The Lanksters: Great Strides 2011

On Saturday, over 50 friends and family came out to support Team Lilly and we could not be more thankful and proud. Once again, we wore a sea of pink and were one of the largest (and loudest!) groups there. The annual breakfast tailgate was a bit hit with a spread of ham biscuits, fruit, monkey bread, pecan tassies, donuts, and other sweet treats as well as water and OJ. At the time of the walk we met our goal of $5,000 but the preliminary report is that we exceeded our goal and raised almost $8500! Better yet, the word is that the Lexington Great Strides raised $25,000 total - an increase from last year! I can tell that each year will be more successful than last - I was so excited to see even more teams participate this year and I know several that traveled from Eastern Kentucky to be there.

While we are more thankful than you will ever know for your continued support in raising awareness and funds (and I desperately tried to get around to everyone to personally thank you for being there but if I missed you, I apologize), I wanted to say a special thank you for those who went above and beyond to help us with Great Strides. I wanted to say thanks to Aunt Shell and her friend Larry, who with Bob and Windy coordinated the t-shirts VERY last minute (my fault). Uncle Bob and Aunt Windy were also responsible for helping out with much of the tailgate - they brought the tables, drinks, and decorations! Many others offered to bring food and in fact did so - thank you Julie Silver George, who brought the donuts, and Nanny and Papaw who made the monkey bread and pecan tassies. Other food showed up, which I am sure was donated by someone or many other someones, but I don't know where it came from so I can't say a formal thank you, but will say thank you anyway. Thelma and Max Duncan donated $100 to go towards much of the food that we made for the tailgate - it was used to purchase the ham biscuits, sold to us at a generous discount by friend from my old job, Connie Minor and her husband, and the fruit. There were many others who helped make this possible and I am sure I am forgetting someone, but it is not on purpose and I apologize if I do!

Once again, knowing that we have the support of our family and friends makes all the difference in the world. CF is a funny disease - the day of the walk, a young teenager was celebrating after having a lung transplant in February (and she was walking!), while some were mourning the loss of those from CF, as recently as the day prior to the walk. The walk will always be bittersweet for us because it is a double-edge sword - a testament to both the promise and hope of a cure and a reminder of the devastation that the disease can cause. But it is an important commitment to us to walk every year and raise funds for Team Lilly - it may be a small contribution, but it is what we do out of love for our daughter. Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts!