The Birth of The Circle of Strength

Throughout my first round with “the beast” as my friend Lyn calls it, I was reconnecting with most of my old dear friends from growing up through Facebook. As we caught up with each other’s lives I shared my journey of my cancer with them. Having them come back into my life at that specific time was a true blessing. Their love and support was like no other to me. They knew me my practically my whole life, and we were all very good friends when growing up. I am not talking about a group of 3 or 4 girls, I am talking about a very close knit group of girls and guys. There were about 20 of us. It is very hard to put into words the love that I have for them. They were and still are like brothers and sisters to me.

Sharing my journey was important to me for a several reasons. First, I never felt alone. Never. My friends would send me cards, knit me beautiful scarves, and hats, send me books, flowers or a fruit arrangement. I would get phone calls, and emails and posts and private messages on Facebook, all of the time. What a wonderful feeling. Second, I knew from the questions I was being asked, that many of us are clueless about what a cancer patient really goes through. So I made it so that we could all learn together through my experiences.

During this time, my very close friend Laurie and I, would have the same conversation over and over. She would tell me all of the time, that I am so strong. I would respond by saying “it is not me who is strong alone; it is you and everyone else who keep me strong.” And she would say “no Nanci, it is you who keep us strong.” I would then say, “we keep each other strong, because we all lean on each other like a… Circle of Strength. After the third of forth time of having this conversation, she would say, “I know, I know… we are like a Circle of Strength.

When June of 2009 came around, I was in remission for 2 months. A friend of mine who is a breast cancer survivor was having a fundraiser at a local bar/restaurant to raise money for her team “Speedbumps” for Relay for Life, which until that day, I never heard of. Being there and being part of this great cause, made me feel so good. I wanted to find out more about this Relay for Life thing, and make my own team to raise money. Even though we had teams, we really are on the same team with the same goal… to raise money for medical research to find a cure for cancer. Relay for Life is run by the American Cancer Society, all monies goes to the ACS, and is used for medical research and helping cancer patients. It is a wonderful foundation.

Hummmm, how do I get the ball rolling? What to do, what to do…  What should the team be called? For days I pondered the team’s name, and then it hit me… The Circle of Strength. It was like a “duh” moment! And, so it began!

Another friend of mine Barbara, had offered me to have a fundraiser at the restaurant/ bar she worked at. I agreed to give it a shot. I had shirts made with “The Circle of Strength” and a logo. She and the owner of the place, Derek, were unbelievable. They worked so hard to help us get items to raffle off, put out a great buffet, and the bartenders gave their tips from the night to The Circle. If you’re ever in Baldwin, I highly recommend D.J. Houdek’s place! Great food, great beer, super people. We raised about $1,200 that night! What a great kick off!

Relay was 4 weeks away, and in that time we managed to raise over $5,000. We were the 3^rd team to bring in the highest amount of money! It was a night to never be forgotten. I had the honor of attending the "survivors" dinner and walking the "survivors" lap around the track with my parents, I cried most of the way. Then everyone there (about 1500 people) walked around the track in silence, in memory for those we lost to cancer, as luminated bags were lit around the track, and each bag had a name of a cancer patient (past or present) on it. I shed a lot of tears that night, but I knew it then… there was so much more that I/we can do, and we were on to something! Something very, very good!

And so the shell was starting to break for the birth of what would become a foundation called “The Circle of Strength.”

We always have to have HOPE.