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For everyone else, please keep reading:
Last year, sitting in Dallas with my team, we started to reflect on all the walks we’ve done over the years, what our total number was, and what really mattered about each of those walks.
Take a minute to think about what YOU were doing during the past 20 summers. I had busy summers and had a lot of – but each summer I also focused on walking. And training. And walking. And fundraising. And walking. And crewing. And walking.
Below is a partial glimpse of my timeline - there are more events and teammates that are not mentioned!
Please know that every one of you – who trained, walked, crewed, or donated – are very much part of my story.
Year 1, 2004: Twin Cities walker, trained for 26 weeks with Kate, Tony walked alone in honor of his mom
Year 2, 2005: Twin Cities walker, Kate moved to crew and Holly joined her; this is the year I left the Marriott and started at Zipps – planning to stay for just a few months
Year 3, 2006: Twin Cities walker
Year 4, 2007: Twin Cities walker
Year 5, 2008: Chicago walker – first time traveling to a 3-day, I went to Hawaii with my sorority sisters, I turned 41 – that’s the age my mom was first diagnosed
Year 6, 2009: Twin Cities walker, I got married
Year 7, 2010: Twin Cities walker, Pamela’s first official walk
Year 8, 2011: Twin Cities walker, Pamela diagnosis with breast cancer
Year 9, 2012: Twin Cities walkerYear 10, 2013: Twin Cities crew, three themes, horrible heat all three days
Year 11, 2014: Twin Cities crew, Dad died in NovemberYear 12, 2015: Twin Cities walker, traveled to Israel with friends, I was diagnosed in July and walked two weeks later, then had surgery right after the walk
Year 13, 2016: Twin Cities walker, Pamela finished treatment and is officially in remissionYear 14, 2017: Twin Cities walker, got new team apparel (tie-dye)
Year 15, 2018: Twin Cities walker
Year 16, 2019: walked two cities for the first time – Twin Cities and San Diego
Year 17, 2020: cancelled due to COVID, George Floyd murdered, Zipps looted multiple times
Year 18, 2021: 3-Day Nation – fundraised and walked on own
Year 19, 2022: no more Twin Cities walks – walked Boston and Chicago
Year 20, 2023: walked Chicago after a minivan road trip with Tony, Wendy, Andrea, and Holly, then Dallas with Tony and Clea, and Pledge the Pink in NC with Kate; Carla was diagnosed
Year 21, 2024: Denver walker, and I was selected to be part of the 3-Day Advisory Council, and look forward to being done with meds at the end of September; Carla will hopefully be done about the same time with her meds
Now that we had a look back, let look to the future — LETS FIND A CURE so I don’t have to do keep walking and crewing and fundraising for the next 21 years. And so no one else gets this awful disease.
I am still hear because of you. So are many of my friends. And yours.
Please give again. And again.
I will keep asking – until we find a CURE!
I LOVE U ALL
PLEASE CLICK THE LINK BELOW AND GIVE WHAT YOU CAN!
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