Friday, May 24, 2013

April - in photos



April was a busy month with so much focus on me and multiple myeloma.    I felt like I made some very good contributions to pushing forward the need for support for those of us with mm, but in the end, I crashed.  All of that focus on mm reminded me of this awful cancer that is in me.  Most days, I live a regular life - I work, I play, I pray, I take trips to the ocean, I walk, I eat good food and occasionally drink good wine.  Just a regular life.  Multiple myeloma seldom rears its ugly head to both me.  Yes, of course I have the aches and pains and annoyances of living with mm, but I can't say it ever is debilitating.  I am so fortunate, I know.  Spending so much time intensely focused on mm sent me spiraling downward into a big crash.  I do not like to focus on the 'uncurable' part of mm.  I don't even want to think about it. I guess I never stopped to think that saying 'yes' to so much work for mm would have that impact on me.  In hindsight, I wonder how could I not realize that, but hindsight is always so smart!  In the end, I went away for a few days to the Kripalu Yoga Center in the Berkshires and pulled myself back together.

Here's my April journey in photos and video:

The Boston Marathon.  My good friend Joe ran the Marathon for the MMRF Power Team.  He ran in my name.  Thankfully, he was not injured in the horrific events that happened after he crossed the finish line.  I will never forget that day.


And then there was the Race for Research for the MMRF.  Team Multiple Miracles was quite amazing!  We had 42 team members and raised just under $24,000.  I ran all but a few feet of the race, much to my surprise - you may remember that just 7 months earlier, with the September Race, I had all I could do to make it around the course.  I am so pleased with my progress!  This year, I was honored with the Spirit of Hope Award and my team received an award for being the highest fundraising team.  Big day for Team Multiple Miracles!!





And then there was the Music Heals the Soul fundraising evening for the Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies at Dana Farber.  This is where I receive acupuncture.  Dr. Anderson was honored that evening for his amazing work with multiple myeloma research.  Lenny Zakim was his patient and together they worked to bring the Zakim Center to life.  It was a wonderful evening!  The evening was capped off with this video that Molta Media created:


And one final video, created by Joseph:


Yes, it was a full month.

To good health for us all as we enter Memorial Day Weekend.