Thank You

I apologize, I've been a bit slow in getting this blog post out. After 2 months in a camper, life here at my sister-in-laws house has been a little too comfortable making it easy to forget about responsibilities like thanking everyone who supported us in the Zero Prostate Cancer Run in Norfolk this last Saturday. Not only was this Kathy's birthday and chosen way to celebrate her birthday, this was also a race for an important cause. According to the web site (linked above) it appears they beat their goal of raising $50,000 toward the goal of ending prostate cancer. Please consider this a huge thank you to all of you who donated to the cause!!! And special thanks to the Thompsons who provided us a reason to come to Virginia!!!

The full running team!

Siena finishes the race

Cousin Micheli finishes the race

Nadia finishes the race

The race was fun and well organized with a great turn out. There was a short little kids dash, followed by the 5K run/walk. After the race they had quite a bit of food and (surprising for a 5K) beer. However, the beer was served out of plastic containers marked Urology of Virginia and looked very much like sample cups.

Enjoying my post race beer beer

As I was enjoying a beer from my sample cup, I walked over and briefly chatted with Tracy who was the Zero Prostate Cancer's Senior Director of Events. I told her my story about being diagnosed with prostate cancer a year ago, having surgery last March and the road trip I was on with my family that brought me to Virginia. Tracy told me about the Zero Prostate Cancer organization and told me that next summer there would be a Zero Prostate Cancer run in Portland, Oregon and that they were working on having a race in Seattle, Washington for 2017. Tracy encouraged me to stick around saying there would be a concert and gifts for survivors. A short while later, Nashville recording artist Jimmy Charles and his band played for the runners. The band completed its performance by playing the song Superman for all the prostate cancer survivors.

Up front with other survivors as Jimmy Charles sings

A little bit about the Zero Prostate Cancer organization: Their mission is to end prostate cancer. From their website:

ZERO is committed to advancing research through advocacy and direct contributions to research while offering financial assistance to patients, early detection, and education programs.

I was particularly interested in "...offering financial assistance to patients" part. I can tell you that without my medical insurance the cost of my surgery alone would have been over $60,000 (this doesn't include all the testing and treatment before and after the surgery). So again I say, I was lucky.
I would encourage anyone who is interested in helping or getting involved to check out the Zero Prostate Cancer organization and consider raising money or running in one of their future races.