Update from the Austin Komen Race for the Cure

I had to share this as it really tore my heart in half.

Dear Friend,

The holiday season brings me joy and appreciation for family, tradition, laughter, love and blessings. I have a unique understanding of the word blessing. As many of you know, I have been fighting Stage IV breast cancer for four years now. It has been a challenging month since we finished the Komen Austin Race for the Cure on November 1st. I began to experience debilitating pain in my back and scans would later confirm that my cancer has spread. We immediately moved to a new drug with high hopes that it will slow this beast's progress. Only one drug remains in the medicine cabinet... please God, let this work. Forget needing more time to shop for Christmas. I need more time, period.

As I type this update to you I watch my son Reid sleep; Yes, bad mommy let him sleep with us tonight! I mentally cannot wrap my mind around not being here to raise this beautiful being. I struggle with celebrating the holiday season versus mourning the possibility that it may be my last. I have one more drug available to me and we are now beginning our search for trials. With all of the research being done out there, surely there is something that can see me through my 38th birthday, Reid's 6th birthday and the Komen Austin Race in 2010. That is what I want for Christmas this year....a chance to see Christmas NEXT year.

Many of you already know the name of my Race team is “Michelle’s Angels”. These amazing people have walked with me, stood by me and brought love and faith with them as we’ve experienced this journey through breast cancer together. They have helped me “eat life with a big spoon” and I like to think I’ve helped them live their life that way too.

Become a "Pink Angel" this Holiday...

This holiday as we search for ways to show the people we love how we feel, I want to encourage you to reach out for the intangible holiday gift that will impact not only you and the one who receives your gift, but also the many women just like me that Komen Austin supports with your generous donations throughout the year. Donate to the Pink Angels Holiday fund on behalf of a family member or friend and help Komen keep their promise to all people at risk, including me: to end breast cancer forever.

After you make your donation you will be able to email or download and print a Pink Angels Holiday eCard to let your loved one know they have been honored by you this season. There are many gifts we can choose to give but a gift of hope is eternal.

Thank you for all you do for the cause. With supporters as passionate as you, it is not a matter of if we will find a cure but when. Your continued love, hope and blessings ensures there will one day be a world without breast cancer.

My warmest wishes and blessings for the holiday,

2009 Honorary Race Chair
Austin Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure

P.S. Don’t forget! Your year-end contribution to Komen Austin helps save lives AND is tax-deductible. Thank you again for your generosity!

Race for the Cure

The 2009 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure was held this morning at the Domain. It was great. I really like the new location. And the turnout was unbelievable. I really enjoyed it. Join me next year on November 7, 2010! You can see some of the pictures I took here.

Message From Honorary Race Chairman

Honorary Race Chair Michelle Bynum recently found out that her metastatic breast cancer is spreading. As we prepare for the upcoming 2009 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Michelle and her family are sharing their stories with us.

Update from Michelle:

Cancer is a funny thing. It’s ugly, it’s unpredictable, and it’s emotional. My tumor markers were down and now they are showing an increase in size again. I haven’t lost my faith. We are going to continue my chemotherapy treatment and see what my next scan brings. Every day is a precious gift.

I’m sharing this with you because I want you to understand how this disease can change from day to day. We must find a cure!

Today is the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness month. I have to admit, I never really was a “pink” girl growing up. It seemed a little girlie and too bright. Other than thinking the “Pink Ladies” were cool in the movie Grease, it was not on my list of favorite colors (though I did want one of those jackets!). Many years ago, the color pink became synonymous with breast cancer. As loved ones were diagnosed with the dreaded disease, the color took an entire new meaning for me. It meant life, hope and the prayer for a cure someday. When I was diagnosed with late stage breast cancer at the age of 33, the “bright, girlie” color became a part of me (not quite as much as my beloved UT burnt orange, but a part of me none the less). It became a symbol of empowerment. Pink means “feminine” to those of us who face life with no hair, missing breasts as well as internal and external scars. Personally, it reminds me that I am not alone.

