The Lucky Guy in the Purple Shirt

This article was published in the January 2008 Virginia TNT Team Ties:

“Gimme five! Gimme five years!” That’s what I was thinking in the spring of 2002 when I’d gone from discovering that I had a large, foreign mass in my chest to ultimately learning that I had stage-three Hodgkin lymphoma. I was told that I had about an 80% probability of living for five years, which is excellent for cancer, but even so, I wasn’t taking anything for granted. I would live, and I planned on using the experience to learn, grow and become a stronger person. I was maybe a little cocky (some might say, typical male), thinking that I’d just keep working full time right through chemotherapy. That is, until the second or third day of it, when I realized that this thing was really going to kick my butt for six months! Cancer has a way of removing some of one’s pride and making you face reality.

One thing I felt very early was that I wanted to give something back once I was healthy again, out of gratitude for surviving. I learned about TNT a few months after I was in remission, and ultimately decided that was how I was going to give back, starting with walking the Anchorage, Alaska marathon in 2005. This was followed a year later by the San Diego marathon, also as a walker. Along the way, I learned some of the intricacies of training for a marathon and fund-raising, both of which were totally new experiences for me. I also was exposed to the camaraderie and joy of attaining difficult goals, Team in Training style, and was hooked!

Now, here I am, preparing for my third event, walking the PF Chang’s Marathon in Arizona in January, 2008. In 2002, I asked for five years, and I got them. In addition to all the usual reasons I do TNT, this year’s endeavor in Arizona is a special and personal celebration of reaching the five year remission milestone in December. I know that none of this was guaranteed, and that many others who developed cancer five years ago are no longer here. On January 13, I will be pretty psyched up – all the hard work of training and fund-raising will be in the past. My race shirt will be covered by the names of those who I and my donors are honoring. I’ll gratefully think of all who helped me make my five year milestone event a success: donors, family, friends, coaches, mentors, teammates, patient honorees, and LLS staff. I’ll remember again that I am trying to make the difference I swore I would five years ago, and how blessed I am to have such an opportunity. I’ll think of all the “Purple People” in Arizona and Florida who are also making a difference that day. Then, I’ll take the first step of the 47,000 or so steps between the start and the finish.

So if you see me during the race, ”Gimme five!” I’ll be the lucky guy with the big smile in the purple shirt!