I can remember September 21 1994 like it was yesterday and while i dont remember what i was wearing or how i was feeling, or where exactly i was at what time…. I remember the weather, i remember the clouds, i remember the light rain mixing with the tears on my face and i remember the sick feelings of denial inside, the coldness of my mothers lifeless body, and the tears in my fathers eyes as he told his daughters that their mother was gone.
I remember opening the car door taking a seat and looking out the window with my sister by my side both both of us staring at something we had never seen before…. A double rainbow – a phenomenon to us, a sign telling us that while we both felt so alone, so scared, so broken – we were not.
Each time from that moment on that we see a double rainbow, we both know that we are not alone. I will never forget that, i have forgotten most of the gut wrenching pain and sadness caused by that day, that date, that moment, but i have never forgotten the rainbow, and i doubt i ever will…
September 21 1994 was the day my mother was defeated by breast cancer, i know she didnt want to die, i know that saying good bye to her family at the young age of 39 was not how she wanted to go, i know that, and four years ago i decided, we decided as a family that no one, no family should have to face the pain that we did, that there had to be something that we could do…
So each year on mothers day for the past four years, we havent woken up wanting to do something for our mother, we have woken up before the sun and we have done something – We Run For Mum. We join thousands of others and we run to raise money for breast cancer research, we do what we can in honor of our mum.