Susan G Komen Race For the Cure - Won't you join me?

Saturday May 9th is the annual Susan G Komen Race for the Cure in Salt Lake City.
If you live anywhere near this area, won't you please consider joining us?
Click here for more information.

This was my very first race ever last year. And to call it a race is a term I use loosely. No timing chips, no age-division winners, no medals.

Instead it is an inspiring morning filled with stories of hope and survival. Women and their families who have been touched breast cancer in some way, come together in a display of unity and love.

I didn't know what to expect, but when I got there I saw people with signs on their backs. They either said "I'm running in celebration of...." Or "In memory of..."
See, is was like EVERY person there had a purpose, a meaning, a human being, that they were running for. It.was.cool. I remember seeing women with scarves around their bald heads because they were still going through chemo. I passed a big, burly, biker-type dude with a tshirt that said "I'm running for my most incredibly, beautiful brave wife." I saw entire families, kids in strollers, running for Grandma. I saw women walking together just holding hands to get through the 3.2 miles. I cried. A lot.

There were so many people it was unreal. I had never been in such a crowd and I was admittedly overwhelmed, but I caught the spirit of the event and got my own tag pinned to my back. "I'm running in Celebration of my friend Nonalee."


I met Non back in 1985. She was the first nurse I ever worked with. We stayed close friends for all these years. Her marriages, my babies. Our kids. Our doctors. Our patients. We shared so much. Several years back she got breast cancer. A mean aggressive form. Stage 4. She beat it. She took it by the horns and showed it who's boss. I remember the night she called me and told me she was shaving her head. She always had long blonde hair. It was one of her defining physical features. She was determined that SHE would be the one to take her hair, not the poisonous drugs. She drank some liquid courage, dyed it blue for fun and then shaved it herself. She.was.brave.

I lost her last fall to the evil that came back and ravaged her body. I spent some time with her a few days before she passed and I count that time as precious. She was still a fighter. Sitting in her bed with her scrapbook stuff scattered all around trying so hard to get the scrapbooks done for her grandbabies. No just lying there for that girl!

So this year, I will run "In remembrance of...." It will be bittersweet but I also know that every time I support this great cause, we get a little further in finding a cure.

I also believe in Karma. And I am hoping with all my donations that I will be spared the disease. So if you live anywhere near the Gateway, and are interested in saving your ta-ta's, then please, come join us!