A MESSAGE FROM Miles For Mommy- Jenna’s Fundraising Page
Miles For Mommy
I grew up in an extremely loving, happy, and active household. My parents were both avid runners- running marathons, half marathons, 5Ks and fun runs whenever they had the chance. So it came at no surprise when I began joining my parents on these long runs and got the itch to begin training for a full marathon myself. In October of 2021, I decided to sign up for the Austin Marathon that was taking place in February 2022. My Mom & Dad, my two biggest supporters, decided to also join me on my journey. My Dad trained for the full marathon while my Mom (very easily might I add) trained for the half.
The day of the race was one of the best days of my life. Not only because I had accomplished this huge goal I had made for myself, but my Mom was the first person I saw at the finish line, and the only person I heard cheering as loud as she could. She was jumping up and down screaming "LET'S GO JENNAAA!" It was a moment in time I will hold closer to my heart than any other memory and one I will never forget, because it was also the last weekend I got to spend with my amazing Mommy in person.
February 20th, 2022 was race day. On March 4th, 2022, just 10 days after the race, my beautiful, healthy, courageous and loving Mommy suffered a brain arteriovenous malformation rupture while skiing with my Dad. On March 13th, she suffered one more and tragically left us on March 14th, 2022. I will truly never understand why this happened so suddenly, and to a perfectly healthy human being who had just completed a half marathon so recently. She was, and always will be, our family's everything. It was an utter tragedy losing her in such a capacity, and our family is still recovering. However, she was a person who lived her life to the absolute fullest each and every day. She led with love and by example showed her friends and family what it meant to live in the present moment. She was active and stunning, happy and proud- of herself and of her family. So as my mom lived every day to the fullest, I am now taking her lead in doing the same and continuing my running journey, but now in her honor. I plan to run each and every mile for Mommy for the rest of my life, just as she crushed so many miles, and milestones, in her own life.
I have joined Team BAF (Brain Aneurysm Foundation) in hopes to continue their mission to spread awareness and save lives. Losing someone so tragically and suddenly is devastating. My mother's rupture is led to believe she suffered from a brain aneurysm. This foundation works closely with people who have lost loved ones in the same capacity- too quickly and all too soon. I want to do something about that. 1 in 50 people has an unruptured aneurysm. That equals 6.5 million people in the United States. 30,000 people in the U.S. suffer a rupture each year and half of those do not survive. Please support me as I run in the TCS New York City Marathon to raise awareness of brain aneurysms and funds for the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. Help me as I strive to change those statistics by helping the BAF continue their mission to spread awareness and save lives. Brain aneurysms are beatable and treatable if detected early. Awareness can save lives- and I plan to do anything in my power to beat these statistics to help families across the country who have lost loved ones to causes like this.
Thank you so much for supporting this cause, and supporting this goal of mine in honor of my amazing Mom. I can't wait to cross that finish line, with George Michael's "Freedom!" playing in my ears- my mom's favorite running song that happened to play as she crossed her own final finish line. I run my Miles For Mommy- today, and every day.
xoxo, Jenna Kate
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