Woohoo, we made it! All in one piece and exhausted, but happy!

One thing that we had to discuss yesterday was how we'd proceed if me, Véronique or Erin would need to turn around before the others: Would we all turn around to stick together? Or split so that at least one of us could go to the bottom of the Canyon? There was no good answer to that, and fortunately we never had to choose. Erin is an amazing 11-year-old who hiked to Indian Garden and back with a smile on her face!

I'll spare you any attempt at describing the Canyon itself: the pictures and the video will do an infinitely better job. While we prepared for the hike, I couldn't help but imagine what climbing back up would be like. I was ready to deal with it the way I had dealt with the recovery from the initial onset of multiple myeloma. Slow, one step at a time. But the canyon had so many surprises in stock for me! There was rain and freezing wind when my imagination had pictured unbearable heat. There was luxuriant vegetation where I had only pictured red rocks. And while I knew the view would be amazing (and it surely was), how could I have dreamed of sharing it with the incredible people that the fight against multiple myeloma had assembled today!

So if there is one thing I want to remember when I'll need to gather my energy for the next fight against the disease, it is that life will always have so many more surprises than what my imagination will tell me, and that sharing them with loving friends and family is all that matters.

- Frederic