Volunteer Job!

I have been anxiously awaiting a call from the local Komen office to discuss my participation in the Race for the Cure Committee this year, and it just came in. I'll be working on website content (using my writing and marketing knowledge) as my primary task, and I'll also be on their list of who to call when they need help. I'm ready to get my hands dirty....I am fighting breast cancer on as many fronts as possible!

The Race for the Cure and the Breast Cancer 3-Day are each incredibly worthy events. The Race's funds go primarily to the local (Puget Sound) affilliate, and those funds are used to support underserved and underinsured women with awareness, mammograms, and treatments. I almost took it for granted during my treatment, but I would have had a whole different set of problems if I couldn't afford tests and treatments. Every woman deserves a mammogram, regardless of income, and The Race tries to see that every woman has that kind of access, and that no woman is denied treatment due to lack of funds. I am giving my time to this important cause, with the belief that every woman needs the kind of care that I received during my diagnosis and treatment, and that money should not be an obstacle in receiving such care.

The 3-Day's funds go primarily to research to find the cure. The Komen Foundation gets most of their research money through the 3-Day, and that is why I am on a team again for 2007 to raise even more money for the 3-Day than we did last year. My only hope of sleeping well at night when Tessa is a woman is the hope that we will cure breast cancer in the next twenty years, and research is the only way to do that. I am passionate about fundraising for the 3-Day, and that is why I will be soliciting money from all of my friends and family when it's time for that event next year.

Two events for the same organization, with different goals, and I'm proud to be a part of each of them. I am ready to get my hands dirty (as they say) and dive into the hard work that is ahead. It is something I will do with passion and drive, becaues I believe so strongly in the cause. I will continue to support organizations who give to breast cancer causes, and I will model for the Northwest Hope & Healing fashion show, and I will have a hard time saying "no" to anything else that comes up. I'm ready to fight....and I'm so relieved to fight for everyone through the Komen Foundation, and not just to fight for my own life.

Update on the colonoscopy: benign!

I got the call yesterday that my pathology report was clean; the polyp had no cancer. I'm more relieved than I can tell you.

Pumpkin Patch from earlier this month

I'm in picture mode...
Here are some pictures of Tessa and friends (Derek, Paloma, Nina, Lexie) at the pumpkin patch in Woodinville, the South 47 Farm. A wonderful, sunny day!

Trick or Treat in the Junction

We went trick-or-treating in the Junction on Saturday with our friends Jessie (ballerina), Liam (bat boy), Zoe (Stephanie from Lazytown), and Tessa (dragon). I loved the dragon costume; we'd insisted to Tessa that she must wear something warm (NOT a mermaid costume) for trick-or-treating, and she fell in love with the dragon from Grammy. Thanks, Grammy!

Halloween Party!

Here are Tessa, Ryan, and I (aka Ariel, King Rydent, and Ariel's mom....the Mermaid Family!) at the Hisatomi's party last weekend. It was fabulous! The other shot is of Jessie-Ariel, Tessa-Ariel, and Nina-Fairy-Princess.