Honored

The first time I accepted the Massey Challenge, I didn't really know what to expect.  I was shy about it.  Nervous about sharing my story with friends and family (even though 99% of them already knew it!).  I felt like if I could just raise a couple hundred bucks, I would be able to give something back to Massey, and say thank you for my second chance at life.

What I didn't know?  How much the Massey Challenge would give back to me.  And how far that would outweigh any amount of money I could raise.

Grab us a couple of coffees and I will spend hours telling you about the people the Challenge has brought into my life.  The woman who participates with her son, to help him honor and remember the father who passed away from cancer before he was born.  The 30 year survivor who is my age - and who defied the odds when he was just a tiny boy - and continues to do so today.  The man who runs for a coworker battling the disease, and who told me that "Massey is the kind of place you hope no one you love ever needs, but when they do, you are awfully grateful that its there."

Ill tell you about the strangers who notice my SURVIVOR bib and give me quick one-armed hugs as they pass me running down Monument Avenue.  About the other slow runners who sidle up to Tim and I to tell us about the father who battled brain cancer.  The best friend currently going through chemo.  The people who were strangers until they logged half a mile of that 6.2 with us and became etched in our minds and hearts.

And after last week, I'll also tell you about Terry.

You may have heard that the University of Richmond and VCU have honored the Massey Challenge by making us a beneficiary of the 2013 Black & Blue Classic - a 2 game series pitting the cross-town rivals' mens basketball teams against each other.  The first of these games was held at UR's Robins Center last Thursday night:

Committee members were out in full force spreading the Massey message and selling competing cheer signs - "CANCER BITES" for the UR fans out there and "WREAK HAVOC ON CANCER" for those who prefer VCU.

And I had the special privilege of getting to run onto the court during a timeout along with Becky Massey, Will Massey, and David Lyons to help promote our efforts.  And then hang out court side to watch the rest of the first half!

When I got back up to our table, Jay said he had someone he wanted to me to meet.  It was Terry - a sweet gentleman who was at the game with a friend.  He told me about his sister-in-law - also Teri! - who lived in Texas and had recently undergone a mastectomy.  He had purchased this sign in her honor and planed to mail it to her:

But he didnt just want to send her the sign.  Terry had been at Outback when we were live on the UR Coach's show with Coach Mooney the Monday prior.  And he felt like I could give Teri some inspiration.  So he asked me to write her a note on the back of the cheer sign.

WHAT???

For all the people I have met, all the conversations I have had, all of the stories I have heard - no one has ever asked me to do something like this.  And I was so touched, and honored.  I mean, this is what its all about, right?  We share our stories in large part to help others.

On the drive home - utterly exhausted physically from the long day and emotionally from a week of sharing my story - I tried calling both Greg and Tim to tell them what happened.  Neither picked up, so I took to my late night run with the question of what on earth I was going to write on that sign running along with me.

A mile later, I didnt have an answer.  I didnt have one the next day either.

So I sat down over the weekend and thought long and hard about what I would have wanted someone in my shoes to say to me nearly 11 years ago.  What words could bring peace and comfort and a reminder that one isnt alone in the battle against cancer?

It was one of the hardest letters I have ever written.

Because nothing I can say will make it any better.

I'm planning to deliver the finished product to Massey on Friday so it can be sent on its merry way to Teri in Texas.  I am hoping it will help buoy up her spirit a bit.  Although with a brother-in-law like Terry, I have a feeling she is going to be just fine.