Yes, pink is a marketing tool to get your attention. However, this disease NEEDS your attention. Current statistics give a woman a 1 in 8 chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. If it isn’t already, this epidemic will be at your doorstep at some point in time with the diagnosis of a loved one or heaven forbid yourself. Many have fought and will continue to fight until breast cancer is a concern of the past. I dream of a day that my little niece Kendall is a grown woman with no fear of a ticking time bomb in her chest. I pray our children today will look back at my current treatment and think, “How barbaric!”

Every day is Breast Cancer Awareness for me but this month is special and worth reflection. When we see pink, wear pink, or think pink this month, please remember that awareness, education, and empowerment are three weapons we have to fight for life and wipe breast cancer off the map! Please sign up for the Race today, and if you can, take the 125 Challenge to pay for a woman’s mammogram.

I can’t wait to meet you, your family, and friends and share the magic with you on Sunday, November 1st!

With all my heart,

Because of you, lives will be saved.

I recently accepted the challenge to help Austin New Church raise funds to support the Susan G. Komen Austin Race for the Cure. As Team Captain of the Restore Austin team, I would love for you to join us on Sunday, November 1, 2009 to walk for a cure. If you would like to join my team you can do so by visiting my Team Page.

Komen's promise is to save lives and end breast cancer forever by empowering people, ensuring quality of care for all and energizing science to find the cures needs your support. Please help Komen Austin reach its fundraising goal of $1,000,000 for the 11th Annual Race for the Cure.

If you can't participate in the walk, but would like to help online donations are fast and easy. Please visit my Personal Page to make a donation today. Remember,

• Your gift funds breast cancer education, screening and treatment programs in Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson counties.
• Your gift supports the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Award and Research Grant Program.
• Your gift is tax-deductible.

Thank you!! ~ holly

Weekend Update

Wow, time has flown by this weekend. So fast, I meant to blog on Friday but got distracted and forgot completely this weekend. So this is a little late.

I turned in the first draft of my 20 page research paper on Friday. Yeah! So glad to be done with that. We are supposed to get it back on Thursday, Nov 15th with feedback. The final is due Tuesday, Dec 4th. This is also the last day of classes. Praise the Lord! I'm so ready for this semester to be over. This has been a tough semester. When I was in college full time, I didn't have so many distractions so it was a lot easier. Hopefully next semester, my last!, will be a bit easier. I will find out tomorrow when I meet with the Anthropology advisor if I have to take one or two classes next Spring. Of course, I'm hoping for one, but we'll have to see if they'll substitute one of my junior college classes that's not fitting into my minor requirements. But I do know for sure I am going to take Introduction to Biblical Archaeology next semester. I can't wait. I'm really excited about it. I already reviewed the professor and the book we will be using and I'm even more excited about it. Both got great reviews. Finally college classes I will really enjoy.

So I did the Susan G. Komen race for the cure on Sunday. It was awesome. I had such an awesome time. I can't wait for next year. It's already set for November 2, 2008 and I plan to do it again. I woke up a little later than I wanted on Sunday morning. After waiting in line for a shuttle to the race, I didn't arrive until 8:00 a.m. Once I got off the shuttle and approached the race area, I knew I was never going to find my group. It was so crowded, I couldn't get through the crowd to where we were supposed to meet. And it turns out I would have never found them anyway because I couldn't locate the River tent because there wasn't one. So eager me decided to run to the front of the race and see if I saw them and if I didn't I'd go back and try to find them. Yeah, good intention, not a good plan. There were so many people there. By the time I got up to the front and of course, didn't find them and I was almost at the end. So I gave up trying and decided to keep enjoying the race. By then I stopped jogging and starting walking. There were so many groups of people supporting a loved one or friend. Everyone was having a good time. People are so funny and entertaining. There was a live band on the side performing, cheerleaders from local schools cheering all the way along, girl scout groups cheering and chanting "Early detection is the best prevention, I am the cure!" and even a group of dog lovers with their dogs cheering everyone on. It was great. After I finished and got some water and some sun chips and a soyjoy bar, I went back to the end to see if I could see my group come in. Of course, I didn't but I watched for a long time as people crossed the finish line. It was amazing. You could tell crossing the finish line was a big deal for the survivors. Their friends & family would cheer for them and someone would go ahead to take that milestone picture of them right at the line. It was inspiring and made me teary eyed at the same time. I'm telling you, everyone was having a great time. It was like a huge party. I posted my pictures on Flickr. I took a lot of pictures, most were blurry because I was moving. Sometimes I'd be in the moment of what ever was happening and forget to take a picture. And I'd think after, oh darn it, I should have taken a picture. It's hard to experience something though when you're looking through a camera. You miss the whole experience. So I forgot to take pictures going through the starting area. There was just so much going on and the atmosphere was on fire. It was truly unbelievable. So check out my pictures to the right or click on the link above.

