Tenderfoot Diaries

Stories of people who have triumphed over enormous odds have always fascinated me.  I suppose, when you’ve faced some pretty steep odds yourself and come out the other side, you start to collect stories about others who have done the same.  You study those stories, looking for tips and hints, maybe even looking for similarities, gaining hope and strength from the idea that what others have done, you can do too.

When I set the Fighting Like Susan Challenge before the OBS membership,  I quoted one passage from the Fat Cyclist blog which I thought aptly summed up what this Challenge was about.  The passage was this:

Susan’s part in the battle is over, but she didn’t lose. She led the charge. She showed the rest of us how to fight: with determination, focus, creativity, and outrageous endurance.

Now it’s up to the rest of us to Fight Like Susan.

Heroic people, inspirational people, often don’t know they’re heroic or inspirational.  They’re just living their lives, doing the best they can and hoping to live the best life possible.  That’s all Susan Nelson and her family were doing.  That’s all Elden Nelson was doing when he started writing about Susan on his blog.   I don’t think anyone knew what Susan would inspire or what the Fat Cyclist blog, and the readers of that blog would create.  I’m willing to bet that the Nelson family would trade all of it to have their wife and mother healthy and whole and with them today.

When we think about fighting I’m guessing it’s the big battles most of us envision, but we need to remember that the big battles and the heroes everyone sings about aren’t the people who win the war.  The people who win the wars are the people who are out in the trenches day after day, doing what needs to be done, taking their lumps as they come, and never, ever giving up.   They don’t generally get a lot of recognition, and they don’t always win, but they keep fighting until there are no more fights left to be fought.

There are a lot of trenches still to be filled, and a lot of fights still to be fought.  If you’re looking for ways to help in the fight against cancer,  here are some places that can help you find ways to contribute:

Livestrong:  Lance Armstrong Foundation

American Cancer Society

Relay for Life

Susan G. Komen for the Cure