Walk for breast cancer

[Guest guest]

Dear everyone on ,

I know we all have CMT (or someone in our family does) and that it impacts each

of us differently. I was only diagnosed about 8 months ago, although clearly I

have had this all of my life. Your posts resonate so strongly with me.

I am very fortunate that although I have CMT I am still able to walk the

distances I like to walk, without more than shoe orthotics. In 2003 I started

to walk for charity – and each year since I have raised over £2500 (about $4000

or so in today’s exchange rate) for charity. With my first half marathon, I

raised £2500 for breast cancer and it was then that I realised that something

was just wrong with my feet and my walking. I started the odyssey of getting

this fixed thereafter, and decided to do a walking marathon in 2004. Again, I

raised £2500 and split my funds for breast cancer (with the lion’s share) and a

scholarship for young women in the US studying abroad (I never had the chance to

do so – partly because of

funds).

I got my orthotics in the last week before the marathon, and 9

hours later I finished one of my life goals. About 6 months after that I

received my CMT diagnosis. And then I decided to do as much walking as I could

when I could still do so. This year I have signed up for the weekend walk for

breast cancer, 60k through London (a big giant circle).

This has been a hard year for me – work has required a lot of travel, and my

training has lagged. I have felt more tired than usual, I am not sure why. And

my orthotics were replaced and have not been quite right since.

Regardless of the challenges, I am so happy to let you all know that today I

managed to walk 35 kilometres (23 miles or so) in about 8 and a half hours

(including lunch and frequent pit stops). I am not sure how my feet will feel

tomorrow – already they are a bit sore – but I just wanted to let you all know

that as I took each step I had you in mind. So far I have raised £2000 ($3600)

in funds for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, and another £120 ($200) for

Alzheimer’s. Any additional funds I receive I am hoping to make a small

contribution to the Neurology Foundation which is supporting CMT research.

But for now, I just plan to have a nice shower and then soak in some bath salts

– one step, and one day, at a time!

Thanks to everyone who supported me with messages over the last month! And wish

me luck tomorrow.

- Donna from London