After my doctor told me I was in complete remission, I really started to think about my life: what I went through, where I am, where I’m going … I started to think about what it is I really enjoy doing and how I should make those joys a priority in my life. I realized what I love most is the outdoors and nature. I love being active, but most of all, I love getting close and personal with nature by hiking. There’s nothing in the world like it. When my feet hit a hiking trail, all my worries and stresses leave me. Next to being with my family, that’s where I’m the most comfortable and the happiest. I am at peace in the woods.
A Big Idea
One day Adam, my husband, said to me jokingly, “Let’s just pack everything up and walk to Hollywood.” I just kind of stared at him, and said back somewhat jokingly, “Okay.” I sat silently the rest of the night — I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The next day I ‘Googled’ “Hike across America” and came up with the American Discovery Trail’s (ADT) . I was struck. It was perfect! With those gears still turning in the back of my mind, a few days later I found myself focusing on the Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation’s web site... looking for something I could do to help out others with Bone Marrow Failure diseases.
So the connection seems easy to get now, doesn’t it? Well, at the time I had no idea. These were two completely separate ideas. And then it hit me. It popped into my head, “Why don’t I hike from coast to coast FOR Bone Marrow Diseases?”
On a Mission
So here I am, on a mission to do something that I love with my life, and giving back to something that my heart is so close to. Without the AA&MDSIF, there may not have been a chance for me or many others. If I give back to the foundation and raise some funds for research along with awareness, maybe more lives can be saved and maybe others can be inspired to live their dreams, too. There’s so much feeling and love put into this project, and so much of my heart, that I can’t really put it all into words. I am just straightforward, 100% determined to do this. And my mother, Patty, has decided to join me on my adventure. And I don’t want to undermine the role of our husbands -- my dad, Keith, and my husband, Adam, are staying back to work their butts off while we’re on the trail. They are going to be our home-base support team holding up the forts while we’re out there hiking. We’re all a team, and just a small part of the “Our Hike” family.
