My name is Kelly, I’m 27 years old, and I hate cancer. I’ve often lived by the statement, “Go Big or Stay Home.” Last September, I was traveling to Chicago from my home in Las Vegas to be part of Oprah Winfrey’s 25th (and final) Season Premiere; this September, I will be traveling 400 miles so that I can walk nearly 40 miles over the course of one weekend, then turning around and traveling 400 miles back home.
Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t like to drive 40 miles, let alone walk it. So, why am I doing this? It’s simple — I’m walking because I care. I’m walking because I can. I’m walking because 41,000 women will lose their battle with breast cancer this year alone, and I happen to know one of them. Trust me when I say that one is too many.
I’m walking because I don’t want one more person I care about to become a breast cancer statistic. I’m walking so that someday a young woman won’t have to face the decision of whether or not to have a preventive mastectomy because breast cancer runs in her family. I’m walking because nearly $700 million has been raised by the Avon Walk to pay for treatment and early detection programs for people who can’t afford medical help.
I’m walking for 8-year-old Emma, 6-year-old Logan and 4-year-old Jack who had to spend Mother’s Day alone this year because their mom, Katie, lost her fight to breast cancer in January at the age of 40. I’m walking for my friend Pam who battled the disease and lost her hair but won the “war.” I’m walking for a cure – for me, for you, and for our future. I’m walking because I’m in it to end it! Because, as Oprah taught us in Australia, “everything is better when shared,” I’ll have my teammates Cathleen and Caryn with me.
The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer is a big commitment, one that will require me to spend the next two months training and fundraising. But breast cancer is a big disease that still affects far too many people and I’m determined to do everything I can to help put an end to it. Breast cancer doesn’t care if you’re black or white, young or old, male or female. It affects us all, and I’m walking because I don’t want one more person to have to lose someone they love.
The money I raise will be managed and disbursed by the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade to help provide access to care for those that most need it, fund educational programs, and accelerate research into new treatments and potential cures. You can make a donation to my fundraising campaign by visiting http://info.avonfoundation.org/goto/KellyWagner.
I sincerely appreciate your support – I can’t do this alone. I’ll be thinking of the generosity of everyone willing to “pay it forward” as I walk. Traveling to Australia with “Auntie O” was a once in a lifetime experience, but walking to find a cure for breast cancer is the ULTIMATE adventure.
The post why i’m walking for the cure by kelly wagner appeared first on Midlife at the Oasis.
