Mom, Melissa, Steph, and Ilea did a great job organizing the Relay for Life for us this year. It really was an awesome experience, and we learned a lot so if we decide to do it next year we'll be better prepared.
Here's some pictures I took:
Mom walked with Dad for the survivor walk. It was really cool, and really sad too. The woman who organized the event found out on the day of the first team meeting that Mom and Melissa attended that the cancer she thought she had beat had come back and spread to her brain and she would not be surviving this time around. She was at the Relay For Life and walked.
Another woman I met lost her husband and one son to pancreatic cancer, and her two other sons had been diagnosed with it. It was pretty sad, but also awesome to be doing something to help current and future victims of cancer win their battle.
They lined up all the survivors for a picture. I couldn't get a very good one, but I got one with a good shot of Dad:
Here's some of The High Five Gang walking:
24 hours is a long time to be on a field, but the cousins had a FANTASTIC time playing together. Isaac was so great with all of the cousins, as you can see:
Katie and Alicia by some luminaries they had made:
Very cool. What were some of the lessons learned? I have done this here once, we had a big team and I only walked for a couple of hours, so not much to learn there.
ReplyDeleteThis event made me realize that cancer has no boundaries. It doesn't care how old you are, what race, religion or gender you are. It is a horrible, ugly disease and I also realized how very blessed we are to have Ron still here with us as the leader of our family. He is an amazing man!! As we were doing the survivor lap it was hard not to cry (I tried not to since I know how Michelle hates it when I cry). Melissa, Christina, Stephanie and Matt all joined with Dad and I as we held hands and walked the survivor lap. We are so incredibly blessed to have the family we do and we love all of you kids, in-laws, and grandchildren so much. As a side note: Dad went to the doctor this morning and he ran a blood test which shows that he is still cancer free!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSome lessons learned: Mostly about how to have a more successful booth to raise money. The krispies didn't work, and it seemed that any body who had treats for sale didn't do as well. What did work was activities. I think having a booth full of kids activities that the kids pay a buck to do would be more successful. Also, just knowing what to expect- how to make the luminaries, how to fund raise, etc. There's still a lot to learn, but it was fun to get started on this journey and perhaps do it again in the future. Mom and Liss did most of the work, and they did a FANTASTIC job.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Melissa and I DID do a lot of work the garage sale would not have happened without Stephanie. She got a lot of her friends to donate items and when Melissa got sick Stephanie spent the whole day Thursday helping me to get prepared for Saturday. She also stayed up late to bake goodies to sell at the garage sale and was there most of the day on Saturday. Matt and Isaac showed up at 7 am on Saturday to pick stuff out so A GREAT BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE who helped out with the garage sale and also the relay. It was a wonderful event to be involved with as a family.
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