My family did our annual Light the Night Walk this weekend.
This one was particularly meaningful, as it marked the ten year anniversary of our first walk, which was the same year my brother Scott was diagnosed with leukemia. As described in the last blog entry, he was given a drug that had just come on the market from its clinical trial phase, a drug that is now commonplace –and effective.
It is, therefore, both to celebrate our good fortune that we caught it in time and the medications responded, but also a gesture of solidarity that we walk. People before us had helped raise funds and awareness, and people before us (many, many people) had lost loved ones. But they still walked, and they still advocated the research and efforts that work toward a cure. We will consider it an honor and a humble obligation to continue walking, each year.
And I will continue to raise as much funds and awareness as I can, in conjunction with my memoir and the events I will plan throughout the year(s) ahead.
We hit our goal of $1,000. (Special kudos to our new team captain, my lovely niece Madeleine, and my sister Janine, for tenacity that would make Jerry Lewis proud.) It’s a small amount, in the scheme of things. But anything is better than nothing. And that is what this journey is all about. It is what any journey is all about. And we are all on our own journey. We should never feel we’re alone on that walk through life.
(More on that sentiment, if you’re just joining the party, HERE.)
