Lemons for Lemonade
This weekend I participated in a 5k charity walk Nick’s sister Laura created to raise money for First Descents and organization whose mission is to offer ‘young adult cancer fighters and survivors (ages 18-39) a free week-long outdoor adventure experience designed to enable them to climb, paddle and surf beyond their diagnosis, defy their cancer, reclaim their lives and connect with others doing the same.’ Laura started her own fundraising team last year after participating in the camp herself. and cleverly calls her team, “Laura’s Lemons for Lemonade,” a name that she acquired when her friend’s daughter started selling lemonade and giving the money she made to Laura to donate to First Descents. All of the money that was donated to participate in the walk went directly to the organization First Descents: http://firstdescents.org/
Laura was diagnosed with colon cancer about 2 years ago. A year after her diagnoses she had the opportunity to go on an all expense paid, week long camp of whitewater kayaking in Vail, Colorado. Since this experience, she has done all that she can to find ways to raise money to sponsor more campers. Well, her efforts paid off this weekend as she was able to raise over $3,000 at the walk which will send 3 cancer victims to one of the First Descents camps! Read on to learn more about her experience and how First Descents changed her life. She is truly paying it forward…
I hope this note finds each of you well, happy and most importantly, healthy.
June 17th will mark the completion of my 2nd year cancer free. Looking back, in some ways it seems like yesterday when I was diagnosed. Continuous doctors appointments, blood draws, scans, Ensure (yes - I drank tons of Ensure!), jello, more jello and gatorade. 21 days of sleeping in a hospital bed, 40 days unable to drive and 35 days watching the life and death of Michael Jackson playing over and over again on tv.
I was so fragile.
There is no way to perfectly explain what happens to your mind when at the age of 28, you are faced with death. You are running a marathon, both physically and mentally while at the same time your body has failed you on a catastrophic level. The first year was to say the least, challenging. I got back to work and back into my routine, however I can’t say that I was back to being me.
It wasn’t until my trip to Vail with First Descents last summer, and passing that monumental 1 year mark that it happened. As Andy will say, I got my “mojo” back. As many of you know, my trip with First Descents was a game changer. It renewed my faith in my body and gave me the confidence to start letting go. Perhaps it was the vertical drops down class 3 rapids, or maybe it was being along side 17 other young adults who had also been down the same road and had battled or were still battling cancer.
Through my experience at First Descents, I learned that cancer was a chapter in my life, but not my entire life.
In honor of celebrating the completion of my 2nd year cancer free, and my 31st birthday, I would be honored if you would walk 3.1 miles along side of me on June 25th.
Laura’s Lemons for Lemonade is a fundraising page through First Descents that I have set up in honor of my experience, and in the hopes of raising enough money to give other young adults like me the opportunity of a lifetime by attending First Descents. To date, with your help and generosity, we have been able to sponsor 1 campers trip. In honor of my second year, I would love to be able to sponsor a second camper.
Every time I read that letter from Laura, it truly touches my heart. I was so glad that my family and I could be there for her this weekend and help raise money for such a great organization. This year Laura is the guardian angel for 3 people who may never have the opportunity to know her, but whose lives will be forever changed by her. She is truly an amazing woman.
Above watch 2 videos about a man named Neil Taylor or “Tailz” as they named him at camp, who met Laura at the whitewater kayaking adventure in Vail. Tailz and Laura (who was endearingly called “Chunky”) became very close on their week long trip. Tailz was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor just over 3 years ago. Tailz woke up from surgery after the tumor was removed…blind.
Watch this inspirational video and if you would like to make a donation to help sponsor a camper, please visit the following link to donate to “Laura’s Lemons for Lemonade.”
http://teamfd.firstdescents.org/2011/fd/Lauraslemonade/
