Race for the Cure Event!

I was so excited and looking forward to participating in the race.  Nothing, not even a low heart rate, or all the side effects of chemo were going to stop me from showing up.

On Saturday morning, we had to wake up at 5am in order to get to the race on time. It was very difficult to pull my butt out of bed as I was very tired and feeling quite a bit of the side effects for the first time.

Lovely side effects:

-          Bone aches (back and legs)

-          Scalp itching

-          Dry/yucky taste in the mouth, teeth ached

-          Swollen glands; hard to chew food

It was a bit depressing waking up to such a drastic change and it took me a moment to realize that I was not super-human and my body, just like anyone else on Chemo, was going to experience all the typical side effects. It’s not that I was naïve and didn’t think it would happen to me, I just didn’t expect them all to happen at once and so quickly. The previous days I had felt myself, with the exception of blurred vision and being a little tired. Even though I was feeling a bit off - not myself, I knew I had to pull myself together and get to the race.  

The race was incredible! I was so touched by everyone that was there, especially the members of the Jillybean JetBlue’s Squad. As we began to walk, I looked at all of the people who were walking with me and got this overwhelming feeling of joy and gratitude for each team member. I don’t cry often but I began to cry because I was so touched by each of them (lucky I was wearing sunglasses). There I was experiencing all of the side effects and feeling a bit down but each team member showed me so much love and gave me strength. I was moved by the amount of people who would give up there Saturday morning to be by my side to walk a mile with me.  At that moment, I stopped thinking about myself and the pain I was experiencing and began to enjoy the moment. I will never forget the feeling I had during the walk.  

Thank you all who were part of the team, I am extremely grateful for the memories. I honestly couldn’t have done it without each of you!