Diedre's Match Walk - About the Walk

 

About the Walk

Some of my best ideas occur during meditation or in my dreams. When I heard that my cancer had metastasized to my bones I knew my time in this life was coming to a close. Rather than dwell on what I was losing, I decided to focus on what I could gain from the next part of my cancer journey.

The last six years I have been in the care of the amazing medical team led by Dr. Michael Gordon, director of the HonorHealth Research Institute (HHRI). Under his guidance I have beaten the existing odds of stage IV colon cancer survivors by living a full and satisfying life. Every day now is a bonus day and I am grateful for being able to enjoy whatever time I have left. So now it’s time to give back to the people who have extended my life and to help others who will follow me. 

This walk is my opportunity.

The clinical trials that are conducted at HHRI may very well benefit me this autumn, and potentially thousands of others will benefit as well. My goal is to raise $25,000, the amount necessary to initiate funding  a new clinical trial. Maybe it’s the one that will keep me going just a little bit longer. 

I’m asking for your help to strike a match and launch a trial. How?  Let me count the ways:

1.     Mark your calendar for September 12th and plan to walk with a partner or 2 or more. Have some fun thinking of all the ways you and your friends/family can match.

a.     Wear matching outfits (Some groups are wearing matching tee shirts and headbands)

Co-Captains of Chaparral Lake walk
Debi McBee and Judy Pearson

b.    Match the location you are walking (We are walking Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, MN and our matching team is walking Chaparral Lake in Scottsdale, AZ). Who will match your walk?  You can walk anytime and anywhere for any distance!

c.      Donate $1 or more to HHRI and find a friend to match your donation. Plus, every dollar donated will be matched by one of our sponsors. Potentially, all donations will be doubled!

d.    Ask your employer if they will match your donation to HHRI.

Wells Fargo, Intel, and others will match employee donations.  Just give them the website: HonorHealthFoundation.org/DiedresMatchWalk or request they send their matching donation to 

HonorHealth Foundation,

attn: Diedre’s Match Walk,                                                                                    8125 N. Hayden Road,                                                                                 Scottsdale, AZ 85258.

HonorHealth Foundation is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, Federal Tax Identification Number 74-2355411. A gift is deductible to the full extent of the law as no goods or services are provided in exchange for this gift. 

2.     Let Diedre know of anyone interested in being a Matching Sponsor or have them go to the Sponsorship Opportunities tab at HonorHealthFoundation.org/DiedresMatchWalk. 

     Sponsors are willing to match donations from individual donors when a certain level is met. For instance, one sponsor said they will match the first $1,000 raised by individuals with $1,000. Another is matching $5,000 when individual donations equal $5,000!

3.     100% of every dollar raised for Diedre’s Match Walk will be earmarked specifically for clinical trials for colon cancer. You can help me and others who are fighting to stay alive by helping launch more clinical trials for new treatments to extend lives.

Let’s strike a match together!

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