A personal message from Amanda Goble:
I have talked a lot throughout the season about the Pasta Party on event weekend and how moving that presentation is. You will walk away ready and motivated for your event the following day, having very much been reminded of the reason. The following story is the one that was told at the New Jersey Shore Pasta Party last April and I would like to share it with all of you:
She was 33 and had just moved to New York City to really begin her career and take this next big step in her life. She was excited and young and ready to take on the world, but instead she was going to have to take on the fight of her life. Just weeks after moving she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. The doctors explained the situation and said that they already arranged for her to start chemo the following day. Her reaction, as I think would be the reaction of anyone, "No, I can't start chemo tomorrow. I'm not ready to start." The doctor said that no one is ever ready, but that the sooner she got going the sooner she would be done with treatment. She also had to take on the burden of selecting a hospital in a city where she had no familiarity, no friends and no support system. She decided then to go back home, put all of those things she was so excited about on hold, and go through the longest year of her life with friends and family at her side.
She responded well to treatment, but there were always those bad days that go along with it. While in the hospital she learned more about LLS and took advantage of some of the services that are provided as a result of the money you are raising. One of the first things she did once she completed chemo was to sign-up for a TNT event. Since then she has done eight TNT events, and has successfully finished two ironmans.
I think the most profound thing she said was that as she was training it was so wonderful to be sore because of a long run rather than sore from tests and other treatments. And when people asked her why she was doing it she said because she could. This past weekend she celebrated her five years in remission mark and continues to give back to TNT, while also passing along her thank yous to everyone involved in the program.
Remember these stories. This why you have done what you have with training and fundraising! Thank you so much.
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