2009 INA Nanny of the Year
I’m involved with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day and I want you to know what it means to me. I’ve lost family, friends, and a child I babysat to cancer. I have family members with tumors and cancer and we fight, pray, and wait. About two years ago my sister-in-law, at age 35, was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma. At this point, I had reached enough and I joined the fight against cancer. I went to The3Day.com, registered, lead and joined training walks, worked on fundraising, attended workshops, and prepared to walk 60 miles in 3days thinking, “How hard could it be?”
3-Day 2008: I was at the starting point at 6am and walked my first 20 miles, I arrived at camp, looked at my tent and asked myself how I was going to get down there, but once I did, I was sound asleep until my cell phone rang at 4am. My sister-in-law was being rushed to the ER and it didn’t look good. Day 2: I crawled out of my tent on legs like jello and started walking the next 20 miles. That evening I walked into camp with an Ace bandage around my knee, a rash around my ankles, and a plan to take the Sag van to lunch the next day, leaving me only to walk the last 7 miles, if that. I fell into my tent exhausted again that night. My phone rang in the middle of the night, my sister-in-law was gone. I cried myself back to sleep and woke up the next morning on a mission. The medical team wanted me to take a van to lunch. I told them, “My sister-in-law had died last night and she was a fighter. People fight cancer every day; they never get to stop, neither will I.” They took a step back and with that I started walking. I limped into the holding area for closing ceremonies with a full blown case of cellulitis, feet the size of shoe boxes, and the knowledge that I was the last to arrive, but I also knew I walked every mile. I had learned just how hard it could be!
I have met amazing people though the 3-Day Walk and I have learned that there are people that I already know who are fighters and survivors, they just don’t usually talk about it. Breast cancer alone strikes 1 in 8 women so it could be affecting about a dozen at any nanny conference. Eat healthy, use sunscreen, and get a mammogram, it’s worth it.
3-Day 2009: This year I wanted to smile during the 3-Day. Walking outside with a bra over my T-shirt, pinkies in the air, yelling, “Whooo hooo, hook ’em up ladies.” and hearing people ‘Whooo hooo’ in response. That’s the icing on the cake!