What A Beautiful Morning...to be DISEASE FREE!!!!

Oh hello my dear friends. What a day…what a wonderful day!! As most of you know by now…I’m a DISEASE FREE WOMAN! Praise the Lord, sing a song, have a toast, do a dance, I AM HAPPY!!! I didn’t hear remission yet because they wait 3 months after your last treatment to get that label. Oh well, I’ll take disease free for now :)
Well, 8 months ago, to the day, I found out I had cancer. And today, I found out that I have no more cancer. Wow. I’m just in a state of awe. And I’m totally fine with that. Everything went just like it should, Nurse Bonnie said Hi and told me my lab results right away…I like that kinda nurse, my levels are back to normal. Andrew was there and took my hand in all the right moments when the water works started. It was great when I walked out of the office to see both of my parent’s cars in the parking lot, too. And when I told them the good news, I saw them take a deep breath for the first time in 8 months. I can’t imagine a parent’s relief to know that their child is not sick anymore. I didn’t do anything really exciting today, which is the odd part. Usually, I would have done something to celebrate...well I did pass out my favorite Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs at work today :) And hey, my husband was putting up brand new doors in the house when I got home from work, and actually, I am going to the Kalahari water park this weekend…so that should be a good, fun, and relaxing time too. I hope! And I have a lot of great friends and family ready to celebrate…so this day will not go uncelebrated. My next step is to meet with my Radiation oncologist tomorrow as a follow up appointment, my CT scan on Monday to double check that there are no more tumors in there, and then meet with my oncologist next Monday, on Feb. 28 to go over my results. And after that, I won’t see him for another 3 months. My friends, this Pursuit is coming to an end so much sooner than I ever imagined. These last 8 months with you all have been life changing for me. It's hard to believe there is only one more week of blog entries left...but check back in for the reveal of what I've been Pursuing...! :)

I thought I would have some deep insight today, but more than anything that is on my mind was my Relay for Life meeting today. It was emotional a little bit for me, because the day I got my good news was the same day many were shedding tears during a funeral for a young teacher who passed away from beast cancer in our town last week. I see how much a cure is needed when we lose people we love to cancer and how important Relay for Life is in the cancer community. So can I ask you guys a favor? Please. I took on this challenge to be a team leader at Relay for Life this year. I stepped out of my box in pure faith, and I’m out of the norm already by not having a sponsor and doing this all on my own. But I’m up for the challenge! As some of you may know, my team will try to raise money this May by doing a raffle for a $150.00 gift card to Hocking Hills for a cabin!! For every $5.00 donated by you, you get a ticket to put into the raffle. For example, $20.00 = 4 tickets (100% of the money donated will go directly to Relay for Life!). On June 11, 2011 at the Relay for Life event at the Allen County Fairgrounds, we will announce the winner of this prize! If you live in our town of Lima, we will be launching this raffle in May so look for the signs around town (I tried to put the sign on here, but I'm having technical difficulties), or contact me at laurabelle03@hotmail.com for more info on how to donate and enter for your chance to win!

However, for some of you who live out of town or would just like to donate without being in the raffle, you can go to my team website at http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=31613&team_id=886914 and make a donation right to Team Pursuit on the Relay for Life website (Just know that the donations made online will not go towards the raffle, only the donations made in person will). It is so easy because it is just two clicks away from donating and changing lives. So click on the link above right now and please donate today! Because the life you saved was mine :) I may be crazy, but I want to try and raise $3,000 for the cancer world. This is my way of paying it forward to the cancer world and making me a Survivor, and it can be your way to make a difference too. Honestly, it doesn't matter how you donate, whether its online, or for the raffle, or with the old fashion dollar bills anonymously...or even donating to this event. All that matters is that you make a difference in the world by helping other people, it feels good :) I feel that right now raising money to fund research for a cure for cancer is helping, even if it's only $300.00 I raise. Thank you all for your support in every avenue of my life! I beat cancer, now I'm ready to fight for those who are still In The Fight. Man, God bless you all...you are amazing people for what you've done in my life. Seriously, thank you....again :)