A short thought for today.

Short but sweet today ladies:

We walk because we must. We are strong because the journey demands it. Together in body and united in spirit, we lay down our footsteps for this generation and the next. This is our promise: a world without breast cancer.

We can do this, We must do this, We will do this.

Sometimes the Goal Gets Lost in the Shuffle!

So the weeks have continued moving forward and we are now at 16 weeks to the walk in Chicago!  Yes, 16 weeks to go.  I have tried to keep my team motivated and encourage them to continue with walks and fundraising events.  It has not always been easy, and  we now know that it can be true that a team sometimes is only as strong as the weakest member... if they allow it to be so. 

This journey has brought about so many different emotions for all of us, hope, strength, courage, friendship.  Those are the feelings that we would wish to encourage and grow.  However, we have seen a darker side of emotions that have made an appearance.  These emotions were envy, competition, dishonesty, mistrust, lies...this list goes on and on and we, as a team, are trying to get beyond the upsets that have occurred in resent weeks.  I know that many of us have been left wondering how something that was supposed to help bring people together, united in a common goal, has managed to destroy relationships and cause hurt feelings and this feeling of mistrust. 

All I can say to each person on my team is:

"Keep your eye and heart focused on the true reason we started this team.  Find a way to move beyond the hurt and refocus on what this event really represents.  Along the way some lost sight of the goal and we can only wish them well from this point forward.  If they have decided to move on and away from our team, so be it, the idea is to raise funds for Breast Cancer, if they are still doing that....we have won the battle! 

This journey is personal, this is true, but it is not about us!  It is about all the men and women that have had to battle this disease and all the men and women that will still have to battle this disease if we don't find a cure.  It is about the 29 year old woman that lost her battle just this week! It is about the family of that young woman, the father that called us so soon after her death to cancel her next doctors appointment because she would never be able to keep that appointment! It is about the life that she will NEVER GET TO LIVE.  

 It is about the women that we send day in and day out to get mammograms done, or spot compression done, or ultrasounds, or MRI's.  It is about every man and woman that has to sit and wait for results of an ultrasound or MRI that is then told that they need to have a biopsy. It is for the men and women who have those biopsies only to be told that the diagnosis is cancer and surgery and radiation and chemo come next. It is for them that we walk these miles and it is for them that we come together to raise funds.  It is for the hope that each of us can somehow make a difference in just one life by taking one step forward on August 5, 2011. 

This has been a difficult week, an emotional one to say the least...and as I sat in waiting rooms and spoke to different people this week, I felt a very small measure of what our patients live with and I felt insignificant in the big picture.  "Small" because in this wide world, so many things happen on a daily basis that could change your life forever...and yet we can be so arrogant, arrogant enough to feel that personal agendas mean more than the reason behind this walk.  I sat and listened and worried and cried and I thought SHAME, SHAME ON ANYONE WHO HAS LOST SIGHT OF THE GOAL! WE DO NOT WALK FOR OURSELVES... 

THE PINK NINJAS WILL NOT BE A PART OF THE PROBLEM BUT RATHER A STEP IN FINDING THE SOLUTION!  WE ARE COMMITTED TO THIS FOR EACH OTHER AND FOR ANYONE THAT WE CAN HELP WITH OUR SMALL CONTRIBUTION. 

So I would like each of you to brush yourselves off, pick yourselves up,wish the others well and know that you can hold your head up high because none of you have ever lost sight of the true meaning for this walk.  We will do this and we will succeed because to do anything less is unforgivable. 

LADIES, LET'S DO THIS!

TRAINING!!!!!!!

The countdown has begun, we are 24 weeks out from The 3-day in Chicago.  You know what this means, train, train, train!  We are all working hard on staying motivated and keeping the fight going, please don't let yourself down by not doing your part...training!  I have already noticed that some of you have committed to the training process, your clothes are starting to hang on you, I say...."Woo Hoo".  My suggestion is not to go out shopping for new clothes, this is only the beginning and if you start shopping now you might have to do it over and over before the event in August.

One thing that I do recommend you do is really look into the shoes that you will be walking with.  I got my new shoes this week, I will be walking in running shoes as that is what I am used to wearing but each of you can get the shoe that works best for you.  Please remember that you all should have gotten your packet in the mail and that packet included a 10% off coupon from New Balance.  Use the coupon if you decide to go with a New Balance product. 

Five miles today, you should be walking at 3mph so this won't take you too long. Remember that walking on a treadmill is different from walking on a sidewalk...we need to get outside soon!  If you are able, try to do at least one mile outside this weekend. 

WE CAN DO THIS...LETS MAKE OUR DREAM A REALITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just when you give up hope...Along comes a hero!

I know that I have been guilty of saying that nobody does anything for nothing and that nothing in life is free.  I am aware that most of us are often disillusioned with the selfishness that we see in society today.  So often we see people engaging in the game of one-up- manship or we witness people being so busy trying to keep up with "The Joneses" that they lose sight of what is truly important in life.  I have seen people actively behave in such a way that will result in someone that they call "friend" being hurt and still they are able to look themselves in the mirror and not lose any sleep at night.  When you see this type of behavior day after day you can't help but feel as if our society has lost its "shine", its heroes.

