My gosh, it's been sooo long since I blogged about endurance racing I'm not sure even where to start, but I am going to blog a lot more, I just have the bug again (and what I feel is a good cause, you'll see below).
I've been on the side-lines attending to life (business mainly) that there has been little time for anything else. However, with that said I have been devoting the past year to a "bucket list" item that I've had for a long time, but now with meaning and purpose (follow along please).
If I may, I want to to take a step back. Cancer.... the impact it has had on me and my friends and family has never abated. I still long DAILY for one more conversation that I could have with my dear mum, Marlene, mother, wife, Nurse and Angel. I can't even put into words how much. That will never, ever change. To the core, I find myself reaching for the phone for a piece of advice, from mum, soothing comments, her letting me know "I worry too much", or simply an offer to meet up to go "browse" the various stores to see whats new and good old retail therapy. My mum passed away 14 years ago at the age of 61 from colon cancer.
While I have been on the sidelines with endurance racing, I've seen my dear sister complelty transform her life, now having raised a serious chunk of change for various cancer causes and to benefit the scholarship our family set-up to benefit nurses at Spaulding. She's a marathon junkie and simply the best sister any person could ask for.
I've seen various friends complete Herculean events for those impacted by cancer. Too many to even list here, all the while I've been listening, following, donating and offering encouragement. For me, it's the old saying, " a pebble in a pond has a ripple affect".
A few years ago I met a gentlemen named Shawn D (SD) through another dear friend Bob. Shawn is as private and unassuming as you can get, and it took me a while to convince him to let me tack his name onto my bucket list adventure.
Shawn has battled cancer for a very long-time. He's been able to co-run a successful business, start a family and achieve a lot in a short time. He and his wife Jackie were even able to welcome their "miracle child" Alex after a long wait and much pre-planning.
As I began to form a friendship with Shawn, I learned that his dear brother successfully donated bone marrow to save his life. I did some research on successful bone marrow treatments and it is "eye-popping" on what the odds are of not only finding a match, but getting through the months, years of confinement and weakened immune system, medical appointments, medicines and the insane costs.
Miraculous as medicine is today, and as mentioned above, the tremendous odds of even getting to the starting line with treatments and a transplant.
I also learned that virtually all bone marrow patients (50-70%) after getting that far then have to endure the constant rejection of the bone-marrow transplant. Now, I'm not a doctor or an authority on this topic by any means, but I was struck with the irony and misconception that once you found a donor match, you are on your way to an easy, medical free, less complicated life. That's simply not the case.
As a donee, you are placed on many, many different types of medicines for the rest of your life. You are prone to getting diabetes, kidney failure, locked shoulders/limbs, hand atrophy, only to name a few. The condition is called Graft Host Disease, GVHD.
I was able to visit with Shawn a couple of times at Dana Farber to see what he has to do to keep his life in balance and was impressed with the sheer will to survive and fight for his family all the while just taking it "day by day". This guy is full of "piss n vinegar".
As SD and I were talking one day, he was able to share with me that the doctor's and nurses treating him at Dana were at the fore of trying to find a cure for Graft Host Disease. The doctor is Joseph Antin. SD wondered out loud how he could come up with a way to ever thank Dr. Antin so we began planning.
After a few months of sitting on this an how inspired I am after getting to know Shawn and seeing his outlook on life, I offered to combine my bucket list desire to attempt to raise funds for Dana Farber and the Jimmy Fund and GVHD.
So, that brings me to where I am now after many months of seeing how my body will hold up, I've signed up for a solo english channel crossing slated to happen 9/23/16.
I'll spend the next few blog posts on the training that has occurred. But today, I'd like to introduce our fund raising page to help get the word out and awarness for this very, very solvable disease. Please consider donating at http://www.jimmyfund.org/events/cancer-fundraising-events/mark-scribner-s-english-channel-swim/
Thank you, Mark
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