Sharing my Story

This is a completely non-scrappy post and I will nto be offended at all if you choose to just skip on by. Normally, I wouldn't share this type of thing but I came across this post on the Making Memories blog and I started thinking and writing and wanted to share it here. Most people who know me know how the loss of my Nan touched my life. It is hard to put it into words. She was a woman I think everyone should have had the pleasure of knowing. I cannot believe it has been five years since we lost her. I miss her every day!

You are absolutely right when you say breast cancer affects many of us. Too many. I have been blessed to not have had to personally fight the disease but I have been touched by it. My Nan - one of the very best people I have ever known - was diagnosed with this terrible disease. She fought bravely and beat it! She was a remarkable woman. However, the cancer wasn't done with her yet. It had spread and it wasn't long before it was too much for her to overcome. Thankfully, her battle was brief. Now, I know that may sound weird but it would make sense if you knew my Nan. She was a woman who was so incredibly full of life. She gave so much of herself through her work at the Distress Centre and Assaulted Woman's Helpline but that was just a small fraction of who she was. To us, her family, she was Nanny! She was someone who was always there with a hug when you needed it. Someone who we were never to old to crawl into her lap usually while watching some cartoons on tv. Someone who was always there with a comforting word when you most needed it. Someone who just understood without you having to say too much. Someone who had the greatest belly laugh of all time and so loved to laugh. Someone who loved us - each of us - unconditionally. Someone who I miss each and every day! Losing her left a hole in my world that has yet to be filled. I don't think it ever will be. Life goes on and time passes but that wound never truly heals. I think about my daughter who will never know Nan's love or get wrapped up in one of her hugs and my heart hurts. I am truly a better person because of my Nan. She inspired me in so many ways that I think I took for granted. I wish I had taken the time to say the words to her so she knew how much she did for me and meant to me. I take comfort in the fact that she is with me always and knows now.

Losing my Nan was the hardest thing I have to had to deal with in my life. But through dealing with it, I was spurred into action. Although Nan's fight was not lost to breast cancer specifically I still think of it as the enemy that took her from me. And because of that I strive to do my part to raise money and awareness for this very worthy cause and maybe others will be spared the loss my family feels. Each year, my family participates in the CIBC Run for the Cure to benefit the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. We put a team together and go out there and do our part as "Nan's Boobsters". It is a day of family and fun and honouring the woman we all miss so much. We also host a fundraising crop each June as a means to fundraise for our team. Crop for the Cure has had three successful years now and we are working on our fourth (June 5th, 2010). As long as I am able I will continue to do my part in memory of my Nan. I do it for her. I do it for my daughter. I do it for me. I do it for everyone who has been touched by breast cancer.

For those of you who took the time to read my words - thank you for sticking around and maybe getting to know my Nan a wee bit. I guarantee you would have loved her!!