I need your help please!

Silly Sally · Mar 16, 2008

<img alt="" src="http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb254/silly_sally8/CCS_email.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><img alt="" src="http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb254/silly_sally8/OTlogo_eng_shade_email.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"> Hi my KR tri-peeps, In January 2006, my mother was diagnosed with liver cancer and my world fell apart. She then underwent gruelling chemotherapy treatments and her universe imploded. Her skin felt on fire and her mouth had sores so painful, she could not eat. She lost all her hair and strength, and yet the tumours would not go away. In July 2006, she very luckily received a liver transplant, renewing hope and faith in LIFE. "I've never really travelled", she said to me, still in pain and barely mobile, healing from a complicated surgical procedure that left a foot long scar on her torso. "I want to go to Hawaii and I want you to come with me." All my mother had to do was make it through that fragile first year, with rejection and infection posing a constant threat to her fate. We all crossed our fingers and slowly, my mother started to regain her strength and her hair grew back. She and I started planning her dream. "By September, I won't have to go to the hospital all the time, just once a month, then we can take that trip." In May 2007, my mother received bad news. Her cancer had reappeared. Her lungs were now filled with tumours. I wanted to lie on the floor and cry the entire week. I couldn't even imagine how my mother was feeling. Treatment was not an option because of her transplanted liver. So now we wait as my mother holds onto life as long as she can and I cling tightly to her precious love. This is the REALITY of cancer. Operation Triumph (<a href="http://www.operationtriumph.com/" target="_blank">www.operationtriumph.com</a>) is a group of friends who want to make a difference in the fight against cancer by: 1) fund-raising for the Canadian Cancer Society 2) creating awareness about this dreaded disease and 3) creating a network of support and encouragement. My mother is my hero and my inspiration. I created this team because I don't want more people to go through what my mother is going through. I have already lost two aunts and an uncle to cancer and the thought of losing my mother is ... is .......... There is a certain helplessness watching someone you love become sicker, a horrible painful sadness of not being able to make that person better. I dedicate my involvement with Operation Triumph to my mother and will be racing <a href="http://www.ironmanlouisville.com/" target="_blank">Ironman Louisville</a> on August 31, 2008. I don't think I need to tell you what this entails ... Training for and finishing an Ironman is a gruelling endeavour ... but nothing as gruelling as the struggle my mother is presently undergoing. I ask that you please sponsor me as a member of <a href="http://www.operationtriumph.com/" target="_blank">Operation Triumph</a>. Donations to the Canadian Cancer Society can be made online at <a href="http://www.operationtriumph.com/" target="_blank">www.operationtriumph.com</a> or by filling in and returning the donation form found on the website. Or if you'd like to give me a donation in person, just let me know <img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif"> Receipts for income tax are available (not sure if they're good for the US though). Please take the time to look at our website. Any contribution you make to support our efforts is invaluable, whether it be donating, attending one of our fun events (yes, c'mon out to visit me in Montreal!), contributing a story or dedication, spreading the word about our endeavour to your family and friends, or even joining the team. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. I thank you for your encouragement and generosity. Bonnie (aka Silly Sally) p.s. I'll need lots of encouragement for the training ... I'm sooo far behind!

TriAndStopMe · Mar 17, 2008

Hi Bonnie - 
You can count me in, though I'll have to do the snail-mail version. Now get out there and train!

Silly Sally · Mar 17, 2008

Many thanks, Barb! And yes, yes, I'm gonna go get dressed now for a short run followed by a short swim ... I tend to let everything else get in the way of my training ... Sigh... 
I have to learn to train in the morning like the rest of you folks. I'm just a flaky artist though and have no discipline ... <img alt="uhoh2.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/uhoh2.gif"> My friends give me crap all the time cause I frustrate them - "You'd be a great athlete if only you'd train!" 
Sally

kimber45 · Mar 17, 2008

Sally, if I want to help sponsor you, do I put your name in the section marked, "in support of"? 
Cancer has hit my family hard. My mother had throat cancer, my father and 2 uncles died of colon cancer, another uncle died of lymphoma, an aunt died of breast cancer, another aunt died of ovarian cancer and a cousin died last summer from melanoma. I have had numerous basal cell carcinomas cut out of me, with another scheduled to be cut out in April. 
And yet, my favourite patient to take care of is the cancer patient. I was an oncology nurse for 8 years and worked in a Bone Marrow Transplant Unit. I carry those patients in my heart.<img alt="love2.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/love2.gif"> I haven't worked in that unit for 8 years and I still think of the patients and their families. Being a part of their diagnosis, treatment and sometimes death was an honour and privilege. 
My prayers are with you and your family.

Silly Sally · Mar 17, 2008

Yes, please just write my name in, "Bonnie Mak". I've asked the webdesigner to add a drop-down menu to make things easier. Good point! 
Kimber, would you mind contributing your story to our website. You can also dedicate it to someone or many people ... What you wrote was very touching, especially what you said about working as an oncology nurse. I'm very sorry to hear about all the cancer in your family, including yourself {{hugs}} 
Thanks so much for your support, 
Bonnie

I need your help please!

Silly Sally

TriAndStopMe

Silly Sally

kimber45

Silly Sally

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