Thank you and a little ask for help.......

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and congratulations yesterday! It is wonderful to have so many people take a moment out of their day to say hello and happy birthday. PLEASE KEEP READING!

BUT.....if you really want to make my day/week/year please consider a tax deductible donation of $5.70, $57, $570 or more in celebration of my 57th birthday and upcoming annual ergathon (indoor rowing) to support one of the three research efforts linked at the end of this post. This year I will be rowing (erging) to support research at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center targeting three areas of disease Breast Cancer, Small Cell Lung Cancer, and Lymphoma .

I plan to do my annual ergathon this year on December 23rd,. 1,000 meters for every year of life I have to celebrate, so 57,000 meters (35.418158 miles) this year. I could not pull this off on my actual birthday due to Lisa surprising me with a trip to Washington DC this past weekend. We had a blast.

This fundraising rowing thing all got started when Adam's and Lisa's fought the battle with lymphoma (Adam) and breast cancer( Lisa) a little over two years ago at basically the same time (they are both doing great).  See some of my earlier articles for details on those tough times.

Frustratingly the battle continues, Lisa and I lost a dear friend Peggy Armstrong to metastatic breast cancer this past year. Peggy was a very kind soul and was so supportive of our family's battles while she was in the middle of hers. Lisa and I went to see the The Piano Guys in DC at the National Theater on Friday, a really great show. Peggy introduced us to this band and we both shed some happy and sad tears thinking of Peggy on Friday.

Also a wonderful friend and work colleague of mine at University of Michigan Tech Transfer Jessica Soulliere is fighting and winning the battle with small cell lung cancer.

Jess has given me permission to share her story, The good news is she is one of those very rare cases that is testing negative for cancer after her treatment. Jess's battle was brutal and she is dealing with all sorts of complications due to that treatment, but I have have no doubt she is going to pull through. Jess is one rare personality so I'm not surprised by this at all.

Both of these cancers are extremely dangerous diseases, they need our support.

Last but not least Lymphoma messed with our son, so not going to let that one off the hook ever.

The three links below lead to three separate sites for donations to support the research initiatives of your choice at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Please donate to one, two or all three if you can!

To donate in support of the UMCCC Small Cell Lung Cancer Research Fund follow, or copy and paste this link: http://victors.us/rowingagainstlungcancer

To donate in support of the UMCCC Breast Cancer Program follow or copy and paste this link: http://victors.us/rowingagainstbreastcancer

To donate in support of the UMCCC Lymphoma Program follow or copy and paste this link: http://victors.us/rowingagainstlymphoma

Thank you in advance!

You can also use these links and do your own ergathon and fundraising effort. Hint hint Pioneer Rowing Club Huron Crew Washtenaw Rowing Center Ann Arbor Rowing Club (AARC) Ann Arbor Rowing Club Community

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#cancer #breastcancer #lungcancer #lymphoma #fuckcancer #cancersucks