About
Our Mission
The DON’T WAIT Project® is a non-profit corporation committed to raising community awareness about how positive life choices can impact the health and welfare of individuals, organizations and communities.
The DON’T WAIT Project®
We all have that nagging feeling about the things we need to be doing in our lives. Our fear of failure, bad news, or not living up to our own unreasonably high expectations remains a wall to finally break through so we can launch our dream business, go to the doctor despite our fear of disturbing news, or sign up for that 10k no matter our physical hurdles.
“It’s easy to make excuses about waiting to do what the voice inside of us is telling us to do,” says DON’T WAIT Project® (DWP) founder Lisa Bradshaw. “The heartbreaking early death of my husband Wesley after his double lung transplant forced me to do what I had feared most: fill Wesley’s big shoes in our son Hunter’s life. This experience inspired me to speak up for a cause that had become near and dear to me. It became obvious to me that I needed to raise awareness about being a registered organ donor and, thus, my own DWP was born.
“Soon, with so much groundswell and positive reaction over my book, Big Shoes: A Young Widowed Mother’s Memoir, about our struggles before and after Wesley’s illness, I launched the DWP in September 2011. Already, we have discovered countless stories of people making significant changes, taking more responsibility for their own lives, and finding greater satisfaction without the guilt of the excuses holding them back, including:
- The woman who bravely faced the unknown after leaving an abusive relationship.
- The man who signed up with his sons up for a Tae Kwon Do class after he’d been promising them for months. Funny thing: he’d been a smoker and couldn’t keep up during the class, so he kicked a nasty, 20-year habit and stop smoking!
- The 30-something single mom was getting far too comfortable in a job that could only take her so far, so she went back to college.
- The woman who had a suspicious mole but was afraid to go to the doctor. When she finally did, her doctor said if she’d waited any longer she would have been dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
- The man who is training for his third Ironman triathlon despite having had cancer four times and receiving a heart transplant.
“Wesley wasn’t a man who left things undone. He wanted to live a long life but knowing he might not survive, he told me I was the most capable woman he’d ever known, and I would do the right thing,” Bradshaw explains. “Raising Hunter without him taught me that Wesley was right! With the DWP, I know I am honoring Wesley’s memory while helping others and teaching my son valuable lessons about leaving nothing undone, no matter what.”
Tell us your DON’T WAIT® Story
We are looking for stories about people facing challenges head on, breaking through the barriers that often get in the way of achieving important life goals or moving forward when we feel stuck. If there is an event or right of passage that is fast approaching, we want to know about it BEFORE it happens, so we can chronicle YOUR STORY, with your permission, on our blog and social media outlets.
- Email (info at dontwaitproject dot org)
- Our Facebook page (Facebook.com/DontWaitProject)
- Our YouTube Channel (dontwaitproject)
