H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y C H R I S ! Its a special day for one of our riders as Chris turns another year wiser. Chris has also shared her story of why shes riding to conquer cancer as she tucks into some energy food... My first reaction to being asked “why are you participating in the Ride to Conquer Cancer?” is, “Andy asked me to and I stupidly said Yes”! But then I stopped and thought about it…. The impact of cancer is all around me, all the time. I can stand at my front door and see 2 houses in my street, where I know there are families currently fighting Cancer. I can stand at my back door and see the house where one of my closest friends lived, whilst losing her sister to cancer. I go to the gym in the morning and notice the people not there because of cancer and the people who are despite it. I can sit at my desk at work and look across the room, to a colleague who was the primary carer for both her parents fighting cancer, over just a 3 year period. I have students working out how to live with a terminal cancer diagnosis. I can see them question living out their hopes and dreams, not knowing how long they have left to live. I think of one of the ‘best blokes’ I have ever known, getting to spend only a couple of months with his new born son, before he lost his fight - and the on-going bravery of his beautiful wife in her tireless work to raise awareness of brain cancer. At first thought, Cancer has not been a significant disease for me or my family, however my maternal grandmother died of bone cancer. My partners paternal grandfather died of melanoma and I have lost an Aunt to brain cancer. My mother in law has lost 2 of her best friends to cancer- breast and lung …. And the list could go on! Now when I talk about why I am riding in Peter Mac’s ‘Ride to Conquer Cancer’, I remember all the people we have loved and lost to cancer and I think about all the people who live with Cancer every minute of every day. Spending 2 exhausting days riding, with sore legs and possible headwinds is only a tiny effort compared to the daily battle faced by people living with cancer. Months of training in a Woodend winter and hours of fundraising, is a small price to pay to remember and show respect to all the people who have lost their fight with cancer. And committing to Ride to Conquer Cancer is to show hope for a future that can be cancer free.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 21:16:31 +0000