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BARBARA JO KIRSHBAUM 2009 AVON WALK FOR BREAST CANCER |
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Avon Walk for Breast Cancer....L.A.....Set. 12-13,2009 $4.6m raised, 2000 participants Certainly this walk felt different than the previous 106.....while I am walking my focus is always on my body and what it is feeling and what my feet and joints feel like....that is not to say that I am not interested in others and their stories, but it is such a physical effort. This weekend, however, I was very concerned about Bob and needed to know that he was ok and that the support system we had in place was 'doing their job'. They certainly did. Our daughter Ronda was with Bob all weekend as were our friends, Don and Diane. Everyone helped with signage and as a walker, the signs were as perfect as they always are. Bob drove the route and Ronda and Don did the actually putting up of signs.....but believe me they had already passed Signage 101 and 201 from previous experience. The weekend went well. Backtracking a little bit, Meagan from Texas and Cathy from Chicago arrived on Wed. On Thursday, San Antonio Community Hospital had a dedication of a plaque in my honor, recognizing the $250,000 grant given by the Avon Foundation for Women in 2008. Carol Kurzig and Marc Hurlbert of the Foundation were there also. The dedication was lovely and the plaque is amazing and I was so proud and humbled by it. It is on the wall next to the mammography room in the new breast center at the hospital. The next morning we left for Long Beach to meet and greet with friends and for me to sell jewelry at registration. This year Team California actually had a team of more than me! My friend Jill registered last year to do the walk and she enlisted 12 others to join the team. She really did all of the team 'captain' work so I really appreciated that. Actually Team California was one of the top fundraising teams on this walk. Go Team! I am so proud of them. All of you did great, raised money, pushed your body, and your limits. It was an honor to have you on my team. All of my local family was at the walk. Allison was on the Youth Crew, and I was so proud of her. Many people commented to me about the wonderful job my granddaughter was doing. And would you believe, she was the top fundraiser on the Youth Crew. Each of the Youth Crew members has to raise $500 to participate. My granddaughter Maddie, walked with me on Sat. and Sun. for several miles each day. She walked her 'personal best'. My son and sons in laws supported us too by being there and being in charge of the kids. Most of Team California just paired off with a walking partner or 2, whomever they matched with their pace. I told them it was their personal challenge to complete what they could. They all did great. I walked mostly with Meagan, Debra and her friend Samantha, who by the way had not trained much and had huge blisters on her heels, but nevertheless walked all 39.3 miles. The ability of the mind and body to push beyond what we think we can do, is always amazing to me. On Sat. Nan from Texas walked with us. She is participating in all 9 Avon events and walked the full marathon day. Nan is an 18 month survivor who was diagnosed at age 39. She lost both her mother and sister before they were 40 yrs. old. Nan, you are amazing. Thank you for walking with us. I don't even remember which day, but a gentleman that looked like he was out for his exercise, asked me what was going on. He had a heavy accent and I had to concentrate to understand him, but when I told him why we were walking, he wanted me to know that he 'understood'. He had lost his wife a year ago from breast cancer that had spread to the lung. He said he didn't think he would 'make it', but that he is moving on. He was so charming and I wish I had made time to talk with him longer. He touched my heart in those few seconds. Patrick Dempsey spoke at closing ceremonies. As a top fundraiser I was invited to have a photo shoot with him. I had met him earlier in the year when he and I did a press conference together in Daytona, kicking off the Dempsey Challenge around the country (the top fundraiser in each of the 9 cities would go to the Rolex 24 race in Dayton in 2010 where Patrick will be racing). He remembered meeting me (or maybe he had been prompted!) but in any case we had a nice conversation. I told him that he impressed me when I met him before when he said that 'celebrity means nothing, if you don't use it in a positive way'. He is definitely a person who is using his celebrity in a positive way. When closing ceremonies were over I said good bye to my friends for this year. I don't know if we will be doing the last 2 events this year.....we are taking this one minute at a time.....we will make those decisions later. Please check back r.e. the rest of my 'walk season'. There still are some 3Day events that we are planning on. Thank you for reading my journal. And by the way, I am still raising funds if you want to make a donation. Bob and I appreciate all of the emails, cards, and prayers. We appreciate you staying in touch.
Barbara Jo Kirshbaum
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