Walking to remember

Times Reporter    

 

On the morning of Oct. 20, Mary Marshman laced up her runners and began her 13.1mile (22km) walk in San Francisco. This was a walk she will never forget, and one she embarked on to remember. Marshman walked to remember her husband Dwayne in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training walk. 

Dwayne was diagnosed in June of 2010 with Mantel Cell Lymphoma, a rare form of cancer. He lost his battle on Aug. 24, 2012. 

“When Dwayne was in the hospital I had seen the banner (for Team in Training) on Unit 57… they always had the banner hanging up there and I said to myself, ‘Mary one day you are going to go in that walk.’ I had kind of forgotten about it,” said Marshman. 

Last May, while at a women’s retreat in Calgary, she came across a booth where people were selling bracelets for the walk. She gathered information and signed herself up. Marshman began training, opting to go at it alone, taking walks around Rockyford and her fields. 

“The reason why I wanted to do it was to for sure honour Dwayne’s memory, because he was such a … he was my everything,” said Marshman.

Raising funds to help further the research being done is also paramount and another big reason why Marshman chose to walk with the Team in Training. All money she raised stays in Canada.

“Even with the research that had come through, even though it didn’t save Dwayne’s life, it gave him three years that he would never have had if the research hadn’t been there to put in place the treatments.”

There were 30,000 women and a few good men who walked that foggy day in San Francisco. There was a banquet where top donors from the United States were recognized, and Marshman realized out of those 30,000 women, she would have likely been number 11 of the top fundraisers, a realization that made her feel both proud and humble. From August until November she was able to raise $16,650, which she credits to all the people that supported and believed in her and Dwayne. 

“It’s something I am so thankful I took the opportunity to do because there’s that feeling that I hope I never forget, it was so many things and even still today I don’t know what word would best describe, it was very profound, it was surreal, it was fun. I loved doing it, it was great,” said Marshman. “When you think you are doing something for somebody else you are so richly awarded, you receive so much back that. I’m very, very grateful for the people in my life and the people that sponsored me and I am just very honoured to be from Rockyford.”
It took her four hours to complete the half marathon. While she was walking, Marshman had the chance to hear some of the stories from the other women, which was a very powerful feeling. 
“We were all just there to remember, to honour those people in our lives whatever their story is, and just to remember.” 

Dwayne had always been a strong worker and community oriented. He coached hockey and then ringette. In 2010 Ringers for a Reason was held in Rockyford to help raise money, the community wanted to give back to the man that had given them so much. $50,000 was raised and the funds were donated to purchase iPads for the Cancer Unit at Foothills hospital. Dwayne was a staple in the community and when he passed he left a hole in the hearts of everyone. “He really, really had such an inspiring attitude that he taught us so much, he just gave us such that gifts that at the end of the day I remember that I have so much to be thankful for. Even if he isn’t in our lives anymore he gave us so much. I had him in my life for almost 38 years so I remember to be very thankful for that because it is a gift,” said Marshman. Their family learned to live one day at a time, and truly live it that way. Marshman said she needs to figure out how to hold onto that and keep that in her everyday living, to just live in the moment. 
 “That’s one thing cancer teaches you, or a terminal illness, is just to stay in the day and to be very grateful,” said Marshman. Anyone wishing to donate still can by going to www.teamintraining.ca, click on donate and enter Mary Marhsman’s name. Last fall the Calgary Health Trust contacted her and asked if they could use Dwayne’s story to help raise funds. They sent out 60,000 letters and raised over $171,000, the most they have ever raised in a single campaign. “I think to myself, ‘Dwayne you are still raising money, you are still giving back’,” said Marshman. “He really was quite a guy, I was very blessed and proud and honoured to have been his wife. What I know now is that a lifetime isn’t long enough, no matter what that life time is it’s not long enough, because even if I had been married to Dwayne for 60 years I would not have wanted to see him go.”