Project Athena Grand Canyon hike
2008 was a big year for Sandy Kilburg.
Jacqueline Windh / 30.09.2009
Sandy only started running five years ago. What started as a small effort to drop a few pounds, walking and running around the block a few times, quickly grew to a full-on training program, with plans to compete in Montana’s 36 hr Berryman AR in September 2008.
But going in for her first routine mammogram when she turned 40, that January, threw a loop at those plans. With the unexpected diagnosis of breast cancer, Sandy had a mastectomy just one month later - but she put off her implant surgery until October, so she could still train for and run Berryman. That year, she completed a 10 hour race, then a 24 hour one, and then achieved her goal of completing Berryman. She had the implant sugery the following week.
Sandy, known as “Sunshineâ€Â? to her friends, is not one to let her life be derailed by something like cancer. In fact, it just gave her more to work on - and she is now an active poster on www.breastcancer.org, using her own experiences to help other women get information, not just about the disease, but to help them make the other many decisions in their lives that a diagnosis of breast cancer forces upon them, such as about plastic surgery and implants.
Sandy met Robyn Benincasa at an AR camp this past April, where Robyn was giving a speech on teamwork. “I just wanted to say something to her after,â€Â? says Sandy, “because I was totally impressed by her, and I really liked the Project Athena message ‘to survive and <u>strive</u>’ and she just said 'Sandy, you’ve really got to do the Grand Canyon trip with us.'"
The timing and the goals of the trip were perfect - Sandy had already been inspired to hike the Grand Canyon by a friend who had been there the year before. So Sandy applied for and received a Project Athena “athenashipâ€Â? grant. And, as I write, Sandy and 20 or so Project Athena gods and goddesses are converging on Phoenix airport - I’ll go and meet them all in two hours!
So on this trip there will be several of the Project Athena “founding membersâ€Â?, including Robyn (who, at the moment, is recovering from recent hip-resurfacing surgery - now she has <u>two</u> chrome hips - but hopes to be able to hike with us anyway) and Melissa Cleary and Florence Debout, as well as numerous Project Athena gods and goddesses, who have raised funds for the foundation in order to be able to participate, as well as grant recipient Sandy.
I’ve seen enough of Project Athena at work to know that this will be a spectacular few days - hard physical activity in the most emotionally supportive setting possible - and, on top, in one of the most classically beautiful places in the world. We’ll be hiking rim-to-rim-to-rim over two days... so stay tuned for my daily updates.
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