This is my third year undertaking the Trailblaze Challenge!
For the third time, I plan to hike 24 miles in one day, absolutely destroy my feet, and collapse at the finish line. Am I insane? Maybe!
Make-A-Wish is near and dear to my heart. I hike and raise funds in honor of my own Wish kid, Wynter, and the amazing Wish we experienced.
In 2014, we were struck with tragedy when my 6 year old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. It is a cruel form of cancer that caused her to miss a year of school, throw up more times than I could count, learn more medical procedures than a 6 year old should know, and worst, left her paralyzed for the rest of her life. After all the missed classes, missed work, lost hair, meds, and tubes, we were told her prognosis didn't look good and she had only one option left, a bone marrow transplant. Even with that, her odds of surviving the intense procedure were 50/50. To this day, 10 years later, I can't type this out without bursting into tears.
Knowing the realities that faced us, we spent the next few months making everything as amazing as we could for her, knowing that she may not have any more birthdays, family vacations, or Christmases. One of the things we decided to do was her Make-A-Wish. We planned for one last bucket list trip of a lifetime. In October, eight months after we received that life changing news and two months before her transplant, Wynter's Wish to meet Katy Perry was granted!
Make a Wish didn't hold back, She received VIP treatment from the moment we left home, all through our flight to New Orleans, and every thing we saw and did. It was absolutely the trip of a lifetime and it came at a time when everything seemed to be going wrong. I can't express how much we needed something positive in that moment. Our whole family desperately needed something to look forward to. The whole time Wynter was in Boston receiving her transplant, she watched the videos of her trip. She plastered Katy Perry all over her room. As she fought for her life through her transplant, she showed everyone that her Wish was stronger than cancer.
And it was stronger than cancer! Now, 10 years later, with Wynter nearly 10 years in remission, this is how I pay that magic forward. There are families in Maine going through unimaginable distress right now, waiting to see if their kids will survive procedures that are heartbreaking to watch. I know how heavy that feeling is and this is how I help give back the kindness that we received.
Please donate! Whether its to honor Wynter's fight, or to support kids who are fighting now, or even if you think I'm nuts to hike that much in my 40s. I put in the crazy number of miles, you put in the donations, and together Wishes come true!
