Cancerous Setbacks

( I wrote this a month ago and only now, with some free time from the crazy business I call wine, was I able to finish it up and upload it)

I received some bad news recently. A dear friend and one who I consider to be one of the most influential people in my wine career has had a "cancerous setback", as he put it. Two years ago, I was in New York City for the 2008 Marathon and on the Friday before, spend a wonderful evening at the home of a friend. A simple dinner of roast chickens and a salad, some monumental wines, and lots of conviviality and laughter. My friend and his wife were there and that is when he first began noticing signs that something was not right, complaining to his wife that he felt strange and tired. Two weeks later he suffered a seizure and was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.

Back in 2005, when I ran my first NYC marathon, I became the subject of one of his blog entries. Much of it was tongue firmly planted in cheek, but if you knew this man, you would know that when he chooses you as subject matter in this manner, it is because he really is fond of you or because he has some legitimate gripe with you. Long story short, he has always been a part of my NYCM experience.

Fast forward to 2009 and the cancer treatment progresses. Chronicled in The Amazing Misadventures of Captain Tumor-Man, the blog has become a must-read for all the "wine illuminati". Treatment progressed and the tumor was eventually sent into a quiet dormancy and the outlook was positive. A few weeks ago, he went in for a routine MRI because he had started feeling very tired again and they found two more tumors. This week he will undergo some sort of gamma-knife surgery to try and reduce the size of these tumors. Rather than ask people to contribute to an organization stateside that works for some cancer concern or another, my friend asks that people donate to  Partners in Health, an organization that works towards providing basic healthcare services to those in the most dire need - people in places like Haiti and Peru. Fuck Cancer!

I am on the upswing following my mother's summer from hell after her own relapse with breast cancer. A spring surgery and a summer filled with chemotherapy has just been bookended with her reconstruction surgery. Signs are positive that the chemo destroyed the cancer. As a result of the outstanding treatment she received at the same facility 28 years ago when they had the foresight (or perhaps took a gamble) to remove all of her lymph nodes, the new tumor was largely contained to her breast and had nowhere to go.  Fuck Cancer!

A few weeks ago, I ran in an inaugural 5K called Matt's Mile. Matt was an active, athletic overacheiver at the age of 13 when he was diagnosed with a rare pediatric lymphoma which took him very quickly. On the day of the 5K, he would have turned 15. His father was a childhood classmate of mine and my very first exposure to cancer and the grief and devastation a loss such as that has on a family was when he lost his mother to throat cancer back when we were 11. We all learned a valuable lesson in mortality that day. Stricken twice and having confronted the agonizing loss of a child, he and his wife started The Twelve Oaks Foundation to help other families facing the same sorts of catastrophic illnesses. Fuck Cancer!

For three years now, my running endeavors have included a fundraising component with Team LiveSTRONG. I continue to believe in this organization for many reasons. Despite the fact that cancer takes people we love from us every day, we need to keep focusing on survivorship and empowering cancer patients to take control of their treatment options. The mission statement is "Unity is Strength, Knowledge is Power, Attitude is Everything". I will be running in the Austin Marathon this coming February. I started my 2010 LiveSTRONG Campaign when my mom was diagnosed this spring. I am starting my 2011 Campaign with the news of my friend's cancerous setback. Fuck Cancer!

My 2011 LiveSTRONG Fundraising Page