Breast Cancer Walk

Saturday, October 10, was Nashville’s Susan G. Komen’s Race for the Cure, for breast cancer research. The race was a 5k walk or run in Brentwood. It was a cold and wet day but we headed out around 9, all wearing our pink t-shirts a friend had made for us. Instead of running the race, we visited the booths and observed the end of the walk. When they announced the survivors I lost it. It was exciting to see so many women, men and children of all ages participating. There were pink capes, hair, t-shirts and even a pink goatee. We then headed over to Radnor Lake to participate in our own 1.4 mile walk. It was decided that instead of donating $35 each to run in the 5k we’d rather donate some money to my dear friend Cindy Athon. Cindy is an almost 4 year breast cancer survivor. She’s a good friend, a sister in Christ, and a sister in the fight against breast cancer. Cindy came over right away when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2007. I was devastated, but she was there for me. (Jim was at work, Carey was in TN, Cory was in Madagascar, my sister and mom were in Hawaii, Caleb was in L.A., Charley was there with me.) She will be walking 60 miles over a 3 day period in San Diego to support the Susan G. Komen breast cancer research fund which provides research, education, screening and treatment. She has been training with her friend Jessica and they each need to to raise $2,300. Cindy is about 82% to her goal. So, our family decided to do something different. Instead of each of us paying the registration fee for the Nashville walk, we had our own walk at Radnor Lake. We will then all donate to Cindy’s walk. As we walked our 1.4 miles along the trail, I thought of Cindy. She loves to hike and backpack. In fact, I’m a bit jealous. She and her husband, Don, and sometimes her daughters, take trips quite regularly into the Sierras and other remarkable places. They recently hiked over Mono Pass at an elevation of 12,000 feet. Amazing! Hope you enjoy the pictures of our walk around the lake. If you think of them, remember Cindy and Jessica on their 60 mile walk to help erradicate breast cancer.