Sunday, January 29th, 2012. That day changed my life. My whole entire life.

It was the night we rushed Matt to the hospital with extreme belly pain. I was “positive” it was Appendicitis. He couldn’t stand. He kept saying it felt like razor blades were cutting through his belly. And he just looked miserable. I actually remember driving to the hospital that night saying to Matt, “So do you feel really sick? Or sick, sick?” I wanted to really know what he thought was going on. Truthfully, I wasn’t scared, I just wanted to know what was wrong.

And then we found out. And that was something I wasn’t prepared for.

I’ll never forget Matt calling me at 4AM on the morning of January 30th. I had been with him at the hospital since 6PM that previous night and he sent me home to be with the kids. When the phone rang at 4AM, my heart stopped. I was almost prepared for news before I heard it.

“It’s a tumor.”

That’s all he said.

I remember the first words out of my mouth were, “Are you kidding me?”

I could tell by his tone that he wasn’t. And in that moment, our lives changed. Just like that.

The next 24 hours went like a flash. We moved Matt to another hospital and he underwent surgery to have the tumor removed. I sat in the waiting room like a zombie. When the surgeon came out, I literally just collapsed. What was he going to say? My father and brother were with me when came out to tell me that the surgery was more invasive than they had thought. The tumor had punctured a hole in Matt’s colon, which was causing the extreme pain. Fortunately they were able to get everything out. I asked the question I didn’t want to know the answer to out of complete fear… “Did it look bad?”

The surgeon just looked me dead in the eye and said, “It was a big tumor.” And he continued to tell me that we’d just have to wait for the pathology report. The waiting game. 8 long days. 8 days that I hated.

Matt was officially diagnosed with a GIST Tumor on February 8th, 2012. Out of the scenarios what could have been, this was the best case scenario… believe me, I would have loved the report to come back with the diagnosis as “fatty tissue,” but that just wasn’t the case. GIST Tumor is a rare tumor, especially for someone Matt’s age… and because of the size and the measurements, they sent us to Dana Farber to get opinions on what to do and how to treat it. His doctor at Dana Farber told us that they treat all GIST Tumors as malignant, and they recommended a 3 year regimen of a chemo pill called Gleevec. Without doing any treatment, Matt had a chance of a 25% chance of the tumor recurring. With the Gleevec he has a less than 10%… we like those odds better.

The irony of all ironies… Gleevec was approved by the FDA for patients with GIST Tumors on February 1st, 2012… 8 days before Matt’s diagnosis. Matt started the pill in March and has been on it for 6 weeks now. So far, so good.

Which brings me to the 1/2 marathon.

Towards the end of February I was thinking about something I could do to give back. I actually thought of donating my hair, and was VERY ready to chop 12 inches right off. As I was looking for information on where to send it, I read that hair has to be non-color-treated. Unfortunately mine is.

I don’t know why, but then I thought of running. I felt running was something I could do, and if I could raise money for Dana Farber, all the better. That very day I signed up for the COX 1/2 Marathon in Providence. I knew I couldn’t write a check for $1500 for Dana Farber, but I knew I could try and raise the money. And so, that was my mission.

I’m proud to announce that I have reached my goal, but I’m trying to get as much as I can. I’ve seen what happens when money is raised… miracles happen and lives are saved. Words cannot describe.

Over the last 3 months I’ve learned a few things that I will never forget…

I appreciate ALL the moments. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Sunday afternoon with nothing going on or a family gathering. It’s the moments.

If you have love, embrace and honor it. Matt is the LOVE of my life. He is my everything. Hold extra tighter to the ones you love. I’ll never forget watching a movie with Matt the first Friday night he was home. Movie night took on a whole new meaning.

Tomorrow as I run/walk this 1/2 marathon I’m going to keep Matt in my mind as my motivation and inspiration. I’m terrified to do this because I haven’t trained properly, but I’m ready to do this for my husband.

So 1/2 marathon… here I come!