Why I'm walking in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

My name is Gina and I also work at WSOC-TV and Cox Digital Solutions.

My mother always asked me, “If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?”

I guess the answer to that would be yes. Not that it is exactly jumping off a cliff, but the initial reason I registered for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer on October 26^th and 27^th is because I get to walk with a bunch of fun, energetic co-workers that I consider friends… most of them, anyway. :)

Then after a day or so, I realized that I just signed on to walk 40 miles and agreed to raise eighteen hundred dollars. It is not necessarily the length or the amount of money that scared me.

I actually love to work out and am in pretty good shape. I don’t believe it will be too hard to train for a walk, even if it is 40 miles. I have heard from people who have walked before and they told me the weekend was life-changing. I have heard that Avon will pamper me all along the way, including have a masseuse waiting for me at the Wellness Village Saturday night. I know that I will be walking with a bunch of friends that will celebrate our finish with a couple bottles of wine… per person. I can get my head wrapped around the walk.

And though $1,800 is a good amount of money, I hopefully have enough friends and family that will be willing to support me. I mean, who wouldn’t be willing to support me for walking 40 miles for breast cancer?

What scared me is the time I just agreed to donate. I am a working mother. I work long hours and I give 100% at work. My husband travels a lot so when I go home on weeknights, it's just me and I want to give 100% to my girls. On the weekends, I give 100% to all of them. And when I am not giving my time to them, I am giving it to myself because I deserve it. Now, not only will I spending a whole weekend away from them during the walk weekend October 26^th and 27^th, I will also have to be taking time away from them almost every weekend to train. Agh!

But then I thought some more and realized my family, my little girls, they are the biggest reason that I have to walk.

First of all, it is my job as a mother to show my girls that everything we do does not have to benefit us. All my girls know is good. We are so blessed as a family. They have a strong family unit that supports them. We are all healthy. My husband and I both have jobs that afford us the finer things in life, including insurance. They need to know that everyone is not in this same position. There are people who just lost their job two weeks ago and then found a lump this week and have no insurance. There are people who are sick and have no family to help support them. These are the kinds of things that Avon Walk for Breast Cancer funds. I want to show my girls that as part of being a good human being, it is our job to help these people. This is what I feel like I am doing by being a part of such a great cause.

The second reason is because cancer sucks! I actually have an aunt that had breast cancer. I thank God that she is a survivor. But breast cancer is in their family. I don't want my girls to ever have to deal with breast cancer or any other cancer. If there is anything I can do to help prevent this, I would. And so I am walking in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer because research is another thing they fund.

So, I started training yesterday and my daughters helped me train!  They got their workout clothes on and they let me push them in their stroller for almost two hours. Anyone who has a two and a five year old knows how hard that was for me and for them. Instead of looking at this walk as time I can’t give to my family, I am looking at it as time we can spend together. I am looking at as time I can teach them about being good people and trying to help others.

I can’t wait to see them holding up signs for mommy as I finish my 40 miles.

I am walking on Team 9/64 for my girls and for myself. I am walking so more people can be a survivor like my Aunt Marlene. I am walking in hopes that others will not have to endure the pain that my friend Courtney has since the loss of her mother to breast cancer. I'm walking for every woman who has lost her life to breast cancer, who is currently battling breast cancer, who has won her battle against breast cancer or who may get breast cancer in the future. I am walking because I am going to have a great time with my friends. And, of course, I am walking because I get to wear a pink costume during the walk on October 26th and 27^th.

Join me. Take a moment to visit www.avonwalk.org and learn more about the cause, register to walk or make a donation.

Visit www.avonwalk.org today.

WSOC