Grand!!

Since I've managed to get way behind on my blog I wanted to catch everyone up on my fundraising efforts.

As of 6/4/13 I have raised....$1,055!!
Thank you to everyone who donated to help me pass my original goal of $1K.  There is still time to fundraise and I'd love to raise at least another couple hundred.

Reaching Grand Club Status is a fantastic honor and I've only achieved it once before.  I really hope to make this a pattern every year and maybe some year soon I'll pass the $2K mark! Or be the top fundraiser for my event!Not only did I reach Grand this year but my mom has as well! We are the first two from our team to reach it and I'm hoping its a trend for the future.

If you'd like to help me reach my new goal of $1500 make a donation today.
Let's help the American Cancer Society celebrate 100 years of fighting back against cancer and help finish the fight against this awful disease.

Speaking of the American Cancer Society's 100th Birthday, I created a Life List.  A Life List is my way of showing what I've done and what I would like to do as the American Cancer Society is helping to create more birthdays and therefore more people are able to create Life Lists. Check out mine:

You can make your own life list at cancer.org/lifelist today.

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Until We Find a Cure

Over halfway to goal!

I have passed the $500 mark and an actually am 55% of the way to my goal of raising $1000!!



Thank you to everyone who has donated!
If you haven't donated yet and have been wanting to you, there is still time!  Make a donation right now.

The money raised through Relay For Life and to the American Cancer Society is helping to save 400 lives a day from cancer. Just a few years ago that number was less than 100, we are making huge strides towards a world with more birthdays than ever before.

Don't forget that for every $25 donation I will walk a lap in Honor of or in Memory of your loved one. Here is who I am walking for so far in 2013.

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Until We Find a Cure

So many kickoffs!!

Woah it's been a crazy, crazy, crazy January and there is still a week-ish to go!

Here's what has happened since I finished my lovely 2 week vacation from work (much needed time with family!)

January 7 - Vinton Relay Kickoff! They have one of the cleverest theme's every "Step Up to the Plate: Strike Out Cancer" and their Kickoff was covered in baseball themed decorations. Their event is a huge community effort, to include students a the high school making the decorations and setting up the room. It was a great night of stories and determination to raise more than they did last year which was a whopping $100,000!

January 8 - Bedford Relay meeting! This meeting was probably one of the best attended in a while and there were a TON of great ideas shared between veteran Relayers and brand new Relayers! While it wasn't a Kickoff you could definitely feel the excitement to start fundraising and see the wheels turning of new ideas.

January 10 - Lynchburg Area Kickoff! Something like 5 different Relays come together to Kickoff their spring Relay Season and it's awesome! Lots of wonderful guest speakers and videos to get the excitement pumping. They bring in food fundraisers and a Relay store (where I caved and bought a new Relay winter coat) and the community feel that drives those Relays.

January 12 - Central Harford MD Relay Kickoff! The hubby and I made the 6+ hour trek to Maryland to both celebrate Christmas with my side and to help out with Kickoff. Their Kickoff saw all 3 HarCo Relays come together for a celebration luncheon. The theme for all 3 events this year is "There's No Place Like Hope" and you would have thought you had stepped into the Wizard of Oz it's self when you arrived. Yellow brick road, rainbow colored tables, Emerald City, and the joy of fighting back.

January 15 - Salem Relay Kickoff! Salem has decided to traverse the globe this year for their theme: Around the World: A Passport to Hope. The committee and I made sure you knew the theme when you walked in the door - each participant was handed their very own passport to be stamped at each table, and a boarding pass for the door prizes. Did you know that Relay is in more than 20 countries?

Those brief descriptions don't do any of those Kickoffs or meetings justice, they were truly fantastic! Also, way more happened in January but those were definitely the highlights.

Don't forget you can always join the fight against cancer by participating in your local Relay For Life event, visit www.RelayForLife.org and find your event! And help us save more lives than ever before!

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Until We Find a Cure

Create More Birthdays

2 weeks from today I will turn 24, and I have decided that I don't really want anything for my birthday - at least not material items that is.  I have been so blessed this year and honestly don't feel like I need much of anything, so I have decided that I want to Create More Birthdays this year for my birthday.

Every year thousands of people are diagnosed with cancer and wonder if they are going to see their next birthday.  Thanks to the American Cancer Society though, 350 more lives a DAY are saved from cancer.  That means there are more birthday candles being added to cakes, more presents being wrapped, and more surprise parties being thrown. This is a remarkable feat, when just a few years ago that number was 150, and before that even less.

I know that in no time, with your help, the American Cancer Society can help save 1000 lives a day from cancer.

Help me celebrate my 24th birthday by making a donation to my personal fundraising page, DONATE HERE
Each dollar donated helps provide funding for FREE patient programs offered locally by the American Cancer Society (such as rides, support groups, wigs, lodging), keeps cancer information available 24/7/365 for FREE, and helps to fund groundbreaking research (did you know we have helped fund 46 Nobel Prize Laureates?).

Make a donation today, not only to help me celebrate my birthday, but to help the 14 million cancer survivors celebrate their birthdays!

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Until We Find a Cure

Pantene Beautiful Lengths

Every day thousands of cancer patients across the United States are dealing with hair loss associated with treatment. This is a difficult reality for some patients to deal with so they turn to wearing wigs to feel like their old self.  Wigs can be purchased through companies both online and local, but the American Cancer Society offers free wigs to cancer patients everywhere.  Even though the wigs offered at local ACS offices are free, the hair has to come from somewhere to make them.  One of the ways to get real human hair to make free wigs for cancer patients, is through Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program.

Men and women donate at least 8" of hair to the program, and the hair is then structured into a wig.  All of the wigs (over 24,000 and counting!) are set to the American Cancer Society's wig banks which are then distributed across the country. (Want to read more? Click here) That means thousands of cancer patients have access to free wigs because of the generous donation of others.

This summer as I was growing out my hair for my wedding I decided that I would let it grow even longer and donate it. This was not the first time I donated my hair to Beautiful Lengths, I cut my hair in August 2008 as well.  I donate my in memory of my grandmother who lost her hair more than once because of chemo treatment.  I figure if I'm lucky enough to still have long thick hair, then I can donate it and make someone else's day better when they receive that free wig. My mom and Sister have also donated their hair and I wouldn't be surprised if they both do it again.

Before

After

 I highly recommend that at least once in your life you grow out your hair and donate it.  You have no idea how much you will change someone's life simply be getting a hair cut.

For more information on free wigs and where to get them if you or a loved one is going through cancer treatment, visit Cancer.org or call 1-800-ACS-2345 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week!).

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Until We Find a Cure