Why I Walk -- Reason #98655

Did you know that 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer?

When we were in Austin, there were about 15 of us that kind of ran together. We had a book group, all got pregnant about the same (too much wine at book group?) This group was an amazingly diverse group of women from random walks of life. Each one of them was brilliant on her own. But when they were together as a group it was an awesome thing to interact with all of them. When the guys graduated with their MBAs, we all moved off to build our homes and families.

A couple of years ago, one of the girls was diagnosed with breast cancer. In her early thirties. She fought it with a mastectomy and the toughest chemo. In 2006 she ran in the Race for the Cure to celebrate her victory. Then, in August or September of 2006, it came back, and it was in her bones and lungs. The hormone therapies she'd been on hadn't worked.

I got a card from her last week, and I want to share part of it with you....

"We have had a difficult year. I was extremely ill last spring, down a very little time, but fought my way back to a remission over the course of the summer and fall. We are now on our way to work with a healer in Costa Rica -- himself a 20-year survivor of terminal cancer -- who has helped me regain my strength. We are hopeful and feel very blessed to have found such an inspiring example of a body's capacity for renewal and health!"

This is why I walk. So we can find a cure for cancer. So Mommies can be Mommies. So women will have faith that they can be CURED. So Sonja and her two precious daughters will have a happy ending.