racing for the cure

Over the weekend the girls and I headed to Toledo to participate in the Northwest Ohio Race for the Cure.  We have done many of the races before, but this one was particularly special as it was run
In Memory of our friend, Gretchen Gotthart Skeldon who died in Februrary. 


The Race for the Cure is always an emotional day for me and so many people. This year was no exception.  It is incredibly moving to see all the runners with the names of those they are honoring, in celebration of or in memory of, pinned to their t-shirts.  Some have a list of names that is painfully long, some have photo collages and tributes, and some simply have one word written--'mom'.

It is moving to see all of the survivors that parade in, celebrating the battle that they have fought.  These women and their families were truly celebrating--balloons, boas, hats, and pink everywhere.  As thankful and as happy as I was for these women, it was difficult not to think of Gretchen and how she was not in this group for the first time in 14 years.  


Some people organize teams to race together, raise money for the Komen Foundation, design a tshirt, and enjoy the event.  We were part of Team Gretchen this year.  Some of the tshirts that people design are cute and funny and bring little levity to a  not so funny disease.  Some of the best shirts this year:  'Big or Small, Save them All',  'Teachers for Ta-Tas", "Save Second Base", "Don't Slack, Check your Rack", and my personal favorite, "Methodists for Mammograms". 


 Our team had a tshirt as well.  It is a picture of Gretchen's smiling face with the phrase "Do All the Good You Can".  When I first saw it, I thought it was just okay.  There was no pink, nothing about breast cancer, and nothing about 'in memory of...'.   As I got to the race that morning, I slowly began to realize how perfect this t-shirt was.  It was incredibly awesome to run into a couple hundred of Gretchen's smiling face.  I mean, that is what I always think of when I remember her anyway.  It was like there was a little part of her everywhere that day.  Although Gretchen loved the Komen Foundation and did so much to help women and families dealing with this disease, she never ever, never wanted cancer to define her.  Gretchen would not have wanted 'a cancer shirt'.  She saw cancer as merely an opportunity to show all of us—everyone she encountered—what it really meant to live a life full of faith and love and joy.  It is our obligation now to always remember the way we felt when Gretchen was with us and make every effort to be that way with the people close to us--and to Do All the Good You Can.


I see that my sister, also named Gretchen, Gretchen Gotthart's best friend, is living this to the fullest.  I cannot even begin to recount the ways that Gretchen DeBacker was there for her friend the past 17 years.   She helped whenever she could in sickness and health, was a true advocate for her friend, organized round the clock care and meals for her, helped with her daughter, and supported friends and family that were having trouble dealing with Gretchen's cancer.  I aspire to be the kind of friend she was to Gretchen Gotthart.  We should all be so lucky.  After losing her best friend, she continues to work tirelessly in her name.  Starting a foundation to help others, organizing wildly successful events, and promoting the race that hundreds of people signed up to run.  Gretchen, I know that Gretchen is incredibly proud of you and thankful for all you have done and continue to do.  It is clear that her spirit lives on in you.

I will leave you with a poem that Gretchen Gotthart had taped to her computer in her office at Libbey Glass where she worked as a National Sales Manager for 20 years--I believe she was successful in all of these intentions.  

Cancer, I intend to not only beat you, but to use you to better the lives of everyone I can:  by loving them, encouraging them, giving them information, making them laugh, praying for them and by any other means I can.  Cancer, you are not the end.  You are merely my opportunity to serve others--and perhaps my only chance to attain at least some small measure of heroism.  AND, sell a ton of glass in a holy & healthy way.