One More Time

"I must admit that I have been a little down lately. My body is overly fatigued as I begin to taper for my marathon, emotionally I am drained, and with that combo, my stroke residual is more prominent: my face a little droopier, my left arm a little weaker . Today I had the honor of meeting Joshua Sundquist, a 29 year old ParaOlympic Skier that lost his left leg to cancer at the age of 9. His words touched my heart. He always puts 1MT1MT on his ski. One More Thing, One More Time. On April 27, when I run the Oklahoma Memorial Marathon. I will run for Izzie, Sam, Amy, Denise, Rodney, Trent, Zach, Tori, Chance, Killen, Jodi, Jaclyn, Liz, Keri, Velma, Angela, Julie, Stefani, Shelly, Michelle, and all my heart sisters. Rather it be one more breathing treatment, one more rep, one more step, one more blood draw, one more surgery, one more therapy treatment. We are here, we are alive, and we are loved. We have purpose, we have a story to tell, and we are blessed. "One person can make a difference and everyone should try"JFK. I wrote 1MT on the bottom of my shoes. It is an honor."

My friend Teri posted this on Facebook yesterday.  I glanced at my phone while I was at work and read those words.  Before I knew it, I had tears and mascara streaming down my face while I was sitting at my desk.  When will I learn not to read my heart sisters words when I am at work?  They get me most every time. If you have followed along, you should remember Teri's story as she was gracious enough to share her story with my readers during American Heart Month.  If you missed her story, you can find it here.  Teri ran her first marathon just 26 days after her stroke!  I wish her love and luck on April 27 as she continues her post stroke journey in the Oklahoma Memorial Marathon.  I will write 1MT on the bottom of my shoes that day in her honor before I go run my 60 second spurts during my walk!

1MT, 1MT.  One More Thing, One More time.  This is very poignant from the young man that writes this on his ski. I know that Liz (her story here), Keri (her story here), Shelly (her story here), Monica (her story here) and I all join Teri in understanding this.  When you have a chronic illness, at some point in your life, the rest of it is spent with the "one more".  One more time I take this medicine, one more time I check my blood pressure.  One more time I stress because it is on the higher side of normal instead of the lower side.  One more time to the cardiologist. One more time getting shot up with radioactive dye to have a thallium stress test.  One more time hoping to not have to go to the OR.  Those are the one more times that we dread.

There are also one more times that we don't dread.  One more time I get to share my story.  One more time I get to see the look of shock on someone's face when they look at me like they can't absorb the story I am telling.  One more time I get to educate others about heart disease -- that heart disease is the number one killer of American's and stroke the number four killer.  One more time I get to share what I did that made me able to have these one more times.  One more time next Friday I get to hang with my heart sisters as The American Heart Association Kansas City hosts the Go Red for Women Luncheon.  What a privilege it is!