The storm and the rainbow...

Michelle Edenfield

Sep 10

2 min read

September 10th, 2026

Today was a day. One of those days when it’s just hard. One of those days when you get stuck in the “why.” I started doubting myself. I started to doubt what we do. I got caught in all the ugly.

This month is hard. Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month.

I am grateful for the awareness. I am grateful that a month goes gold. But yet, it reminds me of all the families who are broken. All the children who are fighting. All the families who need us.

I need more than just awareness.

I don’t just want a month to go gold. I want a month of action. I want a month where coffee money is put to use in a different way. I want a month where people are just as mad as I am about 4% of federal funding to all pediatric cancer research. I hate that these kiddos don’t have a voice. I hate that my Melina couldn’t fight for herself. And I got stuck in all that ugly.

So, in all the anger, I left and went running.

Yes, it might not have been the smartest decision at first, as it started to thunderstorm. But as I kept going, Andy Grammer’s song “Don’t Give Up on Me” came on.

And as I cried, there she was.

Right there in the rain and the anger, there was my rainbow.

In that moment, all the anger stopped.

And I changed my thoughts.

I realized I can’t make up for 4% in a year. But I can keep fighting because it makes a difference to someone. Because it has to.

I can’t stop.

I could hear her telling me to stop being such a crybaby and get it together.

I realized, I left my girls at home with their friends, packaging race bags. That’s the next generation that will keep this fight going.

It doesn’t just matter to me. It matters to them. And now, it matters to their friends.

I ran today because 26 other people are running a marathon at the end of the month, and I will be part of a team relay. Because it’s the only thing I can do.

I will fight with them.

When I lost Melina, a woman shared this famous quote with me:

“They whispered to her, ‘You cannot withstand the storm.’ She whispered back, ‘I am the storm.’”

She said, “Michelle, you are the storm.”

I can remember thinking, Okay, and not really knowing how to feel.

But today, I will tell you this:

If I am the storm, then Melina is the rainbow.

And I can guarantee I will always be the storm, as long as those rainbows keep showing up for me. 🌈💚