The Difference One Year Can Make

2009 Ridgewood Run 5/25/09
2009 Spring Lake 5 5/23/09
I did not sleep all that much last night. It wasn't my hot flashes or too much caffeine keeping me awake. It wasn't thinking about the upcoming Brooklyn 1/2 marathon on Saturday or making dinner for my girlfriends tonight either. No, it was more than that.

Last night I had the honor of attending the 2009 Gala for the Northside Children's Center at Cipriani's in NYC where they honored the CEO, Dave Snow, of my employer: Medco. Dave graciously accepted the award presented to him in honor of another - Victoria Rubino. Victoria was the 21 year old daughter of Medco's CFO, Rich Rubino. Victoria passed away recently in her sleep due to an undetected heart defect. She was a senior at my alma mater, Boston University.

It was this event that kept me awake. It was thinking about the loss the Rubino family had endured. It was realizing that 20 years ago, I too was a senior at BU. 20 years ago!!! Had you told me then that I would one day face cancer I would have laughed at you. As I drove into the event I thought about how I had been driving into the city a year earlier but for a much different reason - I was heading to NYU Medical Center to get my chemo port. As I tried to sleep last night, I wondered about how weird the world is and why we are given the path to follow that we do. I contemplated this past year and the fact that today marks one year since I started chemotherapy to combat the cancer detected in me. My mind raced all night as I tried to remember that chemical taste and lethargy that the drugs pumped into to caused. I thought about the fact that here I was one year later, attending a grand event looking a bit different but feeling wonderful. Amazing what can transpire in 365 days.

Yesterday I also heard from my oncologist's office that lab work I had done last week came back and my results were "perfect". In the big scheme of things, it really doesn't get any better than that.

Ragnar Relay - New York

The Missing Winks
The Start


Twelve people. Two vans. 181.9 mile route from Kingston to the Bronx. Bright orange everywhere...that would be the Ragnar Relay!!!

Quite the experience! My team, "The Missing Winks" was comprised of myself, Jess, Denise and her husband Joel, my cousin Lisa, some Medco co-workers: Jim C., Jim S. and Sam as well as My neighbor Hank his friend Pat and Sam's friend Jessica. Special shout out to my husband Greg for being the designated rive of Van #1.

We started at Dietz Stadium in Kingston and ran our way down to Van Cortland Park in the Bronx. It took us about 26 hours. It was sunny and hot when we started and cool and overcast when we ended. I've a very patient bunch of friends. Me, I get pretty crabby when running in the hot sun without water. (poor planning on my part) I get even crabbier when I have to run in the pre-dawn darkness after sleeping for about two hours in a tent... I do admit I felt much better after running even if it was mostly uphill!

So why Ragnar? Why not? Had you said to me one year ago as I sat facing the start of chemotherapy, baldness, weakness, etc. that I would be running the streets of New Paltz at 10pm wearing a headlamp of all things as part of a relay that was 181.9 miles long, I would have told you that you were crazy. Now I am wondering just who is crazy enough to want to do the Reach the Beach relay in NH with me...

Lehigh Valley 1/2 Marathon 5/3/09

I missed the Lehigh Valley 1/2 last year; I was sitting home with a drain coming out of my side pondering the bizarre path my life had just stumbled upon.

It was a great race - the day was cool and damp but not pouring down rain. The course was beautiful; we even crossed a covered bridge! There were different bands every two miles and "fan support" the entire race. I was joined by good friends (Jess, Denise and Joel, David and Dennis) and we all had a great dinner teh night before. Denise and I crossed the finish line together at 2 hours and 7 minutes (which you Facebook users already know!)

Next up - the 175 mile Ragnar Relay! BRING IT!!!

More 1/2 Marathon - 4/26/09

Running in Central Park
Waiting for the Start
Team Aquaphor
Wanted to get these photos posted. Last year the day after running the More 1/2 marathon I found out I had breast cancer. This year, the day after the More 1/2 marathon I got up and went to work - enough said!

Earth Day 2009

Amazing the difference a year can make. Last April 22 I was up early getting ready to drive into NYC for my lumpectomy. I was not yet aware of my need for chemo and thought this would just be one of life's small annoyances but I would get it over with and that would be that.

I then awoke to find myself with drains and the news that my nodes were positive and knew it was going to be one very long year! Incredibly enough that year has gone by and I am awake early this April 22, 2009 to catch a morning workout, have breakfast and head off to work. It is Earth Day and I am so thankful to be alive and feeling good that my goal today is to do somethign good for both Mother Earth and myself: join a CSA farm nearby.

What is a CSA farm? CSA = Community Supported Agriculture. How it works is you buy into the farm for the season and you are guaranteed part of the crops it grows that year. I actually found an organic farm less than 20 miles from my house with a reasonable share fee. I firmly believe in supporting local business and try my best to eat organic (even before my diagnosis!) so I think this may be a match made in heaven! I look forward to whatever bounty the farm my offer: fresh lettuces, tomatoes, squash in the fall - I can't think of a better way to celebrate Earth Day and yet another year one milestone passed in this journey I am on!

Team SOS (Save Our Sisters)

Had my 1st dragonboat team practice and it was sweet! You can make out my blonde head next to Megan (not sure of the spelling) who was sporting the very same 'do! We are both breast cancer survivors and most of my team is some sort of cancer survivor. Coach Ellen is great - very funny but at the same time serious. We paddle on Lake Parsippany and although the water was quite cold, the evening was warm and we worked up a sweat as we learned the various terms and strokes used in competition. More info as I get it about races, etc.

Being filmed for Better TV today on behalf of Team Aquaphor - I'll let everyone know details when I have them!

365 Days Later

It is April 7th, 2009. 365 days have come and gone since I heard those few words that would impact my life so greatly: "I'm sorry, your biopsy was positive. You have cancer." I do not quite recall what the doctor said after that. I know I stood there waiting for the punchline that was never delivered and then realized she wasn't kidding and this situation was not funny. What a year. While I may not look back and laugh, I do look back at what I have learned.

I spent last evening at the wake of a local 39 year old woman who dies of breast cancer. She was a wife of a former co-worker of mine. She was a mother, a teacher, and judging by the photos her husband Jim had on display last night, someone who loved life. As I waited over an hour to say something to Jim, it was he who said something to me. He was aware of my battle during the past year. He asked how I was doing - how I was doing? How about him? I said I take each day as it comes and he said to me, "Do not forget that every day is a gift, that is what my days with Karen were and that is what I told my daughter too". Those words reminded quickly reminded me how wrapped up I had become in the trivial again, how "normal life" had quickly become a familiar routine.

So as I laced my sneakers this morning for a run I thought about Jim's words and the past year and I made a point to look at the sky as the sun rose through the clouds. I left my iPod home so I could hear myself think. As I ran I sent many, many thank yous to the heavens as I feel good, I can run, and I can say, "Cancer? Been there, done that - last year."

If you are reading this note through Facebook, this is actually a post to my blog, www.jchildebrandt.blogspot.com. I started my blog 4/17 - 10 days after diagnosis as a place to keep family and friends up to date as to what was going on with me and also as a way to share my experience with any other woman who may facing similar circumstances. I will continue to write and continue to fight until, well, I am not sure where or how it this will end but that is part of what makes life worth living - hey, you never know what tomorrow might bring so be sure to enjoy today!