Helen's Charge
April 1st has dawned clear and still on the farm. The dogs show no regard for the conceptual line in the sand that divides March from April. For the last month I’ve been answering Penny, the cocker spaniels' (very) early morning wake up calls, with less resignation than usual. Mavis the cat and Eliza, my geriatric little dog, join me while I lace up my joggers to clock a few kms and raise a few $K.
My March Charge campaign couldn’t have had a less auspicious start if I tried. My local hockey club in our tiny WA town had shared a link on Facebook to the annual Cancer Council fundraiser, along with the suggestion that a bit of preseason fitness could come in handy. Now I don’t actually play hockey, but the women who make up the club are a generous lot, and they let me tag along on their Facebook page.
Fitness and camaraderie were excellent added bonuses, but the crucial difference between scrolling past the advert for the March Charge last year, and clicking ‘join’ this year, was simple.
Cancer has crashed into my world. There was no subtle introduction, no warm up and almost no warning before suddenly my family were scrambling to translate the foreign language that comes with serious illness.
On the first day or so of March, I was distracted. My husband and I are farmers, we have three young girls and lead the usual, busy lives of parents everywhere, so it took a day or two to remember to set up my profile. When I did, well... the reaction to a single text on the family WhatsApp group was instant and overwhelming. Suddenly, there
was a tangible way we could actually DO something.
So I decided to do this thing properly, and do justice to the concept for my family, our friends and everyone else with a fighter in the ring. It was easy to up the walking target–from 125km, to 200km and ultimately 250km.
I have the incredible good fortune of time, space and health that precludes the usual excuses. I also have an exceptionally cute pup who decided she needed to bark at all hours of the night, so walking was a viable alternative to hanging out in the dog house to avoid waking up the kids.
On a whim, I also decided to write. I’ve always loved words and stories, and I love to make my family laugh with the often hilarious dichotomies that arise when we compare experiences between city and rural living. How many of you have to vacuum the bugs off your dishes before you can wash them, hmm?
So I decided I’d write each day, and carry in my heart someone who is part of this battle–fighting it, living it, treating it, watching for it, searching for it, studying it and making life better for everyone it affects.
It has been an unexpectedly beautiful experience. It seems stories that travel everywhere from bull ants to bush flies, bad puppies to my unbearably smug alter ego, go hand in hand with bigger, more complex subject matter.
Sometimes I knew exactly what I wanted to say, other days it would be something I’d seen or heard that inspired a particular train of thought. Occasionally nothing much came at all–so I wrote about that too.
The one thing I didn’t write about was the specifics of the story unfolding in our family. The timing is not right for this narrative to be told, despite the incredible power it holds, and it is not my story to tell.
At times I wondered if I should even be writing at all. But then I remembered that this is so much bigger than just our story. In the way every journey goes beyond a single dimension, so too is the outcome of this project. The Cancer Council is so multi-faceted, so diverse and far-reaching in its impact, that if I can support their work by the simple actions of walking and writing, well. It’s the very least I should do.
I’ve had beautiful messages of support, love and admiration, for which I am grateful and indebted to you all, and yet it is patently obvious to me that there is nothing heroic, courageous or remarkable in my endeavour.
It is simply a luxury born of good health that has given me the opportunity and ability to take part in the March Charge and I am grateful that I am able to covert my
heart’s hope and longing for a cure, into action.
March may be over, but the battle is far from won. Let’s take the next step together. It is a privilege to walk.
Love Helen xx
Join other Chargers like Helen for The March Charge 2022. Register your interest today- themarchcharge.com.au