Over the last week or so I have been fortunate enough to see my vision for the web page for Pink Ninjas of the QC come to fruition.  My vision was accomplished because I had someone that unselfishly gave his time and energy to help make it a reality.  Countless emails, decisions made and then changed again, work was done and changed and changed and changed and through it all he remained patient and enthusiastic.  Not something that most of us can say we would be able to do, I mean I know I would have driven myself crazy with all the changes I kept requesting so I can only imagine what Ron was going through.  Add to this that Ron worked on our page on his week of vacation....what can I say....to those of us that make up the Pink Ninjas of the QC...he is our hero!

Thanks for the work, the patience and the effort....most of all thanks for the support. 

TODAY YOU ARE OUR HERO...and we won't even make you wear pink!

WE ARE A TEAM UNITED ON THIS JOURNEY!!!!!!!!!!

We Are a Team

We are a team of women, of friends, of co-workers, of neighbors, WE ARE A TEAM OF NINJAS and we have a cause...to help in the fight against breast cancer.

Our team works together to see that we all succeed, we work to help one another over the next hurdle, we work to be sure that we NEVER feel alone.  We work together to make sure that we reach the end of this journey feeling as if we may have made a small difference in this fight.  We, as a team, are committed to not leaving any one of us behind.

Take my hand and join me on this journey if you are willing to work hard, play hard, and are committed to the success of the team for the benefit of the cause.  On this team we have no room for private agenda's or petty differences, our focus is to make a difference in the fight against breast cancer.

At the end of this journey we will have skinned some knees and shed some tears but we will emerge on the other side stronger in our unity and success.

NINJAS NEVER QUIT, NINJAS KNOW WHAT A TEAM REALLY IS, NINJAS KNOW THAT ONLY TOGETHER WILL WE SUCCEED.

Why I walk.

Why I walk…

At the age of 37 my mother lost her battle with an illness that had ravaged her body for eight long years.  I was 8 years old.  Two years later my father lost his battle with cancer, I was 11 years old.  I walk for every motherless daughter and for every daughter that did not have her father to walk her down the aisle at her wedding.
I can’t walk for all the illnesses that plague so many every day, so today I choose to walk for the fight against breast cancer. 
My grandmother has battled breast cancer twice in her 91 years and although it was not easy, she emerged on the other side of her battle so much stronger and wearing her scars with pride because she fought the good fight and won.  I walk for every child young or old that has had to watch a grandmother endure treatment and surgery and pain and wished that they could somehow make it all go away.
I can’t walk for all the illnesses that plague so many every day, so today I choose to walk for the fight against breast cancer.  
The youngest woman I know that was diagnosed with breast cancer was just 25 years old!  She was young, in great shape, and had a young daughter at home.  She was the first of 5 women that I worked with that was diagnosed with breast cancer!  Out of twenty women that worked together, 5 of us were diagnosed with breast cancer.  I walk for all the women that I count as friends that have had to battle breast cancer.
I can’t walk for all the illnesses that plague so many every day, so today I choose to walk for the fight against breast cancer.  
I walk for all the husbands that have lost a wife, for all the mothers that have lost a child, for all the sisters and brothers that have lost a sibling, for all the girlfriends that will never have another girl’s night or go shopping with her crew.  I walk for all the tears that have been shed over the years and for all the lives that have been lost.  I walk because to do nothing is unthinkable.
I walk for my sisters; that we never have to feel the loss of one another.  I walk for my brother; that he never has to feel the loss of a sister or a wife or a niece.  I walk for my nieces and nephews, that they may never feel the loss of a mother or aunt.  I walk for my husband; that he never have to feel the loss of a wife, mother, sister, niece.  I walk for you and me and every man, woman and child that loves somebody.  I walk for hope, for a future, I walk for tomorrow and every day beyond that.
I WALK TODAY BECAUSE TOMORROW I MAY NEED YOU TO WALK FOR ME…

Don't let the cold get you down...keep the fight going!

With the windchill it is going to be -30 today....don't let the weather keep you from your workout today!  We should be doing 3 miles today...the goal is 3 miles in one hour!  WE CAN DO THIS!!!!  Keep the fight going ladies!

Who are the Pink Ninjas

It started out as a group of girlfriends who jokingly called themselves the Ninjas. 

 Anytime one of us needed some help, a shoulder to lean on or a friend to cheer us up we would send out a "calling all ninjas" shout and suddenly we were not alone anymore.  This got us to thinking, why couldn't we use our ninja powers to make people all over feel that they are not alone? 

 Well, the ninjas have gone PINK!  The Pink Ninjas of the QC are working together to do the 3-Day for the Cure in Chicago 2011. 

Pink Ninjas of the QC...fighting breast cancer one step at a time....'cause girls make better ninjas!!!!!