Vital News
Teen Spirit
Jordan Carlson, a 17-year-old from North Carolina, has just walked 720 miles to raise money for breast cancer. Next, she'll participate in the first marathon dedicated to the cause.
11/2007
Inspired by her mother, Jan, a two-time breast cancer survivor, and by a magazine advertisement for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Carlson is totally devoted to the cause. "After witnessing my mother's battle, the minute I read the ad, I knew what I wanted to do," she says.
During a Breast Cancer 3-Day event, participants trek 20 miles daily, Friday through Sunday, with a different route each day. Carlson spent two years preparing for her quest (to participate in all 12 Breast Cancer 3-Day walks), which began August 3 in Boston and ended November 11 in San Diego. From her first training session to her final step, she says she covered about 2,500 miles, the distance from her home near Charlotte, N.C., to Los Angeles.
To gear up, she logged 600 miles a month, increased the pace on her treadmill running, and underwent intense endurance conditioning. Her trainer, a retired Army Special Forces Specialist, put Carlson through a boot camp-like regime called Cross Fit, which focused on multiple repetitions with no rest periods. In a typical session, she performed 100 push-ups, 100 squats, and 100 pull-ups nonstop. The hard work paid off. "It was smooth sailing," she says. "No blisters, no soreness, no injuries."
The training also helped condition her mind to combat the stress of travel and the mental strain of putting one foot in front of the other for hours on end. What kept her motivated? Memories of her mother surviving two bouts of surgery and chemotherapy-at age 36 and again at 42, when Carlson was 9 years old. "Every time I walked, I thought about how my mother survived, but I also remembered that it's not just about her, but other families, too. Everyone has a story."
Carlson raised more than $60,000 herself, and sponsorships pushed the total to more than $600,000-all of which goes toward research such as the ongoing Sister Study, a long-term nationwide study of 50,000 women who have sisters with breast cancer. Hopefully this work, and others like it, can reduce the current rate of incidences from 1 in 8 women (it was 1 in 10 in the 1970s) and increase the survival rate beyond 89 percent.
The challenges aside, Carlson hopes her quest motivates others. "Everyone has a cause," she says. "You just need to find it and set a goal for how you can help, and then strive to reach it. Once you do, make another; whether it's helping raise more money or bringing greater awareness to the cause."
Carlson has already set her next goal: She's planning to run in the inaugural 26.2 With Donna, a marathon to be held February 17, 2008, in Jacksonville, Fla., with all proceeds going to breast cancer research. She's also putting together a couple of fund-raising concerts at home in Charlotte. At the same time, Carlson is finishing her last semester of high school and applying for college, where she hopes to major in philanthropy. Says Carlson, "I believe I'll be a philanthropist my whole life."
Read Carlson's personal blog about her 12-event journey at jordan720.com or make a donation at the3day.org/boston07/jordancarlson720.
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