Hello everyone, and welcome back! Thank you so much for stopping by, whether you are joining us for the first time this year, or if this is your second year on Team Coleman's Crew, we are so glad to have you and feel incredibly grateful for your love and support! Time is flying by, and I cannot believe almost a year has passed since our very first CureSearch walk! Last year, my brother Coleman faced many challenges, and he fought through months and months of chemotherapy and radiation. Today, I feel eternally grateful and incredibly blessed to say that we have him in good health. It brings me so much peace and gratitude to know he is just a regular kid again. He played on the varsity football team this year at NDP, and will be playing basketball too. He gets to be a regular junior in high school; we never knew how much we would appreciate the gift of being able to be a "regular" kid doing things like homework, going to football practice, and having to get up early every day and put on a uniform to go to high school.
Our entire family was changed by cancer. If there was one thing I could choose to be removed from the world entirely forever, it would be cancer. There are many things this word needs to be rid of-violence, hate, discrimination, injustice- but cancer is the one thing I would pick. Cancer does not discriminate. Cancer attacks the rich and the poor, men and women, the very old and the incredibly young, those who are religious and those who are not, people who are filled with hate and people who embody compassion and love. I firmly believe that no person, under any circumstances, should ever have to experience cancer in their lives.
I am blessed to have a family who is strong and loving. When cancer comes into the lives of those you love, you have to bear down and come together. In that instant, you are able to see the trivial things in life so clearly, as if they have all been highlighted. Things that do not matter are set aside. The most important things become your sole and only focus. Cancer hit too close to home last year. I lost one of my best friends, Ann LaFond, who was also one of the most incredible women this world has ever known. I have seen the fight against cancer through the eyes of friend, sister, and granddaughter. I am blessed to say that my little brother and my grandmother, who were both diagnosed in August 2010, are in good health right now. Being able to say that means more to me than I will ever be able to adequately describe in words. I am eternally grateful for their health and pray everyday that their good health continues.
This year will be our second walk with CureSearch for Children's Cancer. Our last walk, on February 26, 2011, was a huge success but a very trying day for me. The day of our walk happened to be just one day after I lost my friend Ann to cancer. It was difficult because all the people at this walk either have had a child with cancer who lost their battle or have a child who is currently fighting or is in remission. The love and support and mutual understanding of the struggle it is to have a family member with cancer, especially one with is just a child, is palpable when you there. This support can be felt, but words never have to be uttered. It is an unspoken understanding of the pain involved, and the hope we all have for a future that does not include cancer. Last year, Coleman's Crew was not only the biggest team at the walk, but we also raised the most money! I am absolutely sure that our February 12, 2012 walk will be even more successful than the last one!
Please make use of the links at the top of this page. Make sure to register with Coleman's Crew on the CureSearch website. This link can also be found at the top of the page. Directions for how to register (although it isn't too difficult without directions) can be found on our Facebook event page (there is a link for this at the top too). I will write another post soon explaining how to register for anyone who would rather read it here than on the Facebook event page. Feel free to invite anyone to come with you- family,friends, coworkers, neighbors, kids, parents, whoever! As always, contact me via email at: krehorn@asu.edu if you have absolutely ANY questions. I would be more than happy to help you and answer any questions you may have.
I will always be a strong activist in the cancer community. Once you are a part of it, it isn't something you ever really leave. You meet many incredible people, and they become a part of a "family" of sorts. I will always keep fighting on behalf of my own family, friends, and the many people I have met through this tough journey. Thank you for being a part of our team!
