Sunday 20 September 2009

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!!

11 comments :

  1. If you loved her than I'm sure she was ever deserving. Thank you for sharing your story... it is good to share and not only for you but shows a lot of respect for your Nan who sounds like she was deserving of it.

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  2. Tracey---I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing a bit of yourself and her with us. ((HUGS)))

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  3. That's so very sweet and touching Tracey. I have always been a little jealous of people who had grandparents they were close to because I never had that, and it always seems like a special bond.

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  4. Great post, Tracey! {HUGS}!!!

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  5. I am so very sorry for your loss sweetie! Thank you for sharing your story and great pics!
    Hugs
    Jodi =)

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  6. Your Nan sounds like she was a really lovely lady Tracey and she isn't gone. She's in your heart and one day, YOU will take on her mantle as YOU become Nan yourself and you will make her proud.
    Viv xx

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  7. Beautiful. I love you. xoxo

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  8. Thanks for sharing this very touching story. I want to be thought of like that one day and I strive to live in such a way that I touch lives of people too. My Mom was like your Nan and she died from cancer too, two years ago. It was standing room only at her funeral because so many people were touched by her love.
    We can count ourselves among the very blessed to know them and have them for examples, can't we. Hugs to you, Tracey!
    xo

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  9. I'm sure your Nan is proud of you. :0)

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  10. Oh Tracey, this is so touching. Thank you for sharing your beautiful story about your Nan. And what a wonderful way to honor her and the way she touched your lives, then to get out there and try to help others. Big hugs to you!

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