Along any journey, we find allies who help guide us. Many of these allies are mentors, friends and colleagues - like-minded people who have walked the walk and share of their experiences and talents to help us grow. Allies abound at a place like Olympia Sports Camp because the camp cultivates a sense of community and teamwork that stimulates allies and lifelong friends for us to meet and learn from. The book A Hero’s Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp is full of such stories.
But sometimes allies find us, and the result can be something we never saw coming and our journey is much more enriching because of them. Let me introduce you to Jennifer Sharman.
A year or so ago, a group of local leaders in Burlington launched a web news site, entitled local-news.ca, and asked if I would like to contribute. I wrote a few articles, even one about Olympian Brady Heslip, and I submitted them to a local editor who brought my words alive. I was proud of what was produced, and proud to be on the ground floor of this new entity. I enjoyed the process but noticed that the effort to write these articles was getting in the way of the time needed to work on my book, my number one priority. I decided that I would love to keep writing local articles but not until after I completed the writing journey of this book.
I wrote an email to the group explaining my thoughts and said that I would love to write again when the time was right, and I wished them well.
I got an email response from Jennifer, a woman I had never met or talked to, who turned out to be the editor that I had submitted my articles to. She said that she enjoyed my writing and if I was looking for an editor for my book to give her a call. To me, this was life pushing me in a direction I needed to go. I gave her a call. That connection became a turning point in my journey.
In one of our first phone conversations, I told Jennifer about one aspect of the hero’s journey is that we must embrace and deal with whatever positives and negatives we encounter on our journey, slaying the dragons and encountering allies, and learn from both. As we embrace both as part of the journey we are on, the life lessons stay with us and guide us.
This explanation of where this book was going got Jennifer to share a story from her journey that demonstrates the strength and wisdom we have in us to get through what life brings.
Four years ago, Jennifer was diagnosed with colon cancer. She was 37. She had a four-year-old daughter named Zara at the time and was a community health coordinator for the Carpenter hospice in Burlington. She had to give up the job that she loved. She had surgery two weeks after diagnosis and 12 rounds of chemotherapy at Joseph Brant hospital. The chemo was tough, and she had some side-effects, but she appreciated the oncologists, her surgeon, and the nurses at Jo Brant who were all fantastic. Looking back, Jennifer also considers herself lucky to have the support of her husband, family, friends, and the Wellspring Cancer Support Centre in Oakville. She learned a lot about being a patient and realized a lot of people don’t have the support system she had, she noted that some don’t even have a family doctor to catch things early, which was key for Jennifer, or have other barriers like English as a second language. After the harrowing experience with cancer, I was amazed with Jennifer’s heroic qualities of thinking of others and how lucky she was while going through her cancer treatment That’s an ally.
When the side-effects subsided, Jennifer decided to get back into editing. She had been editing on and off for 20 years while working on her anthropology degrees, and that’s how she was editing for local-news.ca, and that’s how we met. Pure happenstance. I’m amazed the way in which I found such an ally, and the impact she has had on this project despite having no prior knowledge of anything Olympia. For sure she now knows the ’bat off the shoulder’ story!
When Jennifer and I started our now-shared journey, she was in the final trimester of her second pregnancy and she gave birth to Frances, who they call Frankie. Another life blessing. Life dealt Jennifer a tough hand with cancer yet blessed her with two daughters. Zara is now a great big sister. Life is good! And Jennifer is cancer-free.
You know those oncology nurses at Jo Brant who were all so awesome? I took a shot and asked her who her favourite nurses were. She said Jess and Joy. Patients only know first names but now Jennifer knows Joy’s last name too!
We are all connected. To me the fact that this editor I just met through community writing and who had never heard of Olympia was treated by my wife is such a coincidence that it really isn’t. In some universe of connectivity, Jennifer and I were meant to meet in order for this book to be its best, and the result of her efforts make this journey so much more complete, and enjoyable. Having an ally that seemingly comes out of nowhere to impact my journey is a cool result of taking this journey on in the first place. I have met a lot of inspiring, and inspired people because of the connection to Olympia, but allies can come into your lives when you least expect it. To me, meeting another “Olympian” to do my editing is a new universe of connection that makes this book writing process even more special.
Pay It Forward. 2022 will be a great year as the camp will return and flourish, but we need to be allies. The camp website is www.olympiasportscamp.com Register your kids. Get your kids to get a few friends to join them at camp. Send a note to your club teams, your school teams. Do it for the kid whose life will be changed because they got to go to Olympia Sports Camp in the summer of 2022. Help spread the vibe that after two years the best sports camp in Canada ( with the four reasons we hear at every opening) will be back and be better than ever.
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