The journey begins again...
Welcome... and thank you.
If you're reading this, it means you feel the same way I do. Cancer sucks. And it needs to be gone. Period.
I didn't realize how, in just a year's time, those words would resonate so strongly with me. And it wasn't because I ran the Boston Marathon. It wasn't because I was able to do it with my sister, herself a cancer survivor. It wasn't because I was able to do it on behalf of my Mom, including a prayer for her at mile 25 signified by the balloon in the picture to the left.
It was because, as I had so many people become part of my army through their don
ations, I got to hear their personal stories related to cancer. Some were survivors who underwent extensive treatments and required incredible mental fortitude to face it down. Others were supporters who told me of their stories of being the rock for their loved ones, but privately feeling they wished they could directly do more... make the pain their loved ones were feeling go away.
And I as I heard these stories, I was transported back to my own story. Having the memories in my head of the vibrant woman who raised me into the man I am today. And having to contrast that to the loss of energy, loss of appetite, bleeding from mastectomies, hair loss... all the way up to her final moments where she had lost almost all bodily function. Cancer took my Mom's quality of life slowly, and cruelly.
But if there's anything my 2017 experience taught me, it was that this battle is not hopeless. In fact, we are winning it by the day. Every day, researchers are developing new, innovative ways to identify and target cancer more effectively. In 1975, the five year survival rate of initially diagnosed cancer patients was 48.7%. Today, that survival rate is nearly 70%. And among more common types of cancer, such as breast and prostate cancer, that survival rate is nearly 85%!
So why am I going on this journey again? Simple. Until these percentages are 100%, our work is not done. And last year proved it to me. When a random stranger running for another charity tapped me on the shoulder and said "thank you for running for Dana-Farber. They saved my wife's life" -- it became much more than running 26.2 miles. It became a statement that through the running and fundraising, I was helping to truly make a difference.
In the coming months, I hope to share more stories, not only of my training, but of the faces of who I run for, and the ways that we're continuing to win the fight everyday. I thank you for being part of this journey with me, as we all look to kick the crap out of cancer.
If you're reading this, it means you feel the same way I do. Cancer sucks. And it needs to be gone. Period.
I didn't realize how, in just a year's time, those words would resonate so strongly with me. And it wasn't because I ran the Boston Marathon. It wasn't because I was able to do it with my sister, herself a cancer survivor. It wasn't because I was able to do it on behalf of my Mom, including a prayer for her at mile 25 signified by the balloon in the picture to the left.
It was because, as I had so many people become part of my army through their don
ations, I got to hear their personal stories related to cancer. Some were survivors who underwent extensive treatments and required incredible mental fortitude to face it down. Others were supporters who told me of their stories of being the rock for their loved ones, but privately feeling they wished they could directly do more... make the pain their loved ones were feeling go away.
And I as I heard these stories, I was transported back to my own story. Having the memories in my head of the vibrant woman who raised me into the man I am today. And having to contrast that to the loss of energy, loss of appetite, bleeding from mastectomies, hair loss... all the way up to her final moments where she had lost almost all bodily function. Cancer took my Mom's quality of life slowly, and cruelly.
But if there's anything my 2017 experience taught me, it was that this battle is not hopeless. In fact, we are winning it by the day. Every day, researchers are developing new, innovative ways to identify and target cancer more effectively. In 1975, the five year survival rate of initially diagnosed cancer patients was 48.7%. Today, that survival rate is nearly 70%. And among more common types of cancer, such as breast and prostate cancer, that survival rate is nearly 85%!
So why am I going on this journey again? Simple. Until these percentages are 100%, our work is not done. And last year proved it to me. When a random stranger running for another charity tapped me on the shoulder and said "thank you for running for Dana-Farber. They saved my wife's life" -- it became much more than running 26.2 miles. It became a statement that through the running and fundraising, I was helping to truly make a difference.
In the coming months, I hope to share more stories, not only of my training, but of the faces of who I run for, and the ways that we're continuing to win the fight everyday. I thank you for being part of this journey with me, as we all look to kick the crap out of cancer.
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