I dubbed my blog “Why am I here?” It seemed an appropriate title because I spent a good part of my early involvement with the Sole 2 Soul for MPN™ team wondering how I arrived here and what my role would look like. After all, I was the only one on the team that was merely a supporter or friend of a patient with an MPN – not someone with an MPN, a spouse of a patient or one of the unfortunate members who have lost a loved one to an MPN. But a lot has transpired since I wrote that initial blog and appropriately have named the sequel blog, “Why I am here”. Just a simple juxtaposition of two small words and it changes the question to a statement of affirmation. I now know why I was there.

For me, my Sole 2 Soul for MPN™ experience was far more than two amazing hiking experiences through the Colorado and Canadian Rockies, but rather a summer-long journey. A journey that would give me direction and purpose. While along the way, raise money, MPN awareness and more importantly for me, raise the spirits of my Sole 2 Soul for MPN™ teammates and offer a little extra encouragement or smile along the way.

I feel my journey officially began in late May when I received a number of documents from the exploration company that would be guiding us in the Rockies. The documentation included equipment, gear and clothing requirements, a training and nutritional plan, and a daunting 12-week workout program – understand we were, at that point, only four weeks from our Colorado hike and 10 weeks from the Waterton Park trek. So with no time to waste, I committed to the training program, much of which asked that our hikes include hills and certain elevation gains – things that are hard to come by in southeastern Massachusetts. So to compensate, I filled two large zip-lock bags with sand, loaded them into my backpack – now 20 pounds heavier – and began daily hikes in the woods across from my school.

Once school got out and we returned from our Colorado trip, those training hikes grew into lengthy hikes in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with my MPN hero and Sole 2 Soul for MPN™ teammate, Gary Linehan. He, after all, was the initial reason I got involved in the initiative. Some of the highlights of our training hikes included the Franconia Ridge and just a week prior to trip to Waterton, we tackled a strenuous loop that included Mount Washington (New Englands’s highest peak) and Mount Clay. For me, every step of every hike was part of the overall mission. We wore our matching bright blue CURE® Sole 2 Soul for MPN™ t-shirts which garnered much attention and were cause for many interactions and conversations with others along the trail. We followed each of those hikes with social media blasts and watched as interest and followers grew.

So in the end it was clear – I knew why I was there.

Yes, it was to raise money and awareness for MPNs, but it was certainly more than that. For me, I found a summer of purpose. Thank you all for allowing me to experience a summer like no other.

To all of my new MPN heroes, I will keep you all in my heart.