Survivor walk, and Relay wrap up

We had a great time at Relay last year, but I won't lie. This year's Relay For Life was tough. I don't know why. Maybe it is because I did 3 Relays. Maybe it is because of the health challenges I had. But whatever it was, I am glad we did it and glad it is over.
I finished up last night with $940 total. I came to Relay last night with $909 in the bag and got another $31 at Relay.
I was disappointed that we finished up $60 under our goal of $1000 for this Relay. Then an amazing thing happened. My friend Debra messaged me on Facebook and said, you got your $60. WOW! WE DID IT! WE MADE $1000 at the Waco Relay For Life!
That brings our total for all three Relays to $2276. OVER $2000 MADE FOR AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY RELAY FOR LIFE!
I didn't do this alone. I did it with a lot of help from you, my friends. A LOT OF HELP. And I love each and every one of you for all your help. I talked a lot about you last night.
God bless each and every one of you. You have made a difference!

New breast cancer awareness pattern

There is a new breast cancer awareness pattern at By the Bay Needleart blog
Hop over there and check it out. It is really cute!
And don't forget that October is breast cancer awareness month. When was the last time you were felt up?
The Waco Relay For Life is less than 2 weeks away. I am excited, but really ready for it to be over with. This year has been a tough one. Hopefully we will raise lots and lots of money for all the good things American Cancer Society does for local cancer patients!

Ornaments for breast cancer survivors

I reached out to you asking for help making some ornaments for our volunteers who are breast cancer survivors and work on our Reach For Recovery fund raising luncheon.
And you responded! Last week and this week I have really enjoyed checking my mailbox.
I received this beautiful ornament from Meari


The back is so pretty and has a little charm that says "I made this for you".
And then yesterday I received this trio of ornaments from my friend Jeanine. They are so pretty, front and back.


The back of one of them has some really cute fabric that says "hope". I don't know where she got this fabric from, but it is just so cha-cha!

She also included 2 handmade bags. These bags are about 8x8 and have a nice little pocket inside. VERY, VERY NICE! I am going to sell these and raise even more money for Relay For Life!

I have had e-mails from a couple of others that they will be sending ornaments soon. The luncheon is in September so we are good on time.
Thank you is not enough for what all of you have done for this cause. We do make a difference with each stitch we take.

Some pics of the Gatesville Relay For Life

I may not have been able to attend the Gatesville Relay For Life, but that doesn't mean my camera couldn't be there. Here are some photos of the Relay. Check out the pics of our Carter BloodCare Stitching For A Cure table. You can see one of the quilts and the pillows that people purchased chance tickets for!


And here is a picture of all the survivors that were out that night. And a picture of JoLeen and a committee member (Jo's in the purple shirt). JoLeen is a Hero of Hope and a breast cancer survivor. One of the pink squares on the quilt was stitched for her!


Also, don't forget to check my previous post for a new way to help! Now onto the Waco Relay For Life!

A sad end

For those of you who don't know, a few weeks ago I thought I was having a heart attack and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. It wasn't a heart attack thank God!
But I have had a couple of episodes of extremely high blood pressure (208/120) that had a sudden onset. Still have some chest discomfort.
The doctor has me on a blood pressure medicine and I have had a stress test and a non-stress x-ray. A visit to the cardiologist today told me that the stress test was clear except for an area he couldn't really see due to the shadow of my breast. At this time he is going to watch me and do a few more tests. Any more chest pain and we are headed for an angiogram, which is dangerous for me due to a clotting disorder I have.
But here is the real kicker. I have to slow down. And I cannot go to the Gatesville, TX Relay For Life this weekend. It breaks my heart.
My family and friends have been asking me not to go due to the extreme heat here in Texas and I was trying hard to listen to their advice. But when the Cardiologist said no go, I had to take his advice (which BTW my DH says he really likes this doctor because he made my husband's advice right!).
And I have to slow down on how active I am with the Waco RFL. I am the sponsorship chairperson and I am going to have to meet with the chairs for Relay and see what we can do to make this work.
But thanks to my co-worker, Terry and his beautiful wife, we will carry on. They are going to be out at Relay and will sell tickets for the quilt. Before they leave a name will be drawn and if the winner is there, they will receive the quilt that night and a picture will be taken.
But I won't be there. Life is not fair, but no one said it would be. And I need to take care of me in order to keep doing these things to make a difference in cancer patients lives.
So please think of me and say a prayer. And spend some time Friday night thinking of the wonderful souls that will be walking through the night because cancer doesn't sleep.
Onward we go...

Killeen Relay is a SUCCESS!

Last night was the Killeen, TX Relay For Life! It was the first Relay of 2010 that I am participating in. It was a huge success!
We had 139 teams, 1518 participants and raised $176, 111!
I left my camera at home and didn't realize it until I was almost to Killeen, so unfortunately I have no photos to show you.
The Killeen quilt brought in $300! Amazing! And I believe this will be the lowest amount brought in on the 3 quilts. The Waco one is already at $435 and we still have until October to raise money for that! That doesn't include the $50 we made off of the photo cube, which brings the total to $485 raised for Waco! And then there is Gatesville which has already brought in $72 off of it's quilt and I just started selling tickets for that!
That means we have raised $857 so far! This is wonderful!
Now let me tell you some highlights from last night. First off it didn't rain. Which was a miracle from God because it was definitely forecasted for rain.
And the 1518 participants? That was just actual team members. It didn't include all the visitors who weren't on a team. At 7:00pm when the kickoff and survivor walk was occurring, there were a line of cars in the parking lot looking for parking spaces. You could see the line went on FOREVER!
And the survivor walk! What can I say? I walked the first lap as a 23 year survivor. Slowly, but I made it. The walking I have been doing helped prepare me for this. I was huffing and puffing but I made it.
And just as I got back to my seat, along came a survivor with a friend walking the track. She was walking slowly with a walker. It took her a LONG time to get around the track. But let me tell you she put us all to shame. She did it with STYLE! She would stop every once and awhile and do a little dance, she sang along with the music and she was so cute I just wanted to run to the track and hug her.
This Relay's survivor's lap was different. They had the survivors line up on the track. Just behind them, facing the opposite way, was the caregivers. When the survivors got around the track they were met by the caregivers, who then joined them on the next lap.
The first 3 survivors leading the lap were small children. I still tear up when I think about how sweet they looked.
Speaking of tears, there were lots of them. But there were also lots of smiles! Lots of "way to gos" and "you're doing great!".
Their luminary ceremony isn't held until around midnight. After being at the track from 3:30 until 9:30 I had to call it a night. A migraine sent me home and since I had to drive an hour in the dark, I decided to not let it get any worse before I headed home.
But it was so much fun! They had a national RFL photographer out there and he took a picture of our campsite, which was made up of my new double lawn chair with umbrella set, the quilt hanging from the umbrella and a table with our sign on it.
Maybe in the new RFL promos, you will see me!
If you have never been to a Relay For Life, I encourage you to find one in your area and GO! It is fun and will inspire you!
Now onto June 26 and the Gatesville Relay!
And speaking of the Gatesville Relay, the quilt is going to be featured in tomorrow's Gatesville Messenger. Be sure to check back here for the link!