Leveraging Life

Most Fridays I feature a website or a blog that for me has become a favorite. It maybe a favorite resource, a source of inspiration, or just some distraction I frequent. Give the Friday Favorite a look, read, or listen, and please feel free to comment about mine and share a favorite or two of your own in the comment section. Who knows maybe we will feature one of yours as a future Friday Favorite. 

Friday October 15, 2010

The Facts:

• -Every 4 minutes one person is diagnosed with a blood cancer.
• -Every ten minutes, someone  dies from a blood cancer.
• -Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children & young adults under the age of 20.

I met John & Torri Westmoreland last week while attending a Twitter networking event at Village Tavern, and after a few minutes John and I realized we traveled in the similar automotive circles, but we also realized we also spoke a similar language one which includes PET scans, remission, chemo, radiation, because we both have cancer. 

John and Torri’s story is an incredible one in that, years prior to John’s diagnosis of hodgkin’s lymphoma they, through their company In Depth Signs & Designs started providing automotive wraps for the leukemia society. In a matter of months they, family & friends, and the social media community they built raised over $25,000 as part of the leukemia & lymphoma Light the Night Walk. Here is where they were featured by 11 Alive’s Donna Lowry Light the Night-Westmorelands .

Obviously the cancer subject is something I’m passionate but maybe not for the reason you think. Yes I have merkel cell cancer, yes I’ve had 3 surgeries in the last ten months, and yes today marks my 55th radiation treatment in two rounds of radiation. But the reason I’m passionate about Stick it 2 cancer is my cousin Matthew P. Stahl.

Through the early years the Stahl and the Martin family were mirror images of each other. John Stahl is 15 days older than I am and Matt was 15 months older than my brother Mike. Matt was a great athlete, good student, full of life till leukemia stole that life on August 27, 1979.

While a lot of progress has been made in 31 years of research, the fact that a child, any child, your child may have their lives stolen is the reason why I feel the work John and Torri are doing is so important. And when you factor that it covers both lymphoma and leukemia along with the research benefiting any cancer, maybe even merkel cell, as it moves through the blood stream makes Stick it 2 cancer is not just a Friday Favorite, but an Every Day Favorite.

So I hope everyone here at Leveraging Life will join them. First in spirit by using the links provided to learn more about Stick it 2 cancer and spread the word by sharing this post. Use the links on the side or at the bottom to share with your community of friends and associates. Join their Facebook page, maybe buy a shirt or three on the website (only 64 shopping days to Christmas), and consider making a donation if you feel moved to do so.

For me it will be $77.00, $12 for the 12 years we were blessed to have Matt in our lives and $55.00 for each one of those dates I had with “Puff the merkel cell Dragon“, oh and to also celebrate tomorrow being my last day of radiation!!!

~Tom

trusting God period

For those of you who partnered with me on my Lemons to Lemonade Charity Water campaign please don’t feel compelled to pitch in here, your generosity was key into what we did there. So as they say in church let this bucket pass you by…..but check out the shirts they rock!