Fall Stampede

When you are thrown into the world of pediatric cancer, there are so many things that you have to face. But, there are also so many wonderful people and organizations out there to help you along your way and try to make it all a bit more manageable. One of those organizations that we have found is the Children's Cancer Center.

The Children's Cancer Center is local to the Tampa Bay area, and focused on solely helping families cope with life threatening childhood illnesses. You can learn so much more about their commitment on their website. They host a variety of fundraisers throughout the year, and one of their largest is just a few weeks away: Fall Stampede.

If you are anything like me, you already know about this race. In our family, we lovingly refer to it as the "Chick-fil-A race". It's a race that we have run several times, pretty much just to get the Chick-fil-A calendar that comes in the race goody bag. That calendar comes with great coupons that our family uses throughout the year. So yeah, we would go just for the food. Somewhere along the way I figured we were helping someone else, but I didn't really know who. And honestly, I didn't bother to find out.

<big gulp>

Well, we are now "someone else". Since Ellie's diagnosis, the CCC has been a resource for our family to use. I had no idea that this fun race was going to directly concern our family one day. But, here we are. And now that I know exactly who this race helps, I want to run again and help raise awareness for this wonderful organization. 

If you would, please consider joining our family on Saturday, September 10, 2016 for the Fall Stampede. All five of us will be out there for the mile fun run; I am also signed up to run the 5k. Please join us! I am not a fast runner! I will walk with you! 

You can sign up here for the race. 

If running or walking are not your jam, well, you still get a "free" Chick-fil-A calendar for signing up. (Gosh, now that I'm amping it up so much, I hope that it does not change this year...) But, if you cannot sign up for the race, you can still support our team. We would like to raise $500 for the CCC in Ellie's name.

You can donate to our team here.

If you decide to run, you can sign up under our team: yorksALLin. Please let me know if you do. We are so excited for this event! It was always a fun time for our family in past years, but this year it definitely has a more personal, special meaning. 

It kind of feels like that this small experience has come full circle. To take it one step further though, we participated in this race when I was exactly 8 months pregnant with Ellie. Talk about having no idea what the future would have in store...

Thank you for supporting our family and the Children's Cancer Center!