If you want to know the "rest of the story" as to why you are here reading MY fundraising page, then please read to the bottom and let me know what you think.  For those who want to know what I really need from you NOW, I am happy to oblige... but I still think you should read the whole thing...  It will only take a minute or two.

Here is my challenge to you right here, right now.  I want you to pick one thing in your life that you do that isn't a HAVE TO...  It may be going out to eat at some fancy resteraunt or going to a ball game instead of watching it on TV.  It may be a round of golf or a carton of cigarettes.  It may be a night out at a bar or taking the family out to play putt-putt.  A hobby or a trip.  A new gadget.  Everyone can think of something that they do or buy that they find a way to afford that isn't a HAVE TO.  (If at this point you can't think of something, drop me a line.  I'll help you out!)  I am asking you to cash it in.  Not forever (OK... the cigarettes I want you to STOP!!!).  Give me 5 of "them" or "it"... or maybe 3 of whatever it is...  This doesn't take a calculator.  You know what you spend your money on.  Pick something and let it go for just a little while.  I want you to do this to help the THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of people that woke up this morning with cancer and their families that love and support them.

Not that long ago I was given the opportunity to join a group of people that is helping to raise money to help fund the efforts of the NCLCP in the memory of Erik Hansen.  No, I did not know Erik personally... and that is exactly the point.  Erik passed away even before I ever met these friends of mine that I work with now for this cause.  I do know, however, many whose lives have been forever changed by cancer.  What motivates me just as much is the countless numbers that may have to face cancer one day...  family members... friends...  whether it is directly or indirectly in some way.

Cancer touches my life everyday, but not in the way that many might think.  My wife, Raina, works at the University of North Carolina in the area of radiation oncology.  Everyday she puts her heart and talents into trying to save lives from the destruction that cancer causes.  Her job is designing the plans for the large radiation machines at the hospital.  She sees the bones and organs that are consumed with the cancer and works to destroy the cancer without destroying everything else around it.  It is intense and difficult work involving physics, math, biology, and a list of other things most will never understand.  Because of the side effects of radiation rarely being positive, she knows that her part of a patient's treatment is not pleasant.  These patients have to wait in line for their turn at the machine hoping it will help rid them of the cancer.  Others hope it will help them prepare for surgery.  Still others hope that it will keep the cancer away...  Most of these people she will never meet face-to-face but she sees first hand how cancer eats away at a person's body.  She knows how the radiation runs through the body and how it can effect the different cells and systems.  

Not too long from now I will travel with my teammates to Washington, D.C. to participate in the Marine Corps Marathon.  At first I didn't know if it was possible physically or mentally at this point in my life.  For those of you that know me best, you know that I would be able to list many reasons why something like this can't be squeezed in.  I have been thinking a lot, though, about all of those people that my wife works on every day and their families.  Cancer is not convenient.  It doesn't discriminate.  It drains you mentally and physically.  It doesn't care what you need to get done today... or tomorrow... or ever for that matter.  In fact, it can tell you "No".  It takes.  It hurts.

I have decided to do what most of you reading this can't do right now...  I am going to run that marathon.  I am going to do it for you as much as for those that I mentioned above.  Some of you may have survived cancer and wish to give back to help others.  Others of you may have known someone with cancer or lost someone close to you.  I am asking YOU, the person reading this, for your help.  I am asking you to give.  I am asking you participate.  I am asking you to share.  For some, I am asking you to sacrifice...

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page.

Donating through this website is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to support my fundraising efforts.

Many thanks for your support.