St Jude's Give Thanks Walk 2012!

This year the St Jude Children's Hospital Give Thanks Walk was again held in San Jose at the Oakridge Mall. This is an indoor walk, 5 laps around the mall. There were many volunteers, I think even more than I remember last year, cheerin us on all along the way, handing out water bottles and high-fives.

Upon registration you get your prizes, after $35 raised you get a T-shirt, the next goal hit you get a tumbler, then a bag. I got up to the first 2 prizes.

 

Last year team NMT Fitness Tri Delta Gamma Theta raised $471 for St Jude. We had 7 registered participants, 3 ended up walking. My goal was to beat last year by raising $500. With a couple clients, Bally class members & friends, we more than DOUBLED it1 We ended up with 7 registered walkers at the event, raising $1,050.00!! 

Ok, now this is going to sound a bit nuts to some, but if you're like me, you'll understand. I started with St Jude's as a philanthropy in college at USCB. I am a Delta Delta Delta alumni and that was our philanthropy. So when I started my little business, it was important to me to do something. Around that time, I received something from St Jude and it just made sense.

Here's where I may lose a few of you, but read through. In May I found out my cat Tuffy had Cancer, caused by the Rabies vaccine. Cats are more succeptable to this than dogs. The warning is "may cause Cancer at the injection site." Well, it happened. I thought it was a bite, or a cyst, but it was Fibrosarcoma. I approved the first surgery thinking it was a precaution, but the results came back and I needed a specialist. You can read the full story, Tuffy's Fight,  but the short version is it was a month of hell, and she ended up having her leg amputated. But as I was going through this, I had my furball(which is like my child) and I was faced with the decision of if and which surgery to go with($4-5k), whether or not Radiation would be needed($7k), etc. To be faced with the decision of, 'we MAY be able to save her'...BUT it's all this money you don't have. . . my first thought came back to St Jude. What I was going through, is what these parents go through, with their Children! Children who are aware, ask questions, have fear. How can someone  possibly be in that situation, with their own child's life in their hands, not knowing/able to pay to save them?! It made this cause all the more real to me. That a parent can be helped, and get ALL the help they NEED without having to worry about the cost. Knowing that they are doing ALL that can be done. That is everything.