For the Cure, the Survivors and Especially for my Mother

I tried to take a picture of the crowd with my Blackberry, but my phone died. No surprise there.

When I was fifteen, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. That was almost seven years ago now. It was kind of a blur and more than anything I think I was in denial. I was already going through my teenage rebellion phase - boys were priority number one, grades were priority sub-zero, and I distinctly remember people telling me "it's okay, you're just acting out because of your mother's cancer". I don't think I really understood the magnitude of cancer at that time though. It didn't truly hit me until my freshman year of college, specifically on the day I came back for a visit from Ohio and my father told me the doctors found something suspicious on my mother's mammogram.
My mother is a fighter; by some type of miracle whatever was on her mammogram that day disappeared. I've always known my mother to be a strong person, both emotionally and physically. Our time today at the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure showed me that she's even stronger than I previously thought. We arrived at the race super early, around 6am. The whole "West side Beltway during rush hour Monday through Friday" has made me incredibly aversive to any form of traffic, so I made us leave extra early. So worth it! We got our hands on all the free goodies and, while gloves would have been nice, the weather was absolutely beautiful.

While we were walking around waiting for the race to start, my mother actually talked about her battle with cancer. That doesn't happen very often. I could probably count on one hand the conversations we've had about it and they've all been fairly brief. Today though I felt like she really opened up about how difficult of an experience it was and I actually understood the gravity of it. I didn't know this seven years ago, but my mother's cancer was initially reported as Stage 4. Yes, Stage 4 as in "worst possible prognosis" Stage 4. I was shocked to hear that, but even more grateful that she made it through the struggle and she's still here with us today. 

Susan. G Komen and breast cancer awareness month have both played an important role in my life since my mother's cancer, but this year changed things even more for me. I've been so inspired by all the volunteers and survivors I've met and, of course, I'm especially inspired by my mother. It was the perfect day to celebrate all the progress made in breast cancer research and to raise money to fund even more progress in the future!

Posted in: 5k, breast cancer, breast cancer awareness, inspiration, susan g komen