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Cheryll's Breast Cancer Fund

Raise money for Cheryll's Breast Cancer Fund

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow’.” – Mary Anne Radmacher

Meet Cheryll. In 2001, Cheryll met Jim and their life together began. After 8 months of dating and being inseparable, they finally decided to give in to love and were married on June 22, 2012. The two are perfect soul mates – relishing in their family (4 children, 8 grandchildren), friends, Broadway musicals, Animal Rescue (their feline children were adopted from the Dumb Friends League in Colorado), and any activity that led them to explore and discover their adopted home state of Colorado. They enjoy sharing music and books, laughter and jokes and social networking. And then they discovered running. Not just any running, mind you. They discovered the sheer thrill in half marathons. Running opened new doors for the couple – the opportunity to explore, meet new people and work on their health while finding that strength and joy that comes from doing something you truly love.

In June 2010, Jim lost his job during one of the worse “recessions” our country had seen in a long while. But they endured, even thrived, because they had each other and their goal of completing a half marathon in every state. The half marathons, while initially just a goal, became a mission – to live each day to its fullest and to share their love and joy with each new person they met. With their admiration and love for each other oozing out of their pores, Cheryll and Jim’s “family” circle became even larger – people are drawn to them. They are drawn to them for the love they have of one another, the love they have of life and the love they have of their friends and family. It’s a lethal combination that hardly a soul can resist.

In July 2013, Jim’s job search came to an end and he found employment and some of the stress was relieved. They began to seriously plan their attack-mode to complete their goal of a half marathon in every state and they challenged themselves to make each race better than the one before. With 37 races under their belt, they had 3 more scheduled before the end of the year.

On October 10, 2013, Cheryll was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma and for a minute, just a minute, their world stopped. Cancer is a scary word in the first place then you add all the additional words to it and you’ve got something that makes your blood run cold. Gathering strength from each other, their family and their friends, they began to research and explore the ways they were going to fight the cancer. With guidance from their navigator, physician and specialists, they scheduled bilateral mastectomy for November 1, 2013, to be followed by reconstruction and therapy. The last 3 half marathons of the year have been postponed.

At this time, the results are not quite as hopeful as we had hoped. Two lymph nodes were clear of cancer (YEA!) but a third had microorganisms of cancer. Consultation between oncologists, Cheryll and Jim are going on now to discuss methods of treatment – more surgery to remove more lymph nodes followed by radiation or chemotherapy or whether or not to “wait and see”. Whatever needs to be done, they will do – and in their characteristically strong and determined way.

As you can imagine, this is a scary time for Cheryll and Jim and their family both financially and emotionally. After 3 years of unemployment, their savings are gone and they are living on a tight budget to make it day to day. Cheryll and Jim’s friends and family have started this page to share their story, their fight and their triumph over that nasty thing called cancer. This is where DreamCatcher comes in as well.

Bethany and Cheryll met for the first time at the Colfax Half Marathon in Denver in May 2013. An instant friendship was developed and Bethany began talking to Cheryll about her idea of a half marathon that was open to anyone who wanted to challenge themselves to a longer distance. Bethany shared with Cheryll her desire to encourage anyone of their abilities and that a race was needed to support each participant – no matter how long it takes – because each finish line is worthy of celebration. Soon DreamCatcher was born and Cheryll was excited to be a part of the event with Jim – they both signed up to be pacers. With Cheryll’s diagnosis, Bethany and her business partner, Terrie, decided that Cheryll’s EverRibbon campaign would be the charity partner for the Inaugural DreamCatcher Half Marathon by Starunner Enterprises.

Cheryll and Jim want to exemplify the fact that cancer is not a reason to bemoan the situation but rather just a detour on their path to fulfilling their lives with purpose and with love. They continue to encourage their friends and family and are full supporters of the DreamCatcher Half Marathon – both feeling strongly that the race will be empowering to all participants and volunteers. Any donation is welcome but they look forward, most of all, to encouraging their friends and family to live life – because this is not a test.

Recent donors

Recent donors
Date Name Amount
Jun 11 Anonymous $5.00
Jun 09 Aaron Silverman $5.50
Jun 03 Anonymous $20.00
May 16 Brad Rugel $5.00
May 15 Shannel Hartlerode $10.00
May 09 Anonymous $20.00
Mar 25 Anonymous $15.00
Mar 22 Anonymous $10.00
Mar 18 Cory Sullivan $5.00
Mar 18 Anonymous $10.00