October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Hello!
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is also the month that Philadelphia will be hosting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3Day Walk, a 60 mile walk that I am working towards participating in (October 15th-17th). I only qualify to walk if I reach the minimum fundrasing goal of $2300. Currently I am 70% of the way there! I know that raising $2300 per participant sounds crazy steep, but it takes a lot of money to build meaningful results: clinical research, outreach & community development, and education regarding facts about the disease, methods of detection, and options for those who have been diagnosed.

It's very likely that all of us have had someone we love affected by this disease or eventually will. Latest stats say one in 8 women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. While this sounds like a terrifying statistic, there is good news: due to large amounts of money going towards research and development, the chances of a woman's survival from breast cancer is pretty good! The 5 year survival rate of women diagnosed with breast cancer is 89%! Additionally, if the cancer is found early, before it has spread to other parts of the body and remains confined to the breast, the 5-year survival rate is 98%!! But these stats won't remain so positive if we don't continue to fight.

This is why I'm asking each of you to donate $25 to my fund, though anything is more than welcomed! I'm aware of these tumultuous economic times (I've been laid off TWICE in the last year and am still currently looking for a stable job) but I started this journey and I would be completely thrilled if I were able to finish it! I won't get there without your generosity. Please go to: www.the3day.org/goto/BSmith523 to donate. All donations are tax-deductible.
Thank you so much. :)

PS - if you have friends or family that you think might be interested in donating towards the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer fund, please tell them that I am walking and suggest they donate to me. I would truly appreciate it. Thank you!

Broke through $100 yesterday!

Yesterday, I broke through the $100 mark with the fundraising for my 3Day walk! I'm very excited about this. Now, at $140, I'm hoping I'll reach $200+ in the next week. According to the 3Day fundraising handbook, stats show that walkers who raise $500 in the beginning of their campaign are much more likely to succeed in raising the full $2300 (or more!) for the walk. So far, the fundraising has been totally via Facebook and I'm hoping that of the 200+ friends I asked on there that each of them (or most of them) will donate even a bit, like $10-$20, because then I'd be SO CLOSE to my personal goal!

SPONSOR ME! I'm doing something BIG for this: walking SIXTY MILES! So, if you can't walk 60 miles, or don't want to, but care as I do about continued research about breast cancer, about finding better and better treatments for this disease, and about saving lives, then donate! Larger donations can be paid out over a 4-month payment plan. Anything is more than welcomed. Your donations make you heroes! Thank you!!