerts.
