Last November marked my 40th birthday. Leading up to that milestone though, the number I was focused on was 12. My father died 31-years ago, at the age of 52, from pancreatic cancer. While I never considered 52 old, approaching 40 made me realize how young 52 really is. The question of “what if I only had 12-years left?” hit me like a ton of bricks (or perhaps an uppercut, I will learn).

At the time, I was overweight, in terrible shape, and while I did not have some fatal diagnosis, I was missing out on a lot of great aspects of life. Meanwhile, Alethea was diligently going to boxing class at 5AM and the kids were getting bigger and more active every day. I knew I had to make a change fast. Instead of easing into anything, I went all in. This meant I went to a nutritionist, took blood tests to screen food sensitivities, and then actually followed the recommended actions. For exercise, I was boxing at CrushIt Fitness. I quickly shed over 30-lbs and felt like I could start to think about taking on a physical challenge and test myself a bit.

I must have been feeling particularly good one day in December, when Paul Karger sent around the Haymaker’s signup to inquire if anyone at TwinFocus would consider.. I applied to participate and after a couple weeks was notified that I had been assigned a match.

While there are plenty of nerves that come with signing up to box in front of a crowd of 2,000, I am excited to be putting myself out there and to test myself. The opportunity to keep working hard and get in shape while fighting cancer, based this adventure commencing from thinking about my father’s early death, made too much sense.