I would be lying if I said David Cook wasn’t the reason I first heard about the Race for Hope. As I’ve said here before, my family was touched by Brain Cancer the same time that news of his brother Adam’s battle broke while he competed on American Idol. However, he is not the reason I’ve joined the race all these years. The reason for that is a desire to have played even the smallest role in helping a find a Cure for this killer and to irradiate the spread of yellow balloons. The reason I join his team is because of the person he is. Let’s be honest; every person who is there is interwoven together by tragedy and heartache but it is the hope and grace that Cook shows off that leads me to his team year after year.
So what do I have against yellow balloons?
At the race the survivors are each given a yellow balloon and two years ago as the runners started, I noticed that Cook, his father, and surviving brother standing directly across the street from where I was photographing the survivors, and all three of them were holding on to the same yellow balloon, look to heaven and let the balloon go to Adam. Last year, Cook once again led the survivors out on this walk to the speakers aptly playing his song “HEROES.” As the crowd reached the starting line to thunderous applause, I noticed his black shirt nearing a small group of people who I quickly realized were his parents, step parents, and younger brother. Recalling the balloon the Cook men sent to the sky in tribute to Adam (Cook’s older brother who died from the disease two years ago,) I fixated my eyes on them to see if it happened again. Indeed, the father and two sons again gathered slightly to the side of everyone else holding a yellow balloon, but this time, before releasing it, they motioned over toward the rest of the family and two blond children ran over to stand in between them. The children were Adam’s daughter and son and this time they were handed the balloon, which was then released skyward as all five Cooks watched it fly.
Both years this was done with no fanfare, no media attention just a beautiful yet simple moment that reminded me, just because we don't see our loved ones anymore, it doesn't mean they are gone. It brings comfort and calm to the heart but anyone who has ever lost anyone they love (regardless of what took them) knows that feelings that you are not alone, memories, and the proverbial “I’ll always be with you” can never take the place of a hug, nor can it fill the seat left vacant in the special moments of our lives or evil the aching hole in your heart. It is too late to bring back everyone who has already fallen victim to brain cancer but I race so that one day every yellow balloon remains on the ground and with the people who love them.
2012 Race for Hope - DC: Ms. Elisa Donahue - Race for Hope - DC
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