I am 45 years old and I have lived in Florida since I was 15 years old. I am originally from New York, but after living here for 30 years there’s no way I could ever go back to the cold and snow. I have a wonderful boyfriend, Tom, and I’m a mom to his son Tommy, who is 14. I’m very lucky to have all my family here too. I am a Sr. Business Analyst at Raymond James where I’ve worked for almost 9 years.
I joined this team for one very import reason – I am a breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed at 42 with stage 2 breast cancer. I never thought it could happen to me. I have no family history of breast cancer and I was relatively young. A cancer diagnosis at any age is a life changing event. My treatment consisted of 6 months of chemo, 2 surgeries, and 7 weeks of daily radiation treatments. It’s the hardest thing I’ve even been through. Losing my hair was devastating…dealing with all the side effects of chemo was horrible…seeing how this affected my family is something I’ll never forget.
I was talking to Denise Watson at work one day and I was telling her about my diagnosis. We started talking about the 3 Day event that year, but I didn’t think I’d be up to it physically. I was still in treatment during the summer of 2005 and the walk was in early October. There was no way I would be able to train for the walk, but I still wanted to be involved, so I volunteered for the event. I spent all 3 days at the campsite doing whatever they needed me to do. It was such an emotional experience and one I’ll never forget. I can’t tell you how many times I cried during those 3 days. It was then that I knew I’d always be involved with the walk. I walked in 2006 and 2007 and I’m walking again in ’08. Fundraising is hard, training is difficult, but compared to chemo, it’s a walk in the park!
Please support me as I take an amazing journey in the fight against breast cancer!
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