THE MISSION:

Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. Hope implies a certain amount of perseverance — i.e., believing that a positive outcome is possible even when there is some evidence to the contrary

Hope as an emotion produces a motivation to act.

Hiking is a form of walking, undertaken with the specific purpose of exploring and enjoying the scenery of life

Survive: to remain alive or in existence, to endure

When I was first diagnosed with cancer it was too much to take in at one time. It is not something you can digest all at once but I remember as my mind started to run away with all the fears it could conceive my conscious mind focused on one thing survive! Like a distant light hope began to creep in to the scenario, as I fought to face all of the fears real and imaginary that invaded my mind, my instincts clung to hope. Hope was the only reason I was able to stay stable and face my life-threatening circumstances with any kind of clarity and composure. Throughout the process of treatment I clung to my hope until it began to evolve into something else something we cancer people call survivorship. Survivorship is not just surviving but learning to live life to your fullest. When in treatment (chemo) there where times when my hope was challenged when I had negative thoughts and fears of never having a “normal” life of not being able to do all the things that I had previously enjoyed in my life before cancer. During this process I realized how important hope was not just to cancer patients but the whole world. Now I hope for more than just surviving but learning to live life to the best of my ability. I want to do more than just survive than just hope I want to inspire anyone who will listen to do the same. After my experience with cancer I wanted to take action I was motivated to make a difference to try and touch as many lives as I could for the better. Hike4Hope was established as event to do just that to inspire individuals to live life to catch their dreams and to make the world a better place by infectious optimism and hope.

I am an avid outdoors person long distance hiking being my passion. In the middle of nowhere with everything I need on my back I feel free. My church is nature that is where I naturally feel the closet to God. I am still able to pursue those endeavors after chemo. I consider myself lucky although my fight has been tough it has also been short and tolerable so far. I have decided to through-hike the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.
The hike is 2,160 miles through fourteen states Georgia to Maine thru the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountains. I carry a pack with approximately 40 lbs of gear, my dog will also carry her own pack and gear we re-supply food about once a week from mail drops in the small mountain towns along the trail.

I have hope that this event will help others realize how precious and fragile life can be none of us ever really know when our time here will expire. If I can inspire one person to reach out for their goals to chase and catch their dreams this event will have been a success. The reason I chose to hike is that hiking is similar to life and cancer. It is a long term everyday struggle, you put one foot in front of the other and just keep making forward progress one step at a time one day at a time. There will be days life snows on you rains on you brings you injury and delay the key is not to have everyday be perfect but to hold hope through the process to savor the sweetness of the good days endure the bad ones and always understand that in order to win the war for life its not about winning everyday but the way in which you endure the defeat of battles to ultimately make forward progress in the war.