Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
~Mary Oliver from “The Summer Day”

Michele Baldwin, who in November became the first woman to paddleboard 700 miles on the Ganga River in India, died in the early morning of February 5th, 2012.

Michele was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2009. This past summer she learned that the cancer had come back in an aggressive, untreatable form. Faced with an early twilight to her life – but refusing to let cancer dictate how she’d live in the time that remained- she decided to create the Starry Ganga Expedition: Michele Baldwin’s Living Memorial. On this amazing pilgrimage Michele stood astride a snub-nosed version of a surfboard and for several weeks did a “Stand Up Paddle” down the Ganga (also known as the Ganges River).

“It was August of 2011 when, two months after being told there was no longer any treatment available for my cervical cancer, I came up with the idea of paddleboarding the Ganga. It came to me like a little secret whispered in my ear. It’s an original synthesis of Pilgrimage, athletic challenge, and opportunity to raise awareness about the cancer I have which kills 250,000 women a year worldwide. So it’s not so much as a want but something I feel I must do.”

The video log of her expedition explodes with energy, color, and stunning backdrops. Here is an adventure featuring a noble soul mingling with a cast of thousands, shot against torch-lit rivers in an ancient land. Follow the quest at YouTube and on the expedition’s website. We hope you will take a moment to visit and reflect on Michele’s legacy.

Her trek through India was not only to satisfy the urgings of her spirit, but to also spread the message that cervical cancer is preventable through Pap/HPV tests and vaccines while raising funds for the Global Initiative Against HPV and Cervical Cancer. In reporting the triumphant completion of the exhausting trip, her mother Ruth Frazier wrote “While she may be in the final journey of her life (Michele terms it ‘actively dying’) she still spreads the message: “End this disease. Get tested. Get a Pap today if you haven’t.”

“Finally I want to inspire others to be fearless. Do your own dreams, reach further than you thought possible, help more than you imagine you are able.”