Dear Family, Friends, and Love Ones,

I come to you today in a time of need.  Most of you that know me know that cancer has impacted my family over the years and took away from me my father and my only brother.  My Aunt is currently battling lung cancer and it has spread throughout other parts of her body.  I think we can all relate or have dealt with a loved one at some time in our lives who has battled with cancer.  These hard times throughout my childhood and young adult life have made me grow stronger as a person over the years but more importantly have made me care compassionately for those close to me that may be suffering from a form of cancer.

A close personal friend of ours, Cathy Blackwood, was diagnosed with a rare from of neuroendocrine cancer called carcinoid.  This disease is know as the "silent cancer" for several reasons ranging from a.) it's often misdiagnosed b.) because of that it's often caught late in it's life cycle and too late to treat and most importantly c.) a cure is believed to exist but the research effort to date is severely unfunded.  This is why I am coming to you today in a time of need. 

My journey to care for Carcinoid began around Thanksgiving of last year. I was at the Blackwood's house for one of the many memorable times we have shared around the dinner table and Jessie (one of 8 boys, 10 children total) had started to talk about the breezy point triathlon and how the entire family was going to participate. They were looking for ways to get the word out about Carcinoid and were going to rally behind Cathy to show support. They asked if I would be interested and I didn't even hesitate. My first thought was, knowing Cathy's condition and what she feels physically on a daily basis, if she's doing this then I have no excuse. I will do it.

Several efforts are currently underway to not only support the Blackwood Family but also raise awareness as well as funds for research.  Please allow me to point you to some informative websites as well as ways you can help:

- http://blackwoodcaring.com 
This is the website that their family has started in an attempt to raise awareness and also to host blogs to document the family's struggle and support through this trying time.  If you go to no other webpage that I talk about in this email I encourage you to check this one out and read about this unique family's efforts to beat this awful disease 

- http://www.firstgiving.com/blackwoods 
This is the official Carcinoid Foundation website where the Blackwoods have started their own fund raising web page.  This website not only offers all the information to date concerning this disease but most importantly offers a safe and secure online repository for donations.

- http://blackwoodcaring.blogspot.com/
This is my own personal web blog that I started in an effort to document my journey to support the Blackwoods and our team effort heading into the Breezy Point Triathlon.  The Breezy Point Triathlon is an annual event in the Hampton Roads area that the Blackwoods and several of their friends and family members have agreed to enter into and compete to complete.  The main reason is to support Cathy and raise awareness and donations to support the Carcinoid Foundation.