The Fight: Holly's Rack Pack...

Okay okay, I know I have been negligent in updating this blog so this is way past due considering Race for the Cure was April 12. In my defense, A LOT has happened since then. Anyway, on April 12, 2014 at Military Park in downtown Indianapolis, I had to opportunity to join thousands of other breast cancer SURVIVORS as well as honor those who have lost the battle in the race to find a cure for this disease. I know people that have participated in Race for the Cure multiple times but I for one have never had the opportunity to participate myself. I have always known that it is a big deal and a lot of people participate but really, until I was diagnosed with breast cancer myself I never realized how many people are affected by this nasty disease. I don't mean to sound naive but I honestly just never thought about it. About a month before the race, Fishers sends out a monthly magazine and in the March issue there was an article about Race for the Cure. In the article it talked about how last year there were something like 25,000 people that walked in downtown Indy. WOW!!! I had no idea it was that big!! So, I knew we were in for something special when we decided to be part of it. Before the race, Ryan created a team for us so that we could raise money and he named it Holly's Rack Pack!! I loved the name :) Once the team was created on the Komen website, it automatically creates an email that can be shared with others so that they are aware of your plan to walk and raise money. Ryan set our team goal at $1,000. Almost immediately people started joining our team and donating money. Once again, I was so overwhelmed by the amount of support. I realized again how many FABULOUS friends I have that have been with me in this fight and AMAZING family support of course. When you signed up to be part of the team, you pay the fee to race and of course you receive a t-shirt just like you do for any race. Long before registering for the race we talked about making our own shirts. After about a week of people registering and donating money I asked Ryan if we should still make our own team shirts. He said probably not since people will be paying for their Susan G Komen Shirt. I asked him to go ahead and design one and see what happens. So, he contacted one of my best friend's brothers and asked if he could assist and in one night they came up with a design. We released it the next day and believe it or not we sold 57 t-shirts. The t-shirts were $10 but we sold them for $20 so that half of the proceeds could go to Susan G Komen. We were able to make a $570 donation to Susan G Komen!!!! That was so amazing and meant so much to me. I had no idea so many people would want to buy a Holly's Rack Pack shirt :) When we arrived at the race, there was not a parking spot in sight. We had to park about 1.5 miles away. CRAZY right ?!?! Anyway...once we got there, we made our way to the SURVIVOR tent. I went through and they were giving away patches to survivors. When they got to me, they asked, "how long have you been a survivor?" I thought for a minute and realized it had only been about 2 weeks since my last chemo treatment so, I said, "2 weeks!!!" To my surprise, everyone cheered!!! It was the most awesome feeling I have ever felt. I deserved it!! I had fought hard and had been through so much over the last few months, I deserved that cheer, I earned that cheer!!! However, they gave me a medal and a patch and it all still felt so surreal. It still doesn't seem real. After that, we met my team before the walk. I had about 25 people with me and I have never felt so supported!!! Of course my family has ALWAYS supported me in EVERYTHING but this was different. It is hard to explain the feeling. I had friends, and people that I had only worked with for a few weeks that cared enough to be part of this experience. And an experience it was!! It was moving and happy and sad all at the same time!! I felt victorious but sad for those who had lost their lives in the fight as well. We walked about 1.5 miles just to get to the start line!!! Can you believe that?!?! A 5k ended up being about 5.5 miles but it was SO WORTH IT!!! I will be part of the Susan G Komen Race from here on out. While at the race we had several people comment about our shirts which made me feel so good!! Since then, we have had multiple people ask about them so we are ordering more!! It is so unbelievable!! We set our donation goal at $1,000 and we finished at $2,898!!! Can you believe that??? Now that we are selling more shirts, we will be able to make a donation and probably reach $3,000!!! I never in my wildest dreams thought we could raise that much money for breast cancer research!!! I just want to thank everyone that was involved!! I know that a thank you isn't enough but it means more to me than you will ever know!!!!!!!! :) I am more than grateful to be a SURVIVOR and I pray for those everyday that are diagnosed that they will will SURVIVORS as well :)