Day 1 - Amanda

Not sure what I have got myself into here, but last week sometime I signed up for this health blogging challenge where I am supposed to blog about something health related every day for one month. I don't like to look on the downside but blogging every day does not seem realistic to me. However, I am going to give it the old college try. Probably the hardest part about doing it, is not necessarily that I might not have anything to say...I rarely run out of words; it's more likely going to be the old 'I don't have time' whine.
Today, though, I am going to start out talking about my daughter, Amanda. Amanda was here today. I didn't go to church because I was feeling punk. I have a cold and have been feeling generally run down. So a day in was my intention. Amanda and I had made plans for this weekend. We weren't going anywhere but we knew we had to set aside a few hours to go through all our Zeal for Teal 'stuff' and sort things out. As we dug through all the wonderful prizes and items we have accumulated over the past few while, I started to reflect upon what we were doing.

     When I was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2008 it knocked us all back a few blows. I always fancied myself healthy as a horse and I rarely popped a pill for anything. Cancer slapped me in the face back in April 2008 and sent me reeling. I remember when Gilles and I first told our family about this new journey we were about to embark upon. Amanda shed a few tears but it wasn't long after that that she became a great source of strength. She got on the internet and researched ovarian cancer. She found out about Ovarian Cancer Canada and before I knew it, she had me put on my 'big girl panties' and she signed us both up for the Walk of Hope which was to take place in Barrie, Ontario. We loved it and we were hooked. When we head back up to Barrie this year, we will do so with that continued hope and a wagon load of gratitude.

     Then the following year, after my chemo was complete, Amanda had another idea. "Let's do a scrapbooking fundraiser to help raise money to combat ovarian cancer!" I had raised a fighter...

Thank you God for letting me live to enjoy my grandbabies!

      I hardly even knew what scrapbooking was about. But I was soon to learn. On April 28th we will be enjoying our fourth Zeal for Teal scrapbbooking and crafting fundraiser day. The first Zeal for Teal took place at our church and we had 40 people in attendance. Since that time, our numbers have more than doubled (we have almost 100 people registered!) and we had to move to the arena to accomodate our day.

Zeal for Teal 2011

 This year's theme is The Wild West, so we are looking forward to a Yee-Haa! kind of a day. Tomorrow, I might talk about the details of our day. Right now I am heading to bed. I will continue to reflect a little on Amanda and how she didn't let me, for one moment, give up. She blasted a whole lot of hope and that old British fighting spirit into my psyche! I was glad she came today...