Erin Diveny

"Pushing ourselves"; "getting in shape." We hear about it all the time and you also hear about people giving up their push to get in shape, but what if they had a purpose to it? What if every person who tried to get in shape or become a better athlete had the thoughts of something on their mind like helping pediatric cancer patients survive? There certainly would be a higher success rate on both ends so its a win-win right?

 

This is exactly what I’m doing. I’ve always been one to be active, but I’ve always wanted to be a stronger athlete. Through being a EMT and working for several volunteer and paid services, I’ve transported quite a few cancer patients--several of them being children. Seeing a child lying on a strecher exhausted from their treatment or having an emergency transport to the hospital is the sadest and scariest thing ever but it fuels you; it fuels you to do something about it. What really finally put the icing on the cake for me joining Endure to Cure was when I was working at the summit of Mount Washington in the musuem and we had open extremley early so that people could come up and watch the sunrise. Well right after the sun rose a boy came down with his father to look through the gift shop. The child had cancer. The boy was so happy and kept talking about the sunrise and then said “I can’t wait till next year” and I just saw the fathers expression change for a second. it was the expression of not knowing and of worry that he might not live that long. At that second I wanted to burst into tears. Of all the times riding on a ambualnce or working in the hospital I never had such a hard time controlling my emotions and I knew I had to do something.

 

Thinking of children with cancer gave me the motivation to get in shape and keep pushing myself to become the athlete I’ve want to become. I have motivation now for everytime my legs burn and I’m exahsuted...I push through because I know my temproary pain can’t be even come close to the pain that those children are suffering through. 

 

Please join me on supporting Endure to Cure as our team is joining forces to raise funds to support a two-year pediatric cancer survivorship study at the Univserity of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital. Through this research study a clincical psychologist will be researching methonds to reduce the long term effects of treatment on pietatric cancer patients. By the end of 2011 we hope to raise $50,000 and by the end of 2012 raising another $50,000 for a total of $100,000.

 

In the words of Lance Armstrong: “If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them.  When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope?  We have two options, medically and emotionally:  give up, or fight like hell.”

 

Thank you!

Erin