MS Walk

This is the Team - Team Help Momma - the team that we walked with and fundraised for. Can you see Cadence? Or Me? Well me neither but we are there. This was for a girl in our Girl Scout Troop - whose Grandma is inflicted with this devastating disease. Cadence was a great fundraiser - she really threw herself into this and raised a little over 300 dollars! She donated $50 of her own. We were pretty proud of her. The walk started at the Gateway mall - and we were off with great spirits!

This is Cadence's back, and I will save you the suspense - the walk started to get pretty painful for everyone all around. Painful for the kids since 3.5 miles is pretty long, and it was pretty sunny and hot - and painful for the adults since we had to stop and take many breaks and there were more then a few whines and complaints. Long story short, this 5K walk took us 2 hours. yep. However, this was really rewarding and Cadence exclaimed after how proud she was of herself.

The girls were allowed the chance to volunteer some of there time, putting together the goodie bags with snacks and water, and also blowing up the helium balloons that people were given to release. The girls were great and really liked getting into the spirit of everything, and they were also working on their disability patch.

Even Sushi got into the mix and ended up walking for the cure!

Now I have been asked why we have decided to get behind this cause, and on this walk I really had some time to think about my motivation, partly because at the beginning they handed us note cards for us to fill out that prompted you to finish the statement "I walk because..." and I wanted to really think about what I would write. Like I said above this walk was rewarding and emotional, there were plenty of people that you could tell were obviously affected by this disease. There were many people using canes and walkers and leg braces, but they were still walking! I could see many families rallying around an individual, cheering them on and supporting them. I could see the pain in their faces, at the physical toll it was taking on their bodies, but they kept going, they wanted to walk because they still could. They were going to push their bodies for as long as they still could. At one point in front of us, one man was crossing a pretty big intersection, and his legs went out from underneath him and he went down hard. Many people rushed to help him, and he shooed them away claiming "he could do it". He got himself up and kept on going, obviously in pain. I really was so touched, and I knew that I would fill out my card, "I walk because I never want to take for granted the strength and ability that God has given me." I don't always take care of my body like I should, I drink way too much diet soda, and don't exercise regularly, and I love (love) food. This was a touching reminder of how much I do take for granted, that my legs are going to work when I get up in the morning, that I can run and dance, if I would just will it. I keep all this in mind, and all that I have been given, and I don't have to think very hard as to why I fundraise for MS.