June 19th of this year, my mother passed away, after a brave, seventeen-year-long battle against breast cancer. Throughout this struggle she never ceased to give anything other than 100% effort to everything. For my sisters and I, and our two dogs, she was a better mom than we could’ve ever asked for, all while combatting this terrible disease.

Even on days when she could barely stand it, she was adamant about walking the dogs. It was a sign not only of her love for the dogs, but also of her desire to keep moving, and to make the most of she could do. Everything was about living life to the fullest with my mother; if there was a trail we hadn’t been to, we were going to walk it; if there was any game to be played, she was going to win. So though she may have longed to run like she once had before cancer, she would proudly walk instead for as long as she could manage, simply because she could.

Though her struggle is over, I hope we can all be inspired by her constant resolve, and keep up the fight against cancer. My mother will no longer go on walks, but we still can. And though she’ll no longer be winning at all our family competitions, we can all still work together to win the fight against cancer.