If you always knew what you were getting into, there would be no real adventures in life. Not too long ago, I fell into an adventure, one of immense importance to a lot of people I never knew before this started. How I got involved might sound downright thoughtless and irresponsible, but I’m hoping it will turn out to be a good thing.

For several years now, my sister and her friend and employer, a breast cancer survivor, have been doing a three-day, sixty-mile walk to support breast cancer research. They live in northern Michigan, and have been doing the walk in Detroit, until last year when they missed the Detroit walk and decided, at the last minute, to do the walk in San Diego. They liked the travel experience and decided this year to try the Seattle walk, which is in my area of the country.

So far, so good – my sister is coming for a visit, and will be serving a very worthy cause, as well. But then I stepped in it. I signed up, too. At the time, I didn’t think much beyond joining in the fun, and serving that worthy cause. Now, the words “worthy cause” slip perhaps a little too easily from a person’s lips these days. They’re used to urge people to donate to a cause, or in statements of support from people who are not donating, or even as a preface to introducing some better, more worthy cause. It takes a shot of real life to give them meaning again.

I don’t know why I hadn’t given breast cancer research more thought. I have an aunt who’s a survivor, and I had a grandmother who was – plus, there’s my sister’s friend who, largely due to my new pursuit, is also becoming my friend. Just the number of people close to me whom this has touched should have told me this cause is different. Still, I registered for the walk and booked my orientation session without giving much more thought to it.

At that session, the group was invited to share reasons why they were walking. The first person to speak up was a woman who had lost her mother to breast cancer when she was young. She had signed up for the walk the previous year, and been diagnosed with breast cancer after signing up. She was unable to go on the walk, because she needed emergency surgery during the actual walk. But, THIS year, she is in remission, and, by God, she’s going. She was also the last person to speak up. Nobody felt up to following up that story. I left that orientation without speaking a word to anybody. I was beginning to see what I was in for.

Some guys may be thrilled to find a group so disproportionately female – not 80-20, not even 90-10, but 95-5, at the very least. But I’m shy by nature, and feel awkwardness more acutely than I should. I also have to work at asking people for money. You can’t walk the Susan G. Komen 3-Day For the Cure on good will alone – you have to raise substantial donations first. I’ll overcome both handicaps. I’ve been on several organized training walks, and the people I’ve met so far are truly wonderful people. Nobody thinks any less of me for being a man. I need to get over that.

The same people, some of whom raise the required funds year after year, have eased my fears there, too. I just have to get out there and do it. I’ll figure out how. If anything particularly noteworthy develops, I’ll be sure to let you know here.

So, is this cause any more worthy than any other cause that saves lives? It might not be. But this cause has many supporters at least partly because so many lives are at stake – hundreds of thousands a year die of breast cancer worldwide. So many, who have lost a loved one, look at new developments today and wonder if their mother or sister, their friend or only daughter, may have been saved by those treatments. How many, whose loved ones die this year, will wonder the same thing in a few years’ time?

The goal of Susan G. Komen for the Cure^® is no less ambitious than a complete cure for breast cancer in all its forms. Such a cure would undoubtedly help in the treatment of other cancers and save even more lives. In the mean time, each time someone’s wife or grandmother or cherished aunt lives even a few extra years, the world is a better and happier place.

Every adventure has its trials and tribulations, as well as its unexpected blessings and benefits. But most of them don’t benefit humanity in such an unambiguously positive way. By the time I’m wearing out a nice pair of shoes over three days in September, much of this work will be done, and the money we’ve raised will already be hard at work giving back life to many whose bodies, for no comprehensible reason, started destroying themselves.

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As I said before, I and my supporters will work out how to raise the necessary funds. I didn’t write this as a direct method of raising money, but mainly to tell others (and, to some extent, myself) what I’m doing here, and why. But who am I to make it difficult for those moved to contribute to do so right now? Anyone who wants more information can start here. To contribute, you can go here.

Remember, the money isn’t going to fund a fun hike and camping trip for an adult who can afford his own hikes and camping trips. It’s going to keep thousands and thousands of deeply cherished and fruitful lives from ending years too soon.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 5:32 PM and is filed under Steve Thinks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.