I’ve sat on the sidelines watching my mom, dad, sister, brothers, sister-in-laws and close friends all run 5Ks, 1/2 marathons, marathons and Ironman races throughout the last 5 years. It’s been very inspiring, but I have to admit, it’s been nice watching from the sidelines. I’ve never, ever had the drive or the inclination to follow suit.
Until now.
On January 29th, my life changed completely. For the first time ever in my family we were faced with a very scary medical issue. I saw my husband… this 6’2″ hunk of a man get rushed into surgery and have a tumor removed from his small bowel because it had punctured his colon, leaving him in excruciating pain. We waited a long 8 days for the pathology report to come back where we found out the tumor was a GIST tumor. Good news is, it was taken out. Bad news it, it could come back. So we went to Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston to meet with a GIST specialist, he put Matt on chemo in the form of a pill that he will take every day for the next 3 years. This chemo will reduce the chances of the tumor ever coming back to less then 10%.
My husband’s been through a hell of a lot in the last 4 weeks. I’ve been trying my best to be his biggest supporter and advocate because I know he’s do the same for me in a heartbeat. I’ve been trying to think of something to do for him, for Dana Farber, for families going through the similar experiences. Watching my mom run the Disney 1/2 marathon inspired me in a whole different way than it ever has before. There was one photo in particular that did something to me…
Her caption, "When was the last time you were sprinkled with fairy dust?"
I’m going to take some of that fairy dust and run a 1/2 marathon for my husband and raise money along the way for Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
I’m scared out of my mind to run 13.1 miles … but it’s nothing compared to the scared out of mind feelings I felt 4 weeks ago. Nothing.
I want to do this for Matt. I’ve never done it before in my life. And I have NO idea how my training is going to go, but I’ve already got my brother Keith running with me.
My goal is to raise $500 for Dana Farber!
I love you Mattyboy! CRAZY!
What a great thing to do to honor and support your husband!
You are an amazing lady. How do I actually get to the page to donate to your race?
When and where is this race ???
So excited for your run Audrey. You’ll do great! xo
You are amazing Audrey! You can totally do it!
Good luck to you – and your mom looks great! I do the 3-day walk for my very best friend who is a year and a half out from her diagnoses with stage 3 breast cancer. this year, she’s walking with me. It feels so good to DO something. Just like you will. You can so rock that run.