My sister was GONE TOO SOON. Kristin Sanborn Todd, 36 years young, in April 2018, ran out of options to stop the spread of the breast cancer that became her biggest obstacle and fight.
I am confident I’m not alone. I know I represent many families missing someone today who was GONE TOO SOON because of a terminal end from breast cancer. Just like grief tags along, so do the questions.
What if she would have gotten into that clinical trial?
What if they went the surgery route?
What if she found the lump sooner?
What if she didn’t eat so much sugar?
Did her stress-level add to the cancer speed?
It’s the never-ending wonder of what-ifs.
Think about what GONE TOO SOON means to you. My thought is it is always too soon when it comes to someone dying due to breast cancer (or any cancer for that matter). We covet our loved ones and nobody deserves to have their life come to an end from this horrible disease!
My GONE TOO SOON is Kristin. She was a beautiful young mother who had dreams to raise her son with unconditional love, continue impacting lives with her heart-failure patients and be the best family member, wife and friend she could be. She had only 4.5 years as a mom and still had a lifetime to go making a difference in this world. I am committed to keeping her memory alive and her wish to help the community live longer with breast cancer and continue the fight. She still makes a difference.
How beautiful it is to have an entire month to focus on raising funds to spearhead breast cancer research, remind us about the importance of getting medical check-ups, and raise awareness about the disease. Breast cancer is not always terminal. It can soon become terminal in Stage 4. That is where, on behalf of my sister, I hope we can see a difference with patients living longer lives with Metastatic Breast Cancer.
According to METAvivor…
100% of breast cancer deaths occur because of metastasis, and almost 100% of people whose breast cancer has metastasized will die from it. In the United States alone, this means that more than 40,000 vibrant lives are lost each year. Despite these stark realities, the popular breast cancer fundraising movements give on average only 2-5% of their research funds to researching metastasis.
At Nona Sports Club through the Nona Cares Foundation, this is our fifth year being very involved with Pinktober. Over 2,000 shirts will be out in the community that help recognize STAGE 4 NEEDS MORE.
This year, the proceeds will be divided with half of proceeds benefiting Metavivor for Stage 4 Cancer Research. The other half will benefit the University of Central Florida College of Medicine’s novel breast cancer research efforts at the new UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center.
Kristin explained she couldn’t have lived almost five years with Stage 4 without the love and encouragement she had from family, friends, her medical teams and complete strangers. “The Journey is Ours,” she reminded me. And now, the journey is ours to continue this fight. Let’s embrace the journey and keep making a difference for the survivors, those in our memories and for those that will be sadly diagnosed in the future. I hope we can turn GONE TOO SOON into GONE CANCER GONE.
For information about the Nona Breast Cancer Campaign and additional information related to the month, please visit:
Purchase a Shirt!
Nona Soccer Fields, Nona Basketball Courts, Lake Nona Performance Club, and the Hughston Clinic.
Questions and Survivor Stories:
teri@nonasportsclub.com
Thank you to our major community donors of the month. We could not do this without your support!
- Bassin Center for Plastic Surgery
- Bravo Markets
- Fivestar Claims Adjusting
- Fuse Soccer
- Howes Insurance Agency
- Hughston Clinic (Dr. Vonda Wright)
- Innova Restoration
- Island Fin Poke Co.
- Mecatos Bakery & Cafe’
- Nemours Children’s Health
- New York Life (Lehy Felix)
- Nona Adventure Park
- Lake Nona
- Lake Nona Performance Club
- Orange Beanie Global
- Solaria Energy Solutions
- The Real Estate Institute
- Vue Cleaning
- 53 Squad Training
