A Public Plea

Dear friends and strangers,

Last week my family found out that my mom has Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC), a rare form of breast cancer. For all that cancer is becoming so widespread as to be a normal fact of life, you never really think that it will personally affect you until it actually does. That's how I felt about my mom's diagnosis. She is too young, and too youthful to have cancer. But in a little over a week she's going in for a double mastectomy and she'll start treatment soon after that.

For a couple years, I'd been thinking about doing the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. It's a crazy hard commitment--almost 40 miles over the course of two days. I've done charity walks before, but nothing past 10 miles. And in addition to the grueling physical demands, each walker has to raise at least $1,800 before they let her "out the gate," so to speak.

Thankfully, I won't be walking alone. My little sister is coming all the way out from New York to walk with me. Together we will help modern medicine get $3,600 closer to beating this terrible disease. We're walking for my mom, of course, but also for both of our grandmothers and several close friends of the family who have either survived or become victims of breast cancer.

If you'd like to support our cause by joining our team, you can register at www.avonwalk.org. If you'd like to donate money, you can go here. Any little bit is appreciated, even if it's thoughts and prayers for my mother. She is a strong woman and I know she'll beat her cancer in record time. All the same, we rely on the support of those around us to carry us through sometimes.

Thank you. I am blessed with a life full of amazing people, and you are one of them.

jake