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“Why do you walk?” she asked as she passed me, another pink blur in the continuously shifting pink and white crowd.  My friend Christine answered for us both, “Because we can”.  One out of 8 American women who make it to the age of 85 can expect to do battle with this disease.  Breast cancer accounts for nearly a quarter of all cancer diagnoses and is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, only preceded by lung cancer.  Neither Christine nor I have yet come face to face with this monster in our personal lives, but statistically speaking, it’s only a matter of time.  We were lucky to be out raising money for a cause that we feel is important.  For so many others walking with and around us, the stakes are already higher.  Many, many others were out walking  in the hot sun remembering their best friends.  Mourning their sisters taken too soon.  Missing their mothers.  Celebrating their own victorious struggles with cancer.  With 1800 participants, there were more stories and more reasons for walking than any one of us could have told.

With the click of a mouse, I’d signed up for this odyssey a few months ago. I’d been looking forward to walking 20 miles a day for three days in a row.  I joined a team of women, most of whom I hadn’t met yet and many of whom I wouldn’t actually meet until the event itself.  Months of fundraisers rolled on by with emails a flying and everyone raising money the best ways they knew how.  With a minimum donation of $2300 per participant, the fund raising was no joke.  Finally, the anticipated weekend arrived and we all carpooled down to the Chicago suburbs full of excitement and ready to rock! er, walk.

Day one started out just fine.  With nice enough weather, we were all in a fine mood despite our 4am wake up call.  The opening ceremonies had been inspiring and it was a lovely day to be outside.   Right up until the rain started.  At first it was no big deal.  Coupla raindrops? Not a problem.  We’re tough, we’re ready, we’re…still slogging away, hours and hours later in wet shoes and soggy socks.  I wonder how many blisters could have been saved if we hadn’t started out with half of our first 20 miles in the rain?  Somehow, morale stayed good.  These were women (and a few men, too!) with a purpose and the dour weather was not enough to stop them.  After a warm dinner, we all bunked down.  A sea of hot pink tents in a rain drenched field is an inspiring sight unto itself.

Waking up to the pitter patter of those same raindrops on the roof of our snug little tents the next morning was another story entirely.  Everyone was a bit sore, and the prospect of more trudging in the rain was not bringing many smiles.  Before long, though, moods brightened with the weather.  Girls giggled, women joked, and all was right with the world again as we took to the roads to celebrate our purpose.  The day had dawned rainy and before long, the hot sun made our trek downright steamy. The third day was hotter still, and those last miles, so beautiful along the Chicago shoreline, were also brutal with no shade to be found for literally miles.

We walked through many a municipality over those three days and felt a great sense of support from all of those communities, but Mount Prospect deserves a special shout out.  The cops all wore pink shirts as they stopped traffic for us. Wherever we went, we had a crossing guard in pink chaps and a paramedic dancing outside the window of his ambulance to the music he played.  Little girls waited with pink lemonade at the ends of their driveways, boy scouts plied us with candy, and dogs in pink feather boas were a constant testament to how much the community cared about this cause.  People cheered wherever we went and even those who couldn’t stand outside to yell for us left coolers of water and sprinklers over the sidewalk to help the walkers finish what they’d started.  What an amazing outpouring of support!  The walk culminated with a triumphant march past Lollapalooza and the museums and right into Soldier Field.

At the closing ceremony, they told us that our event alone had raised more than $5 million for breast cancer research through the Susan G Komen Foundation.  What a triumph, especially when you consider that the Chicago walk was only one of many, and that across the country, the work continues week after week and year after year!  If you’d like to help next year, there are opportunities for volunteers as well as walkers.  Thanks to all who supported my walk, either through donations, volunteering, or actually coming out and doing it with me.  We’ve all done one more thing we can be proud of in the fight to end breast cancer. ~DG