This July, I will be traveling to California to participate in the Avon 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk from San Jose to San Francisco. I am walking to honor my mother and aunt's winning fight against breast cancer and to remember those who have lost their battle. I hope to raise $3,000 for research and prevention programs.

Sometimes achieving the three benchmarks of happiness, success, and health can be overwhelmingly difficult. In the Summer of 1999, my family certainly learned that when my mother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The reality of that diagnosis hit us hard – what would her treatments be like, would she loose her hair, would she make it?

Losing her life to breast cancer was never an option for Mom – she promised her kids. Surviving surgery, infection, chemotherapy, and radiation must have been excruciating, but Mom did it in her quiet yet determined way – just as she has dealt with five kids and one cranky husband for nearly 30 years.

The most pressing question for me throughout those difficult months was (and remains to be) - what can I do? This July I hope to answer that question. I will be one of 3,000 people to walk 60 miles, from San Jose to San Francisco, California to raise money for breast cancer research, early detection programs, and support services. I will cover 20 miles a day (rain or shine!), sleep in a two-woman tent, shower in a truck, and eat brown bag lunches.

Thanks for being a part of my mission.