National Brain Tumor Awareness Month

As you know, we've been doing pull-ups every day this month to bring attention to National Brain Tumor Awareness month. But.... did you know:

• There are over 600,000 people in the US living with a primary brain tumor diagnosis.

• More than 60,000 adults and children will be newly diagnosed this year.   This year alone!

• Brain tumors are the leading cause of death from solid tumors in children under the age of 20, and are the third leading cause of death from cancer in young adults ages 20-39.   Leading cause of death in children…  No child should have to experience this.  Third leading cause of death from cancer in young adults…  Third.

• Brain tumors may be either malignant or non-malignant (“benign”), but can be life-threatening in either case.  Depending on the location in the brain, even benign tumors can be life-threatening.

So pull-ups are great and we're definitely getting stronger but let's remember why we're doing them. Think of Sarah, think of Lauriel, and think of the 600,000 people in the US living with this diagnosis when you're doing them. That's a lot of people who's lives have been changed forever.

Prior to this month, I could string together four dead hang pull-ups in a row without coming off of the bar. Twenty-four days into this challenge, my new max rep dead hang pull-ups sits at NINE! Before this month, my weighted dead hang pull-ups was at 5# plus a chain. Yesterday I pulled myself up twice with an additional 23# plus a chain! AND.... the month isn't over! As a group, we're sitting at 2,000 pull-ups for the month of May! If you've jumped in and done a few pull-ups this month for brain tumor awareness (even if you're not a member of Kitsap CrossFit), PLEASE add your name and number to our spreadsheet! It would mean a lot to us and, well, you've already done the work - let us know about it! Thank you to everyone who has read this post. As Lauriel said in the very beginning, "There are plenty of times where I was down and relied on others to lift me up. This isn't a fund raiser, it's about raising awareness and lifting up people when they get down." Just being aware is one step closer to lifting up someone in need. 

Lauriel and I pulling for a cure...

... after a brutal WOD with a lot of pull-ups in it.

We didn't have much in us that day...

... But we gave it everything we had and did it together.