Here are the stats from the race:
Race Participants: 21,057
On-line teams: 1063
Donations: $792,454.95
Registration fees and donations: $1,290,455.43

Not bad. I'll bug you all again next year in time for you to join me. It was a lot of fun. But next time, I'm not going to try to meet anyone at the race, but go there together. I did find two team mates right as I was about to leave. I was glad to at least meet two of them, especially Heather White, our fearless team leader. And they gave me the wonderful hat I was supposed to wear during the race. :)

Komen Race Goal Met 100%!!

You did it! The River Pink Patrol has met it's goal. With my good friend Stephanie's donation, we're actually over the goal. Awesome!! In less than one week, you have met and exceeded my expectations. And to think I wasn't going to do the fundraising part of it at all. I am so glad I did. Up to 75% of the donations received stay in the local area, Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson counties to fund breast cancer screening, education and treatment. The remaining supports the Komen for the Cure Award and Research Grant Program, which funds groundbreaking breast cancer research, meritorious awards and educational and scientific programs around the world.

I just wanted to say thanks to the following people for donating: Amy Wise, Ira Goodsaid, Landon Russell, Janine Slee & Aaron Moeller, Marie Han, Nancy Sirivanakarn, Kristian Earle & family, Erica Jin, Anne Doll & family, and Stephanie Gage.

To let you know a little bit about a few of the folks that have given: Marie walked 30 miles in Atlanta in September! with her team the Sunny Side Ups in the Atlanta 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer, Anne lost her mother when she was ten years old to breast cancer and her husband Jamie's mother Jackie is currently battling breast cancer. And I'm sure others are touched by cancer in one way or another through family & friends. Please pray for Jackie and her family and for my friend Matt and his family who lost their mother September 30th to breast cancer.

If you are a woman with no insurance, is under-insured or can’t afford the co-pays of your insurance company, Komen Austin has providers that you can see to get a free or low cost mammogram, clinical exam or both. They also have information about financial assitance during treatment and support groups. Please, if you're a woman of any age, perform monthly breast self examinations. Early detection is our best weapon in the fight against breast cancer.

There's still time to donate, but please don't feel obligated. I'm super happy with what you've given already. But you know I'll take more if you want to give. Click the link below and click on "Support Holly!"


Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!

Absolutely Amazing!

This morning on my drive to class, I heard Heather on the River 102.3FM, the Pink Patrol's fearless leader, discussing the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure event and she mentioned that our team was only $5 short of our goal. I was like, what, awesome! I hadn't checked the website since Tuesday morning so I wasn't aware of the progress. That's amazing progress in only four days. Then she mentioned that one member, Holly, had basically collected all of it. I was like, oh, that's me. That actually means you! Your donations have brought our team to it's goal. I want you to know how much I greatly appreciate all of the donations. Your donation is used for breast cancer education, screening, treatment programs and research. For example, screening programs include providing mammograms to women who otherwise couldn't afford them. This is a major part in the fight against this disease since early detection is the best weapon against breast cancer!

Heather's partner in crime, Gary, added maybe the team should increase its goal to $1000. That would be awesome. I just want all of you to know how deeply I feel your love and compassion for those affected by this horrible disease. So many of us are touched by cancer through family and friends.

Thank you so much.

Holy cow!

Since I published the last post below, my good ole buddy Ira, from GCC donated, completely meeting my goal. Whew-hoo! Now I really have to increase it. Isn't that awesome! Thanks so much for the support. I'll keep the blog updated with my goal progress.

At first I felt really ambitious and increased it to $500. But of course, that scared me and I thought I can't put the same amount as the team goal. So I lowered it to $300 thinking if it gets up near the team's goal, then I'll increase it. Then I thought, you know, that sounds like lukewarm faith to me. So I am going back and changing it to $500.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and
certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11: 1

I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it!

I'm not about to lose control, but I think I like it, like it. Okay, I'm the world's biggest dork. That's okay and I'm on my way! Alright, enough silliness. I sound like an ad for anti-depression medication. I do have a few things to be joyful about. Okay, to be honest, I have many things to be joyful about but a few in particular this morning are...

Fall is here! Okay, at least for a week. Texas weather is so unpredictable. This is probably short lived and it'll be back in the 90's next week, but I'm going to enjoy the change of weather while it's here. And I love this kind of weather. Okay, after 44 straight days of it, it would get old, but for us Texans who are used to heat and humidity for 10 months of the year, we'll take any change sometimes. A storm came in this morning around 3:00 a.m. I know, I was awake. First came the pouring rain and then the wind brought in the cool temperatures. I woke up this morning about 6:30-ish listening to the rain soaked streets and the wind gusts. After I laid there a while enjoying the sounds, it's hard to get out of bed when it's like that, I had to know what the temperature was, 51 degrees. So nice. It's invigorating. Sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph with gusts to near 40 mph help too. That my dear friends is called a wind advisory. Please be careful on the roads in all your SUVs and trucks, aka high profile vehicles. Glad I'm not driving to B-CS until Tuesday when it'll be back up to the 70s with lows in the high 40s and 50s. Fall or autumn here in Texas means we have to wear a small jacket or sweatshirt in the morning, maybe jeans for us wimps, take it all off during the day when it gets back up in the 80s and 90s and put it all back on as the sun goes down. It'll probably be this way until late December, maybe mid-January. Then winter! Two whole days of it. :)

I'm glad I'm up to enjoy all of this. It also means I'm on the road to getting my sleeping schedule back to normal. Once Roger left it got all out of whack. I'm tired all the time, but I can't seem to get sleepy enough to go to bed. I'm busy reading and studying last week and trying to get everything done. I've been trying to get up early the past few days so I can stay up all day and be really tired at night to get back to a normal schedule. But it's hard. Now I'm on the road to recovery.

I'm also excited because I received my first Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure donation this morning! Yeah!! That made me dance inside (visions of Amanda freakishly signing jump-for-joy-inside come to my head). And it brought a bigger smile to my face to read the message with the donation, "Because I love you." Oh, my aunt Amy, aka my fairy godmother, is so sweet. I'm sure she'd prefer I not mention it here, but I have to give a shout out to my peeps.

This brings me halfway to my fundraising goal. And you know what that means, I need to increase my goal! This was also the first donation so far for the River 102.3FM Pink Patrol. So keep those donations coming. I have to represent. Thank you!!!

Race for the Cure

I really needed to "do" something (like I'm not doing anything, hmmm...school, classes, work, reading, studying, researching, writing, housework, yardwork, trying to exercise, lots of praying!). But I was starting to feel unmotivated in response to my situational depression. And I know when I get like this, I need something to pick me up. Since I don't have time to paint the spare bedroom, work on my family tree research, put flooring in the attic, organize the garage and pantry, replace the crepe myrtles in my back flowerbed, extend the front flowerbed or anything I'd like to do, I needed to do something that would do the trick but not take too much time away from my reading, studying and researching. While I was driving to church this afternoon I heard a PSA for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and the River's morning show female DJ, Heather, created a team. So I decided to join it. So I'll be walking in the race with the woman who keeps me smiling and laughing in Austin's horrific morning traffic on Sunday, November 4th at 8:00 a.m.





If you'd like to donate click on the logo above and click the "Support Holly" link under my picture. If you'd like to join me, click on the logo above and click the "River Pink Patrol" link under my picture. Guys are welcome to join us. And no, you don't have to wear pink, unless you want to. :)