Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

In my preschool class, it is a tradition to have Oreos as a special treat on someone’s birthday. As I was passing out Oreos this week for my birthday, one of my students asked me, “What’s your number?” I had to chuckle at that one! I’m not one to hide my age; I’ve only been 39 years old once.

Speaking of 39, in June I’m about to take on a big challenge. I’m going to walk 39 miles with my best friend and husband, Ed. But perhaps an even bigger challenge is raising the amount of money I need to walk in the Avon 39 Walk to End Breast Cancer. In order to participate in the Avon 39, both Ed and I need to raise $1800. That is a daunting number!

Here’s where you come in! I am looking for sponsors for the AVON39. To become a sponsor, all you need to do is donate $1 for each mile I plan on walking. Donating just $39 to Avon 39: The Walk to End Breast Cancer is an easy way to support me in my fundraising. If you have a blog or own a small business, your donation can also benefit you!

With a $39 donation, I will put your logo above the fold on my sidebar until June 30. That’s a premium advertising space for less than $10 a month! I will also personally thank you at least 4 times for being a sponsor on my Facebook page and Twitter, with a link to your website, Facebook page, or other social media link (whichever you prefer). My blog is small yet mighty, and you’ll be making a donation to a great cause!

If you are unable to make a donation at this time, support me by liking and sharing my #AVON39 posts. Do you know someone else who might want to be a sponsor? Please share this post with them. It’s as easy as that!

[Tweet “I’m celebrating 20 years of cancer survivorship by walking the #AVON39! Support me today!”]

To make a donation and to read more about why I’m walking, visit my AVON39 Fundraising Page. After you make your donation, please email me at lemondroppie@gmail.com to let me know you’ve made a donation, and to share the links and the logo you would like me to use. If you don’t have a logo, I’ll be able to provide one for you.

Back to the question of what my number is; I am proud to say that I am 47 years old, and I plan on adding many years to that number!

*Here comes the small print: Please note, my sidebar is not visible on my blog’s mobile setting. I will share your links enthusiastically, but cannot guarantee the number of click-throughs your link will receive. I am walking the AVON39 under my real name. Please visit my AVON39 page for information on how to donate. Thank you for your support!

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It’s high time that I move this post about the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer from drafts to published. These thoughts have been waiting patiently for over a week, just asking for some tweaking. Read on…

On the Saturday that the Walk began, all 2,900 of us started walking along Lake Michigan, the sun beaming down on us. Someone passed me, and said as she pointed at my back, “You give me hope! I’m a 2-year survivor!” I paused for a minute, forgetting what my back said. Earlier in the morning, I had pinned a sign on my back listing the women I was walking for, including myself, a 15-year survivor.

Hope. What a powerful word.

Other words walkers wore read:

“I’d rather have blisters than chemo.”

“I’m walking for MY WIFE —->”

“Two year survivor”

“Mom of a two year survivor”

Before the walk even took place, I needed to ask people for donations. A lot of donations. The required amount of money I had to raise in order to walk was $1,800. It’s one of the reasons I couldn’t convince other family members to walk with me. Fundraising was daunting, especially when some of these thoughts occurred to me in the weeks before the Walk.

Breast cancer gets a lot of attention. What about other cancers?

More money is needed in metastatic cancer research.

Instead of money going to treatment, we need money for research to determine the cause of breast cancer.

How can we know for sure where our money is going??

Despite all these thoughts and doubts about the rightness of raising so much money for the Avon Foundation, I think I can say with certainty that those of us walking were walking to DO SOMETHING.

DO SOMETHING…it’s why one of my walking partners swore she would finish the walk for her mother — who has been receiving weekly chemo treatments. Sara was limping in pain as she walked those 26 miles. She later found out she tore some muscles in her ankle. She needed to DO SOMETHING for her mom.

Just like Sara, I needed to DO SOMETHING in memory of my mom. I needed to DO SOMETHING to celebrate fifteen years of survival after my breast cancer diagnosis.

That SOMETHING was to raise money for the Avon Foundation and to walk a marathon and a half in two days.

And this cancer survivor DID SOMETHING!