This is my first time ever fundraising for a charity. I am very passionate about Haymakers for Hope and their cause due to my own personal cancer journey.

I hope to give back to the community by raising money and awareness with this event by fighting for the below charitable organizations:

• Haymakers for Hope - Haymakers for Hope’s mission is to knockout cancer the only way they know how, by literally fighting for a cure. H4H hopes through these events they can help give lifesaving researchers the resources needed to fully focus their efforts on finding a cure. 


• