[Spridgets] A [second] letter from my daughter...Thank you for your support!

[WFO Herb]

 Cut & Paste this time, sorry. (I'll never learn....)

Friends,

Thank all who took time to read my daughter's first letter.  I'm sure you
will find this letter emotionally up-lifting and rewarding.

Sincerely,

Herb




Dear All,

I hope things are well with you.  Please read the attached letter.

Best regards!

Chrissy



Dear Family and Friends,

First and foremost, I want to thank all of you, who donated to the Breast
Cancer 3-Day on my behalf, for your generosity.  Next, I would like to tell
you about my 3-Day journey.

There were around 3,ooo walkers ready to start walking by 6:30 Friday
morning.  The walkers began with tremendous energy and everyone was excited
to begin walking for a cure!  By mid-day, many people were slowing and
already starting to bandage blisters.  My team arrived into camp at 4:30
Friday afternoon, finishing number 800 and something.  And me?  Still going
strong with no blisters after 20 miles!

Day two began at 6:00 and, although it was difficult to pull ourselves out
of the sleeping bags to face the chilly 45 degrees, my team was still
feeling pretty good and ready to face another day of walking.  We were
definitely not the first ones on the trail for the day and were near number
1,100 at the first stop.  Feeling pretty good and just wanting to get back
to camp so we could get showers before everyone else arrived, we walked
about as fast as humanly possible all day, averaging about four miles per
hour (not including pit stops).  After almost 19 miles, we finished the day
somewhere around number 420.  By the end of the day we were definitely
feeling some muscle fatigue, but I was still blister free and had managed to
avoid all major injuries.

For the evening camp meeting, we were graced with the presence of Nancy
Brinker, founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure .  Her speech, along with
the life changing stories of some the walkers, left us heading to bed
feeling inspired and ready to face another day.

By Sunday morning, we were feeling a fair amount of muscle fatigue and joint
strain but, overall, still feeling strong.   We began the day with a long
bus ride to Arlington.  My team's bus ride was longer than most because our
bus got lost in downtown somewhere for about 45 minutes.  Once again, our
eye was on the finish line and we attempted to get there as quickly as
possible.  By mid-day, it was clear that almost everything hurt and if we
kept moving quickly we were almost numb to the pain (and we just wanted to
be finished)!  Although we had a late start and were somewhere in the 1000
range, we reached the finish line by 2:30 and were number 360 something!  It
felt incredibly good to lie in the grass, rest and stretch while we waited
for the rest of the walkers to come in.

As I sat at the finish line and scanned the faces around me, a young father
caught my eye.  He was wearing a pink polo shirt and had four young
children, also dressed in pink, with him.  He had three boys, the oldest of
which appeared to be about 8, and a little girl that looked to be no more
than 2.  I was quite impressed that he had been managing the brood for the
past several days.  I kept my eye on them to see if it was their mother they
were waiting to see.  I eventually saw the little ones run out to give her a
hug.  It was indeed their mother.  She appeared to be only in her mid
thirties, was thin and had extremely short hair  which led me to believe
she had undergone chemotherapy sometime in the recent past.

At that moment, my thoughts turned away from my exhaustion and pain and to
the opportunity that young mother has to continue raising her children.  That
opportunity has been given to her and others like her because of the
generosity of people like you.  You are the people that help fund research
and education and that is the reason so many people are given the
opportunity to live a full life after breast cancer.

After asking myself why I just put my body through such stress, that woman
reminded me of the millions of reasons  the millions of women and men who
have been and will be diagnosed with breast cancer.   I started my 3-day
journey in honor of my mother and ended it in honor of all the brave men and
women who have experienced and will experience this scary disease.  If there
is one thing I learned through it all, it is that everyone deserves a
lifetime!

The 2008 Washington, D.C. Breast Cancer 3-Day raised $7 million to help find
a cure.  Breast Cancer 3-Days have raised more than $400 million to benefit
Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Thank you for your generous support!

Chrissy







P.S. If you did not get the chance to donate on my behalf before September
30th,but would like to, you can follow the instructions from my previous
letter.  You still have until November 5th!

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