It’s A Booty-Kicking Kind of Day

Today is one of the best days of the year. It’s like Christmas. Only a 1,000 times better.

Today my mom celebrates 15 years cancer free. That’s a BIG DEAL.

Unfortunately cancer is all too widespread of a disease. This is a celebration that not everybody that has faced cancer gets to have. But my mom does, and I’m grateful for that every single minute of every single day.

Depending on how long you’ve been reading SoS, you might have picked up on the not-so-secret fact that my mom is my most favorite person in the entire world and I have no idea how I would function without her.

Fifteen years ago, I thought cancer meant getting to ride the school bus home for the very first time because mommy didn’t have to work. Cancer meant friends coming to visit bearing gifts of frozen grape slushies. I don’t think I even began to understand cancer was a bad thing until nurses dragged me out of her hospital room, banning me from visiting for 3 days. I thought they were just mean. I didn’t understand I was too young to be exposed to the radioactive iodine coursing through her blood.

Fast-forward 15 years, and thankfully my mom is healthy and cancer free, though a pill every morning is a daily reminder of what she’s been through. And now she’s signing up to do something else amazing: she’s going to her ride her bike for 24 hours in the name of cancer. And I’m doing it with her.

To celebrate such an important anniversary, my mom and I are joining forces and committing to raising $2,000 and participating in a 24 hour cycling event: 24 Hours of Booty.

If you’re wondering how I’m possibly going to cycle for 24 hours- this isn’t about me, it’s about my mom. I’m just her support system. My mom is  a volunteer on the steering committee for the event. She’s been talking about it for awhile, and kept asking if I was going to participate. I kept pushing off signing up because of my injury. Then one day when she asked me again, she hinted that she might do the ride herself.

But she didn’t sign up either. I got the feeling she was scared. My mom doesn’t do stuff like this. She’ll be the first one to cheer you on from the sidelines, but do it? Not her.

I finally figured it out. I called her, and said “I’m in. Let’s do this.” Not 2 minutes later, she was signed up and registered as a team captain. It’s not my event- it’s hers.

I’m going to do everything I can to ride as much as possible. (See why I’ve been such a good patient?!) But in case I run into knee trouble, I have a backup plan. I’m also volunteering at the event. When I’m not riding, I’ll be volunteering. I’ll also be volunteering the week leading up to the event. We’ll have a tent and sleeping bags, but I’m not sure how much action they’ll see.

Devastatingly, all too many people reading this probably have a similar story, and that idea alone breaks my heart. 24 Hours of Booty is working to change that. All the money raised by the event will go towards fighting cancer, cancer research, and cancer support. The event my mom and I will be doing at the end of August supports the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which you’ve likely heard of, and the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, which supports young adults dealing with cancer.

If you’d like join us in our celebration of 15 cancer-free years, and the fight to end cancer, you can do so by donating to our team, Holy, Cancer Batman! (Yeah, that’s all my mom- I told you she was awesome.)

Click Logo to Donate

*Donations made through secured PayPal transaction services. All donations will be collected & sent in one payment to 24 Hours of Booty. 

I’ll be rocking a shirt for my mom. If you donate and would like me to add someone’s name, just let me know.  Please donate before August 14th!

Thank you for reading

Tagged as: 24hob, bike ride, cancer, mom