My name is Willy Clark. I'm a 30-year-old, 6'1, 200something pound former athlete from Warren, Rhode Island. I'm fighting because I love to compete, challenge others, and challenge myself. I grew up next to two absolute monsters (6'8" plus) so I've been in plenty of scraps. In my opinion it's the purest form of competition. What better way to push your limits? And if we can do this for an actually terrific cause, what could be better?

Cancer has hung over me for almost my entire life. Both my grandfathers were apparently amazing people, though I'll just have to take everyone's word for it. I'll never know since they both died of cancer before I was born. I vividly remember first asking my parents where my grandads were. I'm sure telling me they were gone was a very hard moment for them. Then when I was 12 my grandmother contracted brain cancer and eventually succumbed after a year-long struggle. Then in my freshman year of college my best friend's father was diagnosed with cancer and eventually lost his fight after a year+ struggle. He was really a second father to me, so that was extremely hard.



However, the thing that really brought this home for me was when my wife had a scare with cancer this summer. She's fine, so we dodged that bullet. But sitting in that waiting room amongst all the other people who were in the midst of their fights was unbelievably frightening. And it also made me realize how lucky I've been not to be impacted by this disease more. Few things could have been more motivating. While I've been lucky, that does not absolve me from taking action. When there is a problem of this magnitude it is incumbent upon everyone to act. This is my way to contribute to this fight.