Friday, October 2, 2009

Post in honor of Livestrong Day

Well, I know all y'all read MizFit, so all y'all probably know about POD and her promotion of Livestrong Day today. I've never met POD in person, but I do so enjoy reading her comments on other blogs we both seem to frequent AND she generously generously shared her butter chicken recipe with me. My kind of people. :-)

I'm not wearing yellow, but I ate a banana in my yogurt today. I thought about the people I know who've had cancer.

Survivors I know:
  • My mom, a breast cancer survivor. They caught it early; thank goodness she went in for her long-overdue mammogram that year. (Keep current with your mammograms, people, that's all I can say.)
  • My Aunt Connie, also a breast cancer survivor.
  • My cousin Derek and his wife, Ana, are both cancer survivors.
People I know who have cancer:
  • My mother-in-law, who was diagnosed with leukemia several years ago.
  • My childhood friend Stephanie, with whom I just reconnected with on Facebook, is still battling. :-(
People I know who have died from cancer:
  • My Aunt Pat, who died this year. She was a lovely lady who enjoyed traveling, her cats, and was an excellent needlepoint artist. I'm proud and happy that she made several pieces for us, including a wedding piece and birth pieces for both of our children. I'll always remember the time she called me to meet with her in San Francisco. We hadn't seen each other for a long time, and so we circled the hotel lobby, wondering, "Hmmm...which one is it...is that her?" Until one of us finally spoke up and said "Hi!"
  • My great-grandmother, Ruth. We did not see each other often, but I do remember the time we went back to Michigan for a visit. She was in her 80s at the time, and as we pulled up in our motor home, she was mowing her front lawn with a push mower. She freaked out a little, not recognizing my dad (and his 1970s style extreme perm...I'd have freaked out, too). But she took us in, and made us muffins and elderberry pie, and we got to explore her cellar, quite the adventure for us California kids.
Coincidentally....

My sister-in-law asked if my triathlon was a benefit for a cause. I vaguely remembered something about it, and when I looked it up before the event, I noticed it benefited the Breast Cancer Fund. When my mom was battling breast cancer, she wore three gold bracelets on her wrist, and when she had beaten it, she gave one to my aunt and one to me. So if you look reeeeeally closely in the photos, you'll see mine. I wore it on my right wrist, in honor of her, of my friends and relatives who've had it, and of all of the other women who are fighting cancer. The event organizers informed us that the 2009 event raised over $12,000 for the Breast Cancer Fund through the See Jane Run donation and individual fundraising.

(If you're peering closely at the photos, you're probably thinking, "I don't see a gold bracelet, but I do see a light blue one." That was my other memento, from Christie O., and I wore it in honor of all the bloggers who have supported me in my getting healthy/battling type 2 diabetes journey. Which is easy-peasey compared with cancer, but they both suck, big-time.)

4 comments:

Levi said...

Thank you for this post! Thank you for your comment, and butter chicken *could* be yellow with enough butter (leave out the tomato paste).

So many people affected by this illness. And type II diabetes. Is there a 'day' for diabetes?

Thanks for participating. I'm going to round them all up on one page, I hope, this weekend. Like those foodwino bloggers do. I am hoping people will post all weekend - I mean if they aren't busy living. ;-)

Christie O. said...

Wonderful wonderful thoughtful post and thank you so much for supporting the breast cancer fund in your tri! my mother too had a cancerous lump that was caught very early at a routine mammo and she was in her early 30's. Thank God for that routine mammo. My aunt is also a survivor, she recently went through the entire battle and came out wonderful and strong on the other end after a long fight. My love to all the survivors and those who fought long and hard, whatever the outcome, these women are the bravest of the brave.

Miz said...

I cant help but think about all the women who cant afford mammograms.

heartbreaking.

Brooke said...

my grandfather lost his battle with cancer when i was 9 years old. my uncle died of pancreatic cancer about 3 years ago.

:(