Last night was Relay for Life @ UNC Charlotte, and this year I was the survivor chair as well as our team captain. There was a lot to do, but I did it and enjoyed it. Another committee member was able to get all the food for the survivors donated from macaroni grill and olive garden. It was yummy to my tummy:) LOL! I took the time to write each survivor a little hand written note thanking them for coming out to be a part of Relay. I was also asked to share my story of being a survivor and how impartant doing the survivor lap was to me and then ask all the survivors there to walk the first lap with me. Not only did I start the Relay for life with the survivors but this morning at 6:00 am I walked the final lap with a few other committee members! It was great staying out there for the whole event! Below is the speech I shared with everyone. Have a good one !!!!:)
Hello and good evening! I too would also like to thank you for coming to the UNC Charlotte 2009 Relay for Life. My mom, Jan has been involved with Relay for years because her mom passed away from cancer and then in 2003 my dad’s mom passed away with cancer as well. I would never get involved because I really didn’t know what it was all about and always thought I would never be the one with cancer, honestly who does? Well, I am here to let you know, you never know, because 10 days after my 25th birthday, on August 31st, 2006, I was diagnosed with a rare form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I had 1st noticed a knot in my throat at the end of July and just thought it would go away, well it didn’t and I finally went to the dr. because I couldn’t eat or even drink water. The next day I was sent for a CT scan and then to see an ENT dr. Which after doing a few tests sent me straight to ICU where within 8 hours I had a trach in my throat breathing for me because they were scared that I wouldn’t make it through the night! Well that was a huge wakeup call this was real and I had Cancer. 4 days later it was determined what type I had and how it would be treated. After a week of being diagnosed I started my first round of chemo. Thankfully, before coming home 11 days after being admitted the first time the tumor in my throat had shrunk enough for them to remove the trach. Each of my treatments were done inpatient where I had to be admitted to the hospital for 4-5 days every 3 weeks for a total of 6 chemo treatments. As of December 29, 2006 I have been cancer free. Had it not been for my faith, family, and friends I wouldn’t have made it through those 4 months of chemo and all the dr.’s appointments that came along with it. In April of 2007 my mom convinced me to come out to relay and walk the survivor lap, finishing that survivor lap and each survivor lap since has been a huge since of accomplishment. It is great to do something with people that have been through a similar situation and you can all stand together and complete this lap. It also reminds me of how important it is for each one of us to Celebrate, Remember, and Fight back so each year there can be more survivors here to start the relay with the Survivor lap!
