Running for Joyce

Posted in: Cancer // 1 Comment

Pictured: Martha, Joyce and Virginia

By Virginia Pillsbury

Since October I have been training for the 26.2 with Donna breast cancer half marathon.

This Saturday, those of us training with the Galloway program will complete 14 miles with the run/walk interval program. We’ll officially be ready to complete the 13.1 on Feb. 12.

I am ready to tackle it again this year.

Maybe even more this year because while I have been so moved by breast cancer survivors that I have met and written about for the last few years, this year is even more moving.

One of my best friends was diagnosed with breast cancer in October.

I am running for Joyce this year.

On an October Monday Joyce texted me and our other best friend to pray for her because she had been called about her mammogram. Of course we prayed and by Friday she knew that she had breast cancer.

I watched her go through the maze of information and consultations and decision making. She did the right things – she got second opinions, she researched, she asked questions, she prayed and she let her friends walk with her.

For Joyce, the path has been as smooth as a breast cancer diagnosis can be. Caught early, she was stage 0. She opted for a lumpectomy and is currently having radiation treatments. Chemotherapy isn’t required.

Thank God for mammography and thank God for women like Joyce who get their annual screenings – because of that, her cancer was found early.

I truly admire the way she has walked through this storm in her life. I have always teased her about being high maintenance (because, well, she can be a little high maintenance), but I have never heard her complain or whine or even ask why. She has walked this path and relied on God.

She jokes; humor I think is a blessing when times are tough. She reminds us that she has breast cancer, in ways that make us all laugh and put us at ease about her situation.

You never now how you will react when you get this kind of news. I hope that if I ever do, I will respond like my friend Joyce.

And that is why I am running for her.