My daughter, Sierra, has had a lot in her young life to deal with. Things a lot of us never have to in our entire lives. This past summer was no different unfortunately. She lost one of her gym teachers from last year to breast cancer.
Jan was an amazing woman through Sierra’s eyes. Sierra would ask what she could do to earn an extra dollar or two so that she could take Jan a candy bar. Jan had told Sierra that the chocolate helped her fight the cancer. Sierra being the loving person that she is to everyone she meets embraced this woman knowing what the outcome could be and still loved her unconditionally.
She would come home in the evenings and tell me and my husband about the day and would talk about Jan. My husband and I both were curious about the development since she was not Sierra’s direct gym coach. However, nothing we could do would prepare Sierra for the final outcome. We had no warning of how bad it would get. No time to prepare Sierra when she found out.
She went to pick up her schedule for the school year when she received the news while asking when Jan would be back at school. Sierra cannot tell you that she picked up her schedule, she cannot tell you that she met her new principal. All she remembers of that day was that her 6th grade principal gave her the news.
We sat for two days with her crying. Unable to help her understand how to cope with this loss. The loss of someone she had come to love unconditionally, the way we should all love. I hope that everyone one day can be so loving and generous as she is. However, it doesn’t stop there. My daughter is 12 years old. She is still a child.
Instead of just crying and “getting over it,” she began to ask me for ideas of how to help change things. She wanted to know how she could make people understand and get help so that no one else would have to hurt like she was and that no one else would have to suffer like Jan did. We discussed things back and forth then she heard about the Komen Race for the Cure marathon.
Sierra decided of all things that she could do that would be easy or quick, she wanted to run the race. So I emailed the organizer. I told her the story of Sierra. I did not give any details to the race organizer of names but she knew that it was Jan. She gave the information to Jan’s daughter. Jan’s daughter in turn invited Sierra and Sierra’s best friend who was running with her to join her team “Jan’s Gang.”
When we showed up for the race they all started the race together and as they finished the race they cheered for each other. As a whole that day they were there for each other through race the same way Sierra stuck with Jan.
It’s my hope that everyone can be part of “Jan’s Gang” and remember that we are all in this together. We all are there for each other. We all deserve the love and support that we can give for one another.
—Brett Washam
Thank you Brett for sharing your (and your daughter’s) story.