Talk To Me Tuesday - Misty Higgins

Next up to share some of her 3-day insight: Misty Higgins

Misty will be walking for the second time in 2009. She is a member of team Walking Angels and walked with them in Atlanta last year. She also had the honor of holding the "In honor of my Mother" banner during the opening and closing ceremonies last year. So if you walked in Atlanta, not only did you see Misty on stage during closing ceremonies, you also saw Sandy, Misty's mother! (All photos, courtesy of Misty Higgins.)




Q1: What is your connection to breast cancer?

Misty says:
My mom will be a 6 year survivor on September 11, 2009! She is my inspiration, my motivation, my hero. I have had my own BC scare in the recent past and have aunts and friends who are survivors or lost their fight. Not to mention that I walk so my 10 year old daughter will hopefully not have to walk!!




Q2: How did you get the chance to participate in the 3 day ceremony?

Misty says:
I volunteered to help out several weeks before the walk to distribute flyers and signs to homes and businesses on the route so that there would be an awareness of the walk ahead of time and the community could come out to rally and support the walkers and crew members. It worked! We were so supported and cared for all along the route as well as in camp. It was a life-changing and life-affirming experience for me. It gave me the motivation and helped me to make my mission to "walk until there is no breast cancer."

While I was volunteering, I shared my story with many people...one of which was the regional person who was in charge of the opening/closing ceremony participants. She asked if I would be interested in participating and bringing my mom as well and I jumped at the chance! I am so very glad I did...the closeness and love for my mother was enriched by sharing that experience together. It was very special for both of us- even more so now because my hero, my heart, my mom...will begin chemotherapy for recurrent breast cancer on (ironically enough) this Wednesday, July 1st.




Q3: What advice to you have for new walkers?

Misty says:
Make sure you have a camera(s), take everything in during those 3 days- making as many friends/connections as possible, telling your story as often as you can, train on many different terrains/conditions, ask anyone/everyone for a donation, and always remember WHY? you walk.




Q4: What fundraising advice do you have? (And as a walker who is already above her minimum this year, and raised over $5000 last year, you should be listening to her...grab your notebooks now!)

Misty says:
I truly do ask EVERYONE!! I send emails, snail mail, flyers w/donation forms in my neighborhood and businesses, update emails, asking for sponsors, etc.

Also, this is the 3rd year our team has had "Crafts for a Cause". C4C is a craft fair, flea market, children's place, bake sale, silent auction, cake walk, face painting, etc. This is our biggest event and we basically begin the planning in November for a May date. It has really grown since year one!

We also do Krispy Kreme, Yankee Candle, Tupperware, Tastefully Simple, Love Stuff fundraisers. We just had a "Happy Hour" for a 3 hour span at a downtown restaurant and got 15%. We will have "Girls Night Out" at a nail salon, "Bowling for Boobs", Pancake Breakfast, and a gold party...as well as anything else we can think up between now and the walk.

I always have cards or some of the pink rubber bracelets to begin a conversation ad perhaps get a donation...I always wear something to do with the walk as well.

Another great idea is ...if you have a school you can work with, you can have the children draw/paint pictures, get donated frames, then have a "Gallery Night" hanging all the artwork and inviting all of the parents and community to come and view the artwork. Sell the original, signed artwork and everything you make is profit!! If you have this right before a holiday (mothers/fathers/day, thanksgiving, Christmas, etc) these make a great gift!!


Thanks so much, Misty, for all of your fantastic advice!
In communicating with Misty, I really could tell she believes in the 3 day, heart and soul. I send all my best wishes, thoughts and prayers to Misty and her mom, as Sandy gets ready to kick some cancer butt. All of us are behind you, ladies! Please join me and add your best wishes, as well.

Talk To Me Tuesday! (Kathryn Padilla)

Part of the purpose of The Pink Purpose is to highlight the Breast Cancer 3-day Walk, and one of the best ways to do that (in my opinion) is to highlight some of the great people make up this outstanding community. So as a new, regularly posted, addition to this blog, we now present our first "Talk To Me Tuesday" post where we will interview and learn a little more about why 3-dayers do what they do and what makes them just so awesome!

First up: Kathryn Padilla

Kathryn is a not only a survivor, but has walked in Dallas two times and is doing it again in 2009! She is member of the Pink Ribbon Solemates team.


Q: What is your connection to breast cancer and to the 3-day walk?

Kathryn says:
I lost my precious mother to breast cancer in February 2007 after she fought a long 2 year battle. She was my best friend and the best grandma ever to my daughter who was only 9 at the time. Still grieving the loss of my mother, my young daughter and I attended an informational meeting at our Church about the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk. After listening to the speaker and watching the inspirational DVD, I knew I had to do this in memory of my mom. So 2007 was my first 3-Day Walk. When I signed up I had no idea if I could actually raise $2200 and walk 60 miles but somehow I did. It was a great way to honor my mother's memory. On my backpack I had a sign that said; "I walk because I lost my dear mother, Daphne Marie Salinas on 02-01-07 to breast cancer and I do not want my daughter to loose hers".



Q2: Can you describe to us a little about your 3-day experience?

Kathryn says:
The 2007 Walk was an amazing journey. You go through every emotion possible in 3 days from laughing so hard you want to pee in your pants to crying for those who have lost the battle to being totally inspired by those walking and still fighting for their lives. Little did I know this was just the beginning. After the 2007 Walk my team and I signed up to walk again in 2008.
But 2008 would be a different walk for me. The statistics say that 1 in 8 women in the U.S. will develop breast cancer and in 2008 I became one of those statistics. I was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer. After a double mastectomy and 6 rounds of chemo, I participated in the 2008 Breast Cancer 3-Day.


Q3: What has been your contribution to the cause?


Kathryn says:
Our Pink Ribbon Solemates team has raised over $60,000 for Susan G. Komen of The Cure these past 2 years. And yes we are doing the 3-Day Walk in 2009.




Q4: Why do you keep coming back?

Kathryn says:
I will walk as long as I can because Everyone Deserves a Lifetime.


Thank you so much, Kathryn, for sharing your experience with us! We admire your courage and strength and all-around awesomeness!

Quick supporter shirts

I have another obsession, outside of the breast cancer 3 day: I love to craft. And when I had this idea, I loved the fact that it joined the two together. It is a really simple shirt for my kids to show their support for mom or dad during the walk!

It is fun and easy to make. You will need:

• t-shirts (I bought mine from the craft store, but any plane one would work. Might be a good way to cover a stain, too.)
• cardboard
• tape
• paper plate
  
• Fabric paint. I bought 3 different colors of pink, but I think this would work for just one shade as well.
• Various other embellishments. I bought some iron-ons, but didn't use them this time around. I did, however, use puffy paint and fabric markers.
• And you will definitely want a sink nearby!

To make the shirts, insert some cardboard in between the two sides of the shirt, then tape the excess fabric to the back of the shirt. Then, pour out some of your paint onto a plate. I found it easiest to make the foot print by sitting my kids up on the counter then bringing the paint to their feet and then bringing the shirt up to their feet. I tried to do it so they walked on the shirt, but that was very smudgy. Too much paint on their feet makes big blobs too. It is also really helpful to have another set of adult hands to help! (If I were to do it again, I would only get really dark or really bright colors, as they showed up the best. I would also play around with how I layered the footprints, possibly not overlapping at all.)

After the paint had dried, we outlined the footprints with fabric marker and then we let the girls go to town with the markers and puffy paint. These are their pictures of them cheering me on!




This project took a little bit of time, but was pretty easy and my kids had a lot of fun doing it. Give it a try!