My Inspiration

Life has a way of really breaking you down before building you back up.  June 2nd I got to experience one of the most exciting times in my life when my long time boyfriend got down on his knee and asked me to marry him.  After that living 5 hours away from him just didn't do it for me.  Obviously it wasn't ideal to start with but now more than ever I realized that it was time to start taking direction and going where I wanted to go.  That was when I told my job that it was time for me to start looking for a new position and moving up, doing something more challenging and somewhere close to where my fiance lived.  I am so blessed to be working for a company that truly believes in me and my talents and helped find my perfect position within just a couple of weeks.  So I set up my interview and found out two days later that I got the job.  Life was simply falling into place and I was feeling so incredibly blessed.

The next day life took a turn for the worse.  I got a call early on June 27 from my mom and through the muffled voice message I knew that our worst fears had become reality.  That was the day that I found out my precious 8 year old cousin Christopher Robert Schraufnagel had lost his battle with cancer.  Words can not describe how broken my heart was and how many thoughts went through my head.  I was angry, sad, and completely at loss.  My heart and my mind could simply not understand how such a courageous and strong CHILD could be taken from this world in the blink of an eye.  I will still never understand why, but I know that Christopher is in a better place in the arms of Jesus.  Christopher was an inspiration to everyone who met him and he brought smiles to a million faces.  He not only touched the lives of those around him, but he changed them.  Seeing Christopher go through his battle with cancer and watching how it affected my family and the people who knew him opened my eyes to life and helped me realize that it is so incredibly short and you are never guaranteed another day.  

So through all the heartache and the loss I have gained new strength, new courage and more than ever MOTIVATION.  I want to dedicate everything I do to bringing awareness to cancer research and saving the lives of children going through struggles like Christopher did.  I have decided to challenge myself to training for a 5K and then a marathon and this challenge is not only to run, but to become exceptional at it.  I am determined to help represent Team Christopher and raise awareness about childhood cancer research and use my health to help fight for a cure.  

Christopher is in my thoughts every single day and I put my best effort into everything I do because of him.  I know I have an angel watching over me and I am so blessed to not only have known such an incredible young man, but also so lucky to call him family.  

Forever & Always