Your Support....
So four years ago my sister convinced me to start this thing called CrossFit. It involves weight lifting, and a lot of cardio exercise. I will share more about how incredible my CrossFit community is another time, and how much they have helped in our journey so far. But today I want to share a story about something called CrossFit Games. It happens over in Madison, Wisconsin once a year. CrossFit runs events that narrows down some of the fittest people in the country/world, and brings them together to compete against each other in Madison. It is an incredibly fun event that brings together people that are hugely supportive of one another, and everyone wants the best for each other while they compete. It draws thousands of fans, mainly other people who do CrossFit who enjoy watching really great athletes compete.
Well this year, the CrossFit games happened when we were in California for the wedding. Tony and I were able to watch it on YouTube each night when we got back to our hotel room and watch the day's events. Well, one event stood out above them all, out of the thirteen events.
Rebecca Fuselier was a rookie that qualified for CrossFit games this year. This specific event required the athletes to flip some heavy weight, run 3.5 miles, then carry heavy bags, one in each hand, and then carry a heavy sandbag a ways and then up flights stairs of the capital in Madison. Rebecca Fuselier was the last one to finish. The rule was, that you could not "time out" for the event, to keep athletes from quitting early to try and keep themselves fresh for the next event giving themselves an advantage. I don't think Rebecca had any quit in her, and she would have finished regardless, but man. What she did was an iconic moment in CrossFit history. She was the last person to finish in the event, and started carrying the red 150 lb sandbag in the end. She got to the base of the stairs, and set the bag down to grab a breather.
Here's the beginning of the moment. She had already made it up a couple flights of stairs, and was getting close to the last flight of stairs, and then a ton of these fans started following her.
She got to the base of the last set of stairs. And now she has hundreds of people around her. She looked up at the stairs that she had to climb.
On the video of this event there is a better scan of ALL these people, and it is incredible. Incredible to see how many people were there to support this final athlete, and support her through her journey. Cheering her on with even more enthusiasm as when the first athlete completed the stairs.
I LOVE this photo. I love how you can see all the people cheering when she picks up the bag and starts the climb up the stairs to the finish line. What a moment to be a part of. But what a moment to be that athlete as well.
That's how I feel with this journey with all of you.
I feel like Rebeca. A rookie handed a heavy bag, and told to carry it by yourself, but you will have TONS and TONS of people supporting you. I am so thankful for the amount of people checking in on me, genuinely curious about my journey, and physically, mentally, financially, and emotionally taking care of my husband I, and our families. I wish there were more time in the day so that I could spend more time with so many of you, and do more things that are good for me, like more therapy, meditation, exercise more, etc. A lot of you are surprised I am still working, but it's because of the people. I love my co-workers. I work with some incredible humans. And they are so much fun. They are so supportive, and I love the job I get to do (most of the time). :) I could go for some safer streets and less gunfights and less overdoses and less drunks...but hey that's Minneapolis I guess right now. I think of the stories I like to tell about my mom and Dad, and I enjoy imagining what stories my kids will tell about me one day.
If you ever wonder if checking in on someone matters, I am here to tell you, in every way, IT DOES. It makes a massive difference. I get enjoyment out of hearing people even checking in with Tony. It gives you that warm feeling in your heart where you just smile because you know you're so blessed.
I feel like Rebeca in those photos, with a heavy load of stage 4 cancer, trying to navigate and advocate for myself, but I know that I am not alone. I see each one of you in that crowd, supporting me, cheering me on, and helping me find the strength to pick up that bag every hour of the day, carry it, and fight. In one of my favorite worship songs it sings "don't you give up on me, we're just getting started, I've got more dreams, I've got more plans, I've got more blessings, don't lose your hope, don't lose your faith, that's where your fight is". I was listening to that song on the day I decided I needed to reach out to my hair dresser, and said frankly, "I need your help, I can't do this anymore". My hair was coming out in clumps larger than the size of a softball, each time I combed it. It had become unhealthy, and I just couldn't do it anymore. I am so thankful for the wig, but it is still very foreign to me and new. My hairdresser helped me by dropping everything and seeing me that same day, but then secondly, she goes, "ok I'm going to brush it out-" and then just chopped it off at my shoulders. I knew she was going to do it I saw the scissors in her hand. It was ok. I have come to terms that my hair was unhealthy. It was causing me too much pain to continue to lose it. Which I'm still losing it, but this cute hair cut has made it a little easier to deal with going shorter. Why didn't I just let my husband buzz it like he wanted to? Because I have been growing my hair out for eight years and I couldn't fathom just going from long hair to shaved without being incredibly traumatized beyond what I've already been experiencing. I am still SUPER thankful I have my eye lashes and eye brows.
This happened twice a day (morning and night when I would brush it).
Another blog post to come end of next week as we are working with another doctor to check out some other methods to try and fight this cancer and make it go away, despite what the doctors say. Our goal is no evidence of disease, and doing what we can to not let it come back. :) My tumor in my left breast has shrunk significantly, and the lymph node in my neck is not as swollen either. I feel good, my UTI has gotten a lot better, my "chemo acne" is starting to clear up, and I'm hoping to have more guidance after this week to come up with a regular treatment plan, and rearrange my work schedule around that to whatever I may need. Once again, we can't thank you all enough for all of your support, each prayer, thought, well wish, hug, text, minute spent with us, is incredibly valued. We hope to be able to return the love to each one of you one day as well.
Video link of the moment I shared in the photos. It's 5 minutes long, but the exact moment starts at the 3 minute mark. Grandma, if you want to watch this video, click on the link below and it should open it up. If not, then: copy this link, open a new tab, paste the link, and hit enter and it should pull it up for you if you can't click on it directly. :)
Great article Ali!
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