I'm frustrated. And when I get frustrated, I need to vent in order to come up with a plan of action and set things right in my head. Some people make lists, some people exercise (I tried that tonight and it didn't work), and some people write. I don't usually share my venting of frustrations but this one is something that is dear to my heart and I feel the need to share. I know I said when I started this blog that this one would be separate from my running blog so I apologize now for combining the two in this post.
Many of you know that I have now run two marathons to raise money for the Arthritis Society over the past 4 years through their Joints in Motion program for my good friend Katherine, who lives with rheumatoid arthritis. Both experiences left me feeling frustrated with a program that is supposed to support you in both fundraising and training, yet the participants I met from BC were left feeling like we went through the program on our own fighting for every answer we received to fairly important questions. The second experience was worse than the first and the feeling of disorganization didn't just come from the BC participants that time, it came from participants all across Canada. We were told in a "hush, hush" way at the end of our program in the Bahamas that changes were happening to the program to make it better and more profitable. I meant to write a letter about my experience to aid in the "changing" of the program but I got busy and my letter fell by the wayside never to be written. I now wish I had.
Yesterday I pried some information out of Katherine about her health and was sent reeling again with the feeling that I needed to do something to change how rheumatoid arthritis is devastating the life of some of my dear friends. When I came home from work I immediately went onto the Joints in Motion website to check out their "new and improved" program only to find out that they no longer offer a portal in BC. Pardon me!?! A society that has lost all funding for research due to government cut backs has now cut a fundraising program, where they stated that money raised in BC stays in BC, out of BC!?! How on earth is this considered new and improved!?!
I spent a sleepless night last night trying to figure out a way to change this. It is ridiculous after all. How can they cut a program that is mirrored from a very successful program run by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (Team in Training). How can this program (Joints in Motion) not be making the Arthritis Society money when it seems to be bringing in plenty of funds and recruits through cancer. Is that it? Is it that arthritis isn't seen as being as prevalent or as horribly devastating as cancer? I don't think so. Those of us who are privy to the struggles of someone living with arthritis know just how horrible it is. We know it affects not only the person who lives with the disease, but also their loved ones who try their best to understand the struggle of being in constant pain and having to live with a body that is failing them. ...And then the one thing that I meant to write my letter about hit me. They don't have the right people working for them. And now because of a lovely person, but terribly disorganized coordinator, BC no longer has a program and I fear that this will happen through the rest of the country as well.
Ironically Heather and I joked in the Bahamas about taking over the coordinator position in BC and now here I am, trying to come up with a way to raise money for the Arthritis Society in BC now that the program has been cut. The way I knew how to do this in the past was to raise money by running a marathon and I am thinking this is how I will do this again. I just can't sit by and watch my friends lives and health continue to deteriorate before my eyes without fighting to find a cure. Though I don't have the logistics figured out quite yet, I'm fairly certain that I will be running another marathon to raise money for arthritis research at the end of 2014 or beginning of 2015. Anyone else up for joining in the fun???
If my very rough plan of 24 hours comes to fruition, I plan to make it a marathon that I have not run before somewhere that I haven't been before. I would hope to raise $4,000 - $5,000 for arthritis research, ensure my donors receive proper tax receipts, and find a way to ensure those funds stay in BC. I would love to have any and all of you join me in this adventure. If any of you have suggestions on how we can make this happen, please feel free to throw them my way!
Katherine, Heather, Andrea, and David, I will not give up on finding a way to bring funds in for the BC/Yukon division of the Arthritis Society. Though my thoughts are just that right now, I promise you, I will find a way to make this happen again. Your paths have crossed mine, you have each changed my life for the better and I care far too much about each and every one of you to just give up. I made a promise to all of you before I ran the Bahamas marathon and I plan to keep that promise to, Never. Give. Up!
Health and Happiness,
Lisa
