Sam’s Spartan Race

Sam fundraising for Cancer Support

Hi, my name is Sam. I’m the mom of a gorgeous spirited little boy who’s almost two. But I’m also a widow. My husband Ric was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer at the age of only 28 when I was three months pregnant. Ric lived for only nine months from the date of his diagnosis, which meant that at least he was able to meet our son. But it also meant that I was left a widow shortly after becoming a mom.

Turning to ESCA CancerSupport again

I’ve known about ESCA CancerSupport for a number of years as they helped my own mom when she was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer back in 2012. When Ric received his devastating diagnosis we turned to ESCA CancerSupport again. I feel very grateful that I had access to this organization through this difficult period in my life. Grief is incredibly hard to deal with and it changes every day. It is really helpful to have someone to talk to who understands and doesn’t judge. My sessions with the psychotherapist have been an amazing resource in helping me to understand and process my grief.

I have always been very active and loved sports. For several years now I’ve wanted to participate in an obstacle run and finally this year I decided to just take the plunge and I signed myself up for a Spartan Super – 10km race with 25 obstacles. This is quite a challenge for me as I have never actually run 10km in my life! I had recently taken up running and found it to be one of the few things that really calms my brain, lets me just be present in the moment. I’ve found it to be quite helpful in dealing with my grief.

Pay it forward

This is why I have chosen to fundraise for ESCA CancerSupport as they helped me so much during the hardest time in my life.  I would love to help them continue helping others like me, in Geneva and surrounding areas, who are affected by the evil that is cancer.

I will now be training hard to get ready for the race which is being held on 17 June. Obstacles include: monkey bars, rope climbs, wall climbs, barbed wire army crawls, sand-bag carries as well as many others.  So training is really important!

I’ll say it again: I will forever be grateful for the help of ESCA CancerSupport, and it’s wonderful to know that they support caregivers and partners as well as cancer patients. Even though we are not the ones going through cancer we really do suffer so having this access to support meets a really vital need. Any amount that you can donate, big or small, would be greatly appreciated and you can be sure it would be put to really good use.