Why not today?

I have a long To Do list and I add to it regularly. So far it looks like I’m going to have to live to be 113 years old just to get them all done.

Good thing that just this week some scientists from Harvard announced that they were able to reverse the ageing process in mice. Give them 10 years and they’ll have a pill for humans. If my list gets any longer I’m going to need it.

Most of you probably have a list of things you’d love to do; places to go, people to see. Somehow we postpone all these tasks for some future date. We plan to do them when we get more time, or a bit more money, or some other reason.

An interesting question to ask yourself in the mirror each morning might be: if you knew you were going to die soon, would you still do the things you are going to do today?

If you answer no to that question too many days in a row, it might be time to get out that old To Do list and see which one you can do as soon as possible. Why wait till someday? Why not today?

Here’s a story about a woman and the circumstances that persuaded her to put the Walkathon on her To Do list.

Six years ago, at the age of 48, Anne Micallef’s life was turned upside down when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent the gruelling rounds of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Although traumatic Anne was lucky enough to have discovered the lump at an early stage and so her prognosis was good.

Eighteen months later though, just when she was getting back on her feet again, Anne was informed that the cancer had returned and she had to go through the whole process again. More surgery, more chemotherapy and more of the awful side-effects, including sickness and hair-loss.

Anne believes she was lucky as the tumour was again found at an early stage, proving the importance of early detection in saving lives.

With the help and support of family and friends, including the Breast Care Support Group, Anne recovered. But it wasn’t easy; exhaustion was a hurdle and she could only walk halfway down Republic Street before needing a rest.

Six years later, Anne’s husband Charles read in The Times about the Walkathon and proposed that they both put it on their To Do lists; but up high, near the top.

Never having been super-fit, this was not really the kind of task that would have occurred to Anne, but she decided to train with her husband and take part in order to raise awareness about breast cancer and the support group which she had found so valuable in her darkest times and in which she is now involved (www.bebreastaware.org).

Crediting early detection with helping her to overcome a double-bout of cancer, Anne is now a committed believer in self-examination and regular mammograms.

Her hope is that her participation in the Walkathon can be an example to other women that life can continue after breast cancer diagnosis and that even if someone reading this is currently undergoing treatment they should take heart; there is nothing to stop them one day feeling well enough to take part in a future Walkathon.

As part of her training, Anne recently walked 10km from Marsaxlokk to Valletta Waterfront and is taking part in the President’s Fun Run tomorrow. We wish her well.

M2S

Hoo-boy, the value of a few words in The Times. A large number of online entries have already been received for M2S. So anyone who would like to guarantee their entry should apply online by next week.

If all the 400 available entries are not taken up by Wednesday, the remaining entries will be accepted at the race start in Mdina on a first-come, first-served basis.

johnzwalsh@yahoo.com