In 2013, when I was a reporter for a newspaper in Kelowna, I covered an interesting—and inspiring—event, which involved ziplining naked.

Sixty-four women braved the wind and rain and ziplined naked or topless for breast cancer research.

The group, which included breast cancer survivors and women who have lost loved ones to the disease, raised about $24,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Ten women came out specifically to support one participant, who had been cancer free for nearly two years, but recently found out she had a mutated gene: Meaning another year of surgery and recovery.

Most of her supporters travelled five hours for the event. It's one of the many "crazy things" the group has done in recent years to support their friend.

"Because I'm self-employed, what people don't understand is when you go through a critical illness there are no benefits…I would be homeless if it weren't for my friends.

"It's amazing, through this whole journey I've had total strangers become friends and I've had friends become sisters."

She added she wasn't too scared prior to ziplining 380-feet above the ground without any clothes on.

"When you've faced a critical illness (and have been) brought to your knees with the kind of breast cancer I've had…this, in comparison, is exciting."

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Thanks for reading about this experience! Be sure to also check out my blog post from yesterday about the photo that won me a Journalism Award! https://steemit.com/photography/@wadepaterson/the-photo-that-earned-me-a-journalism-award

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