Courtney's Crusaders

Today I participated in a walk for cancer research for CHOP. I thought it was a 5 K, but it turned out that only the runners went the 5 K distance. The walkers went 2 K. It was pretty laughable how short the walk actually was, but that's another story. The main point is that even though I have done such walks or short runs over the years, raising money for different causes, this was incredibly different.

My team of walkers was organized by an 18 year old girl. This girl was my former student, and I've written about her before on this blog. She battled cancer for over a year at CHOP, and has had one year so far in remission. She's become this huge inspiration to kids battling cancer and has had a world of opportunities open up to her. It was an amazing moment to walk up to the tent and see her in the midst of all the chaos, calmly handing people their t-shirts and signing them in. As her former teacher, it was crazy to think about how far she had come since I taught her in 8th grade. She was a teenager then and she's an adult now - with a lifetime of experiences in between. Even though we only walked 2 K, Courtney's Crusaders represented this army of people she has amassed to help her though her journey.