Merry Christmas!  In what has become my favorite week of the entire year…I have decided to finally make a decision about the winner of my 2013 Pay It Forward athlete.

First, thanks to everyone who entered.  I was touched by all your stories and honestly, wanted to sell my house, SUV and start a non-for profit organization to do more with my time and energy —  You all are amazingly inspiring!

Courtney Javorski is the winner!  Courtney is a 35 year old mother of two (teenager + toddler) and has always dreamed about doing an Ironman.  During the pregnancy of her 2nd child, she was diagnosed with cancer.  Courtney went through all the chemo, radiation, drugs and every thing else to beat cancer.  Two years later, her cancer came back.  Here is an exert from her email to me:

Things were looking up & I was about to hit my 2 year mark of being cancer free in June of 2011, but on April 20th of that year, (I’ll never forget the date cause triathlon season was getting started) during one of my many scans I was told that cancer had come back. Devastated, blind-sided, and confused were only some of the emotions I was feeling. I was given such good odds, 90 percent chance it would never return. How could I be that 10 percent?! Depression set in as everything that followed happened so fast. I began my chemo & radiation treatments in May & had some not so pleasant side effects. Skin blistering & darkening, bruising from needles & shut down veins, loss of appetite, fatigue…

Of course, in addition to the challenges of cancer itself, Courtney also has the financial, personal and professional challenges that rear their ugly head when we go through a life- altering illness.

I am hoping, with some help from me, Courtney can reach her goal of crossing an Ironman finish line in 2013!

Congratulations Courtney!

Courtney will start blogging in the New Year, so she can keep you updated on her journey.

Merry Christmas & Happy 2013!