Rear view window

Sept 30th

Let me start by telling you the tumor markers continue to come down – we are now at 51! Our goal is to keep them level or come down and we have been so fortunate to continue to see them come down. This means the chemo is working and killing the cancer! Unfortunately sometimes it feels like it is killing me too.

So let’s talk about something fun and talk about living. Let’s talk the 2018 JDRF Ride to Cure weekend in Saratoga Springs – it was magical, the best ever, humbling, joyous, inspirational, and so much fun. This group of riders, 400 of them raised $1.5M to turn Type One to Type None – goosebumps! I spent five days feeling better than I had felt in nine months – that was remarkable to say the least considering I wasn’t sure I would ever feel like myself again. I smiled for 5 days, felt empowered to kick betes for Alex, felt so much love and just never wanted it to end. Our team of riders was the #5 fundraising team and my sister Suzy was the #10 fundraiser out of 400. And because of all of your support I was #3 raising the most money I have raised for any of the seven rides and raised over $34,000.00! So many people to thank but the big kudos go out to Astrid for her Flowers for Missy Fundraiser that raised over $15,000.00 – AMAZING! It was such a special treat to also have my niece Annie come in and be there to root her Mom on and support her sister in finding a cure!

Other highlights of the weekend include the surprise arrival of Paula from NY, Missy’s Mob of riders from Team CharlUtah, each rider successfully reaching and exceeding their physical and fundraising goals and my being honored with the Spirit Jersey! This jersey is given to the person who embodies the spirit of the ride program. I am so humbled by this honor and will wear this jersey with pride and promise to continue riding till one is none! I even wore my jersey to chemo the day after I got home – channeling all that good juju even in the chemo chair.

So what is next – as my markers continue to come down we are going to make a tweak to my chemo cocktail for next week to help with my quality of life – it is tough to be on top of the world with good energy for 5 days and then come back and have chemo kick my butt so that I can’t do very much at all. My Dr feels really good about how well I am responding to the chemo and wants me to get back to exercising and have more energy and attention span so that I can start training for my next goal. Beside kicking cancer’s ass, I am registered along with Steve, Dawn, Jennifer and drumroll John to run the Kiawah half/full marathon on the annual diagnosis of Lucifer Dec 8th. I told you I would ride the ride and I did, I will do the same here, I will run my race and not let cancer get in my way.

The support and love that life’s me up on a daily basis is so inspiring and overwhelming – I am one lucky girl! Thanks to each of you for all your love and support – this will soon be in the rear view window!