I walk in the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Breast Cancer 3-Day here in Philadelphia. It is a 60 mile – 3 day (yes, 3 straight days) walk to raise money and awareness in the fight against breast cancer.
Now why, do you ask, do I do such a insane thing? Here is part of why –
I begin my walk, for the 4th time, with fond memories and in honor of my mother and in honor of all of the other brave, amazing women and men who have fought breast cancer and won. And in fierce determination that, one day, there will be no others who have lost the battle. I push myself to, and beyond, my physical and emotional limits in hopes of a near future where my children and the world's children do not have know the fear of losing a loved one to breast cancer.
I walk for the sunrises they deserve to see and the children and grandchildren they deserve to hold.
And I walk for selfish reasons. I walk because I am scared. Every mammogram has been a little abnormal, then comes the ultrasound and this time the MRI (having your breasts squashed in a claustrophic tube is no fun!) and all the time you can not take a breath waiting for the results. I can only imagine the fear and horror of hearing the words that the test was not normal.
So here I go again, Yes, even after last year's stress fracture in my knee, the blisters, bumps and bruises, I am off again on my 3-Day journey. After last years 3-Day, as he was sentencing me to over 5 weeks on crutches, my orthopedist's exact words were "a human body is not meant to do this". He is probably right, but I also believe that a human body is not meant to go through the pain, fear and uncertainty of breast cancer either. So, again, I begin my small steps in the fight against this horrific disease.
And I ask all of you be with the thousands of us in spirit on Oct 5-9th (or find out the dates of the walk is in your city and be there in person). Do you want to know more? Do you want to know how you can help? Check out my website - http://www.the3day.org/philadelphia07/gloriabell
Gloria K. Bell 