Walking with a purpose

So I'm still planning on walking this half-marathon in May - on May 1 to be exact. I haven't been doing as much walking to prepare for it as I should, but now that Mother Nature seems to be back on her meds and the weather is straightening up (*knocking on wood*) I plan to get out and walk more. I am doing this walk/race for purely selfish reasons - I want to be able to say that I walked a half-marathon with a prosthetic hip (and it'll help me get in shape in the meantime).

But a mere 6 days after the half-marathon is done, I am doing another walk, for a totally different purpose. My great-nephew, Corban, is an absolutely darling 3 1/2 year old little boy. He loves to play and to do the typical little boy stuff. When my niece brings him to visit, my kids have a field day playing with him. In so many ways he is just a typical little boy. But there is one major difference. Corban has cystic fibrosis, a horrible genetic disease that drastically affects his life and the lives of those around him.

On May 7, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is holding their annual Great Strides Walk for CF. The walk is designed to raise awareness and money for research into this devastating disease. The walk is held all over the country in the hopes that money raised will be used to find a cure.

My kids and I have participated in this walk twice - we missed it one year because I was out of town for a wedding, but I plan to continue participating in it every year until a cure is found. Luckily, this is not a competitive walk - it is a leisurely stroll around the Sedgwick County Park on a Saturday morning, which is exactly what I will need after walking 13.1 miles a few days earlier.

Please, if you are able, help us out. Go to www.cff.org and click on the Great Strides link - see if there is a walk in your city in which you can participate. Look up our team - Team Corban - and make a donation in our name. I don't remember the exact figure, but I believe that 90% of all money raised goes directly to research. This is a fantastic cause, and with everyone's help, hopefully we can eventually make "CF" stand for "Cure Found"!!