Courage is a constant in our new normal.…
It wasn’t until See You At The Summit came into our lives that courage really enveloped us. We were living the typical life… one-income family of five, dad going to work, three teens going in a hundred directions with school, clubs, sports, and normal teen outings with mom manning the home and the taxi to get everyone where they needed to be. However, this all changed after a routine checkup for our eldest daughter that revealed she had stage 3 ovarian cancer.
Courage was not something our family was feeling… instead fear, despair, and anger were the most common emotions we were experiencing. As parents we felt we had somehow failed her. We felt we had broken the promise all parents make to their children, which is to always protect them. However, those feelings of failure were short-lived because we knew we had to get past our own feelings so that we could help our daughter. Prior to her diagnosis, our daughter could best be described as a teen whose pendulum of life was pretty much always in the middle. But after she learned of her diagnosis, she became “a stuffer”. She did not want to leave her room. She did not want to take calls from friends and family, she just wanted to be left alone. As she was being treated for her cancer she learned on almost a weekly basis of the losses that she would have to endure. It came to a point that she stopped talking about her future entirely. She would stop talking about a lot of things that used to come easy. No matter what her dad or I tried to do…the darkness took over her. Things that used to matter most to her…just slipped away.
Courage came one day in the mail in May. My daughter received a postcard from See You at the Summit. Some might think it was just an ordinary postcard but for our daughter it was the lifeline that she needed to come out of her shell. On the postcard it stated to give a call to find out more. That 10-minute phone call was the hand that now feeds her soul. From the time my daughter ended the call I saw something in her mind and soul that had been missing for the previous three months. I heard words filled with excitement and joy. It was miraculous and heart warming all at the same time.
Courage came for her parents as well. It was as if a door opened where we weren’t afraid to talk with our daughter, to really talk with her about what she was feeling or what might be in store for her in her future. After the initial call, Heather Rose gave us not just information about the exciting adventure our daughter was invited to take, but more so, a wonderful heart in which openly listened and gave sound advice on how to proceed. At that very moment my husband and I knew this trip was one that our daughter was not going to miss. Courage had set in and no one was going to stand in her way.
Courage later came in a 12”x 9 ½”x 4 ½” box. It was filled with the Salomon hiking boots that opened our daughter’s world to a world outside of doctors’ appointments and blood level checks. It opened her world to getting out and truly breathing in fresh air. It opened her world…using courage as her new compass to give back to an amazing woman and an organization that she hadn’t even truly met. Those boots carried her, miles a day to where she wanted to be, healthy, happy and secure in her own body. Each day she was grateful for the workout, but more importantly, she was grateful to See You at the Summit. Her life changed, her self-esteem skyrocketed, and her ability to see past her diagnosis and see a future full and bright.
Courage… it really hadn’t even been tested yet. The day finally came for our daughter to embark on the amazing trip. We dropped her off and could feel the energy. She was ready…not even looking back. This trip, in her mind, she owned. We left her in the best of hands. We knew it. Our daughter knew it. The courage to say goodbye was amazing… The courage to meet amazing teens just like her, beautiful. The courage to open up to the brave and protective team members and volunteers, a true blessing. The courage to keep going forward and summit that mountain, magical. The courage for her parents to let her go on this 9 day, 30 mile hike to summit a mountain with new friends… Not needed. Our daughter had a newfound strength, and we did, too. She was safe in the hands of love and care.
You all must wonder what happens to the participants after an extraordinary trip like this… for our daughter, it has been nothing but amazing. She has goals, real goals. She has connected with her support group locally and beyond. Using what she has learned on the trip, she is expressing herself, constantly smiling… and when she is down, she is able to open up and gather information, allowing herself grace, but also showing us that she doesn’t have to go it alone. For this.. we will continue to sing See You At The Summit’s praises and encourage any teen that is able to take this trip to do so.
I will continue to share with anyone who will listen how See You At The Summit helps everyone find the courage within.