Hello Everyone!
With this next exciting, world traversing trip ahead, I wanted to take a moment to bring things back home a little bit. I wanted to talk a little bit about not only why I think 5 for the Fight is such an impactful organization, but about what connects me to the cause. I want to talk a little bit about how cancer has touched my life on a very personal level and why I feel 5 for the Fight is so empowering.
I lost both of my grandmothers to cancer before I was 8 years old. My own mom’s mom passed away before I was even old enough to understand who she was. My dad’s mother passed away when I was a little girl and I have a few very distinct memories from that time. I remember visiting her in the hospital and my Aunt ushering me over to her bedside, telling me to be gentle because I was holding her hand on the arm that was connected to her IV. I remember the apple dress I wore to her funeral. I’ll always remember her strong New Jersey accent, the way she fed her fluffy Pomeranian dog, Beau, at the table, and the way she called me Tidbit as a nickname.
My grandma Ackerman was a force to be reckoned with. She could always tell when I didn’t practice my piano before coming over for lessons and she could scold with the best of them. But with that, I was often the recipient of her creativity and tenderness. When she died, I was given my very first journal from her possessions and a porcelain figurine of a baby turtle hatching that said “tidbit” on the bottom. I have kept a journal ever since.
Throughout the years I have seen people too young and too important to me struggle with cancer. I think we have all known and felt the ache in our chests when we hear someone near us, or even someone distant to us, has been diagnosed. It’s a fight and I have a deep admiration for the folks who meet it in battle.
Here I am now, sitting in a coffee shop in Salt Lake City, feeling a bit raw and vulnerable and feeling that ache all over again. I am reminded why combatting cancer at any level we can is important.
When I heard about 5 for the Fight, it just clicked for me. I have done some community organizing in my day and the idea that the more we put our voices together, the louder we’re heard has always stood out to me. Small acts compounded bring great change. 5 for the Fight enforces the idea that we all have a stake in the fight and all have the power to contribute to the end of cancer. Even $5 makes a difference.
My $5, $50, $100, $1000 is for Barbara Ackerman. It’s for Katherine Elian. It’s for Kip, Clarissa, Bruce, Nancy, Hope. It’s for the people I know and the people I don’t. It’s for me and my future and my prayer that I won’t have to experience any more loss caused by cancer.
If you’d like to be a part of this journey and cause, you can donate here.
Thank you all very much for all of the support!!
Much love,
Rae