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| Layla Grace Marsh 11/26/2007 – 3/9/2010 |
Jambo! ("hello" in Swahili)
It all started with the story of a little girl who died too young... a story that reached out and touched my heart in ways I never would have anticipated. Inspired by her short life and compelled by the fact that my husband is a survivor of childhood leukemia, I decided that I had to DO SOMETHING, not knowing what that something would be.
A brief search had my mind spinning with possibilities – fundraising, personal challenges, etc. And one morning when I was reading the Gazette, my eyes fell upon a small ad, “Climb Kilimanjaro for Make-A-Wish Quebec and realize the power of a wish”. A couple weeks later I was signed up for what has turned out to be the experience of a lifetime.
In the 9 months leading up to the mountain adventure, I raised support for the cause. I had to bring together at least $8000 for the foundation and was hoping to raise a part of the expenses of the trip. The fundraising activities were as diverse as they were numerous; home-made pancake mix (over $1500), collaboration with a local school (over $3000), personal donations (over $3000), bake sales in the office (over $500), a yard sale ($1000), hot dogs at the local IGA ($1000), a ladies brunch (over $1000), hand-made key chains (over $500)...etc.
In the end I exceeded my objective with over $10 000 going to the Make-A-Wish foundation. I would be remiss not to mention that the monetary support was only one side of the equation. The moral support and encouragement, the family, friends and colleagues who rallied around me, cheered me on and then made me feel like a movie-star upon my return. Wow. I was – and am – touched to the core of my being from their kind words, their generosity, their love and their prayers. Thank you is not enough.
On January 4, 2011 – I said a tearful good-bye to my husband and two little girls – and joined 11 amazing people on a journey that I will never forget. Our group was composed of 4 Quebecers, 2 Ontarians and 6 Nova Scotians; ranging in age from 29 (me, the baby of the group) to 82; with interests and vocations as diverse as they could be – but with a couple of very important similarities: (1) our desire to help children who may never have the chance to make their own wishes come true because they suffer from an illness that threatens their life, and (2) our sense of adventure.
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| Summit for Wishes 2011 Top: Betty, Roy, Tim, Karen, Sonya, Jim, Maurice, Grant Bottom: Stephanie, Andrea (me!) Missing: Lloyd and Jan (they reached their own summits) |
Tanzania, Moshi, Kilimanjaro... Uhuru peak... it isn’t an experience that can be described in few words and it’s something that you have to live yourself to fully appreciate and comprehend. I expected it to be beautiful, but I could never have imagined the ever-changing, majestic and breath-taking landscapes that I would be surrounded by day after day – nor the brilliant stars that I would see if I had to wake up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
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| Sunrise from Shira Camp - Day 3 on the mountain |
I expected it to be challenging, and was prepared for the physical feat that it would present – but could not have foreseen that I would compare those last 45 minutes to the summit to LABOUR (of all things!).
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| This would be me... after being at the summit for less than 5 minutes... needing oxygen in a bad way. Apparently lack of oxygen gives me crazy headaches, severe nausea and some pretty nasty intestinal issues... Enough said. |
I went knowing that I wouldn’t see a shower or bath in 10 days and was prepared to be dirty and disgusting – I learned that a bird bath is really all you need and that my hair toughs very well without being washed for an extended period of time(!)
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| The bird bath - a bowl of hot water with some soap in the privacy of my tent |
I went hoping to learn more about myself... and I came home with a fresh perspective and lessons that I will try to hold close to my heart – and to live – for a long time to come. Although there’s nothing very new in my biggest lesson – I know that it is imperative that I slow down and live in the moment – it may sound cliché, but it’s really not about the destination, it’s about the journey... or the climb!
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| You have to stop every once in a while - for essentials... catch your breath... drink some water... enjoy the view! |
And now that it's all said and done... and all I have are my memories... and my stories... I can say that I set out to help make a child`s wish come true - and a child's wish WILL come true. But I think I also realized a wish (or wishes) of my own. Wishes that I never knew I had.
(more to come... I don't think I'm quite done telling my story...)
