I’m fighting for my grandmother.

I lost her to cancer when I was 10. My Nana was the woman I cherished most after my mother and losing her was the first time I experienced heartbreak. She was a strong, no-nonsense force with a huge heart.

I’m fighting for my dad.

I lost him to cancer in June of 2022. My relationship with him was always complicated. And he was one of the softest and kindest humans I’ve known. He was never really a dad but he was my dad and he always told me I was his best girl. I knew him but there are so many things I will never know.

What I do know is that he loved to play the guitar. He was a talented visual artist. He loved Pink Floyd and watching wrestling on TV. He was a lost boy who truly never grew up and I loved him.

I’m fighting for my wife.

Nat is the number one reason I’m doing this. She has an autoimmune disorder in her stomach which creates health related challenges that she battles in every-day life. On the list of concerns associated with this disorder is that it can develop into stomach cancer. She has regular colonoscopies/endoscopies to monitor for it because from what we understand, for her it’s not a matter of “if” but rather “when.” This is obviously terrifying but we hope that by testing regularly we will catch it early.

I love Nat more than I could have ever imagined loving someone and she loves me more than I could have ever imagined being loved (but not more than she loves our dogs, Cardi and Elliott). I would do anything to protect her. Knowing that I can’t do much of anything to protect her from this makes me sad and sometimes angry but I fight for her any way I can every day and I’ll never stop.

I’m excited to start this journey and at the end of it fight with my grandmother’s heart, my dad’s spirit and Nat’s love.