Written by: Carole Sanek, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
My phone rang in late October of 1993 at 430PM on a Friday afternoon, and it was the surgeon who had performed a biopsy on my right breast earlier that week.
I heard 4 words and nothing else. I heard, “You have breast cancer”. I was in shock. I really did not think that I would have that diagnosis. I was certain the micro-calcifications that the Radiologist found on my mammogram was benign. I was wrong.
Fast forward to 5 years later, and I moved back to Chicago after spending time living in Costa Rica, where I ran a recovery clinic post-op for plastic surgery patients. This was a perfect escape after my surgeries, the radiation, and the night terrors dreaming I was dying.
I came back to face my demons. I became a pink warrior, and I threw myself into fundraising, I gave talks, and I was interviewed about all I had been through and including running a support group.
Life was good. I fell in love. We got married, and we moved to Florida to escape again, only this time from the cold, windy Chicago winters.
It was in Florida, while giving a talk on the importance of early detection of breast cancer, that I was asked a challenging question. A woman in the crowd asked me point blank if I was interested in joining a team of walkers in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk. I was caught like a deer in the headlights because I did not want to do this walk. I don’t like sweating. I don’t like being hot and sweaty. I don’t like sleeping in a tent for 2 nights on the ground. I was stuck.
I looked at my husband, Larry, in the back of the room. He was standing there just as shocked as I was when we both heard someone say, “I am very interested in joining a team.” That, someone, was me, and now Larry was the one with the deer in the headlights look on his face because he knew this was something I had never shown any interest in doing.
Thus began my journey of more than 60 miles in a pair of Brooks running shoes I still own. They are now no longer wearable. I have such a love affair with these incredible shoes. I am sure I walked close to 1000 miles in them, and goodness, I wish they could still be worn.
When I first agreed to walk, this meant to train for the distance too. I tried on all kinds of running shoes, but I had issues because I need a wide-toe box. I ended up at a shoe store specializing in proper fit. They had me put my bare feet in the water and step onto brown paper. That is how I ended up with my yellow and white s-257 Brooks running shoes, and I call them the best shoes ever made for my feet and walking 1000 miles.
That was 2011, and now it is 10 years later. I wore these shoes until about a month ago when some of the bottoms of them started to peel off, and a hole appeared in the top of one shoe.
They sit on a table in my garage, and I see them every day, and I get choked up. I don’t want to toss them into the trash. They deserve a proper burial, only I can’t dig a hole in the SC red clay called dirt here.
I can still see my super-loving husband down on one knee as he laced them up for me every time I had a training walk. He made sure I had them on the correct way and that I hit the heel of each shoe hard on the floor to make sure I had them on the right.
He is no longer walking this earth beside me, and I cannot bring myself to let go of the best running shoes I have ever owned. A lot of love went into wearing those shoes. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears, too, because when you walk 60 miles, you have blisters that bleed, you have sweat rolling down your face, and you have tears at the finish line when you see your husband standing there with a bouquet of pink roses in celebration of being that woman who never wanted to walk that walk, but she did.
Carole Sanek, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Carole L. Sanek is a certified life coach specializing in personal coaching, with her specialty being working in grief. Carole is also an author, and her first book, “Fractured – Living with Grief,” launched 1/19/2021 and is available on amazon.com. Carole is especially excited that even though she was diagnosed 27 years ago with breast cancer, she wiped that slate clean and thrived on in her life. Reaching Carole is easy as she believes in transparency and authenticity and welcomes people to reach out to her. In addition, she has a new daily micro-podcast called ThriveLive Zone Daily that can be found wherever you get your podcasts or on your Alexa device under flash briefings.
