For 12 years, thousands have come together to not just run and raise money, but to join the fight against cancer.
There are so many stories that will be crossing that finish line at Miles for Moffitt.
Stories of survival, courage, and strength. Two of those people we brought together to meet for the first time. One who has beaten cancer and one whose fight has just begun.
“I'm Chris Brewer. I'm 35. I have two little girls. I finished battling Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I had 8 rounds of chemo, 3 weeks of radiation, and was told in December I was in remission.”
“My name is Veronica Kilkelly and I'm 50. And I have Stage 4 colon cancer. It's hard to say it. I was diagnosed in February with a routine colonoscopy and it's been an adjustment. I have three girls; 8, almost 10 and 12.”
When somebody says that to you, that you have cancer, what goes through your head?
“I felt like, I was in my own world and I couldn't hear anybody. I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to talk to anybody I just, it was mental, personal and physical silence,” says Chris.
I kept trying to convince myself this is going to be ok. You try to think your way out of it, but it didn't. I still have flashbacks to that moment. I just wanted to disappear,” says Veronica.
But instead, Veronica started to fight. She's now halfway through 12 rounds of chemotherapy.
“When you look at your entire life, the amount of time you go through treatment is very minimal, but what it is going to have is an impact on you is going to be huge,” Chris told Veronica.
“Ok, you’re very positive, very inspiring. I should have met you in February.”
“You met me now,” says Chris.
The two of them shared, that with a cancer diagnosis, comes a new perspective.
“My husband's snoring does not bother me anymore. It doesn't! It used to,” says Veronica.
“That's one of the things that I would say probably affected me the most was just seeing the good in everybody. It was just amazing.” Says Chris.
“It's amazing. There is more good out there than I realize.”
Some of those people are Veronica's Girl Scouts Troop. The 4th-grade girls signed up for Miles for Moffitt and had t-shirts made with the name "Team Veronica." Chris' team is "Your Pace or Mine." He's running with a woman who was going through treatments at the same time. This will be the first Miles for Moffitt for both of them.
“I've always wanted to do Moffitt, never thought this was the reason I'd be doing Moffitt race,” says Veronica.
Thanks to this unexpected meeting, it’s not the only finish line, they’ll be crossing together.
“You're going to beat this. We're going to celebrate next year, Deal?” Chris tells Veronica.
“Alright. It's a deal. We're going to celebrate,” says Veronica.
Then on Wednesday, just two days after they met, Chris was there at her 6th chemo treatment. Her halfway point.
There's still time for you to sign up for or donate to Miles for Moffitt.
