My Cancer and My Husband’s Secret

As many of you know, my husband, Kirk, was my support through my two-time battle with breast cancer and ultimate reconstruction.  He is also the one who convinced me to write about my cancer and domestic abuse experiences that have resulted in this website which he set up and maintains for me.  But, now, he has outdone himself with his latest undertaking.  Last Saturday night, he sent me a link to his website, whirlydudes.com which he was preparing to update as he announced to me that he had been secretly training to run a 10K

race in order to raise funds for cancer research.  I clicked on the link to find that he was doing this run in honor of Melinda Marchiano, who fought and won her battle against Hodgkin’s lymphoma at the age of 13, in memory of my father and brother who lost their battles against lung cancer and renal cell cancer respectively, and me. Of course, I was overwhelmed to say the least.

Since that time I have had the opportunity to discuss this undertaking with him and have learned, as you will see on his website, that there is a second component to this run and that is his desire to accumulate a list of names of other survivors and those who have lost their battle with cancer to carry with him on the run as inspiration.  I have had two people run in my honor in the past, Shannon McCarty Magee, whom I’ve never met and Jennifer Huie, a co-worker and I know how much it meant to me.  So, I have set my own goal to support Kirk in his efforts but I really need your help.

Kirk has set a goal to raise $500 to support this cause and I have set a goal to gather the names of at least 500 people who have become cancer survivors or have lost the battle.  I also wish to add the names of those caregivers who assisted a cancer patient in their fight.  I would appreciate it if you will go to Kirk’s website directly, or click on the banner in the upper-right corner of the home page of this site which will take you there, or if you wish to post the information here at the letlifehappen.com website, and add the names of those you wish to honor.  If you choose to leave a story in addition to the name, that would also be welcomed.  Please also feel free to leave names on our Twitter sites, Facebook sites and LinkedIn sites.  I want Kirk to be loaded down with a ton of paper carrying those names because I know the inspiration that it will give to him and that is how I can best support him in this endeavor.

Please know that I really need your help with this mission and that you do not need to make a financial contribution in order to have the names of those you want included.  You also may submit as many names as you wish and you may submit information about your connection, the type of cancer that the person has/had and a bit of history about each person.  I promise that every single name will be included on the list and he will know about the stories that you may additionally provide (if they are posted to my sites rather than his) because they will be an additional source of inspiration.

The race will take place on October 7, 2012, so I would appreciate your submissions prior to that date.  I thank you so much, in advance, for your support of this project.  I can’t think of any better way that you can honor those that you choose and I can support Kirk in his efforts.  If you have any questions or would like to discuss something privately, please feel free to contact me by email at Barbara@LetLifeHappen.com.  I will let you all know about our success.

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