Semicolon Stories

Crawling The Colon Into 30

December 22, 2013 at 6:48 pm Danielle B 3 comments

It hit me early into this year that my 30th would be approaching. A complex bag of emotions soon arrived at my emotional doorway. My birthday is always bittersweet to me – it’s something about surviving and celebrating another year that gets me into this weird state of woeful yet sentimental and thankful. But this year, I was entering a new decade to top things off. A decade that if we were to be honest, many of my family, friends and doctors might have doubted that I see a near 13 years ago. A decade that like it or not (I loved my twenties), I was about to enter.

I thought about planning trips and friends’ gatherings to celebrate the big bash, but nothing seemed to fit. Nothing except the idea of bringing the Crawl The Colon tour to Kansas City felt right. So we got plans rolling. And everything fell into place. I mean everything. Not even a rain/snowstorm the day before stopped us. Or should I say Mark, the most amazing, dedicated driver that left extra early to make sure the colon arrived for my big day. There was something about the way the event went down that I knew it was “meant to be.”

There are so many people to thank for helping make my big b-day event a great success (see a list of a few of them below…). Not only was it a “success” in terms of event planning and fundraising (we raised close to $3,000 and estimate that we had between 200-250 visitors that day); but I cannot say thank you enough to everyone for helping me enter a new era with excitement. Not only did my birthday event make me feel extremely loved, but it allowed me to share my passion for colorectal cancer and my faith with my community.

I could not have asked for a better way to enter this new decade. It’s an unforgettable memory that will forever be a highlight of my life.

Enjoy Some Pics…

THANK YOU to everyone who sponsored, donated, volunteered and promoted!

The location…

• New Summit Church

Sponsors…

• The Colon Club
• Fight Colorectal Cancer
• Andrew J. Somora Foundation
• Dan Ripley – State Farm Agent
• University of Kansas Cancer Center

For the silent auction donations…

• Carol St. Clair (my mom) for rounding up many of her friends who made several items auctioned off!
• Terri Williams
• Balance Point Heating & Cooling
• ShilohMae – Custom Sewn Accessories
• Deb Sprague
• Sharion Cranston’s Scentsy
• Brummel Lawn
• InspectorNick.com
• Brian Wehner
• Bodies Personal Training
• Dynamic Spine & Joint Center
• V’s Italiano Restaurante
• Fantasma Imagery
• Dr. Taormina at Midwest Gastroenterology
• Benlon family
• Suzie G. for tons of donations through Kris Saim

For coffee and cookies…

• Starbucks Coffee off 39th St. in Independence
• Tasty Arts by Design
• Divine Desserts & Cakes
• Emily Loving

For live music..

• Adam Chiarelli
• Levi Dalton
• Jonathan & Malarie Tucker
• Jeff Class

For promoting…

• Lee’s Summit Tribune
• Lee’s Summit Journal
• Fox 4 KC
• KC Star (article coming out in January!)

Entry filed under: Everything Colon. Tags: 30th bday, crawl the colon, survivor.