Colette Nichols Baltimore, Maryland United States Amazon Heart Thunder United States 2008 - New Rider Australia 2009 and United States 2009 Experienced Rider Click Here to Donate Now!

I love the tag line "What if breast cancer is just the start of an incredible journey?" It truly is a journey, one that is difficult at times and pure joy at others.  My motorcycle journey started just about a year ago when I first heard of Amazon Heart.  There were so many reason why I "couldn't" participate in a 1000 mile motorcycle ride.  Not the least of which was that I didnt know how to ride a motorcycle, no license, no motorcycle, recovering from 15 months of weekly chemo, and of course, no money to make any of this happen.  But happen it did, I believe simply because I was meant to participate in the Amazon Heart Thunder in September of 2008 in California.  To say that this journey has changed my life forever would be an understatement of huge magnitude.

Let me backtrack just a bit.  June of 2004 was the beginning of this journey.  It was then that I found a lump in my breast.  I put it off for a month, not telling anyone. Breast cancer was never even a thought in my mind, I was 38 and had never been touched by breast cancer in my family or friends.  June moved into July and mammograms and sonograms and into August and then September.  It was in September when I first met with the breast surgeon to have her look at all the results.  After a biopsy it was confirmed to be the "little c", (and I say little because cancer is just not that important to get a big c).  Surgery, recovery, chemotherapy, radiation and whew it was June of 2005.  One full year.  The whirlwind stopped and I began to settle into normalcy.  My hair was growing in and I was having fun dying it and getting it cut funky.  Time moved on and I wasn't very focused on breast cancer.  Even in July of 2006 when I was having trouble breathing I wasn't even thinking it was breast cancer.  It didn't take long to confirm that the cancer cells had metastasized to the lung.  And it was back to chemotherapy.  Weekly treatments and scans every 6 weeks.  By April of 2007 the scans were basically clear and I was beginning to hear "stable remission".  Once cancer has moved outside of the breast it is no longer considered curable, so stable remission is about the best it can get.  Since the chemo was working I kept it up until December 07. 

Feeling better and coming out of the chemo fog I attended the young survival coalition conference in February of this year.  Again I spotted the girls from Amazon Heart.  This time I took the time to talk with them and ask a few questions.  I took the info, figuring I would just file it away.  Bam!  Something hit me, DO IT! Stop putting it off.  Go for your dreams!  Maximize life!

So I got on it immediately, contacting my local Harley dealership, The Harley-Davidson Store of Baltimore.  I met  wonderful people who have worked very hard to support me every step of the way.

What an opportunity.  Not only can I help raise awareness and funds for breast cancer, but I get to move forward in this journey of life (on a motorcycle)!

I believe that I am supposed to be a part of this, the final AHT ride in CA, and therefore know the planets will allign, the universe will step up, and God will stir people to action so that I can continue on the journey. 

If you would like to read more about my motorcycle journey over the past year check out my blog www.myspace.com/colettesjourney.  Now I ask that you do two things 1).  Make a donation to Amazon Heart Thunder on my behalf to help them continue to fund peer support projects and breast cancer awareness. 2). Take the next step in your life journey, forget the excuses and know that if you are supposed to start your own adventure, you will!

Thanks
colette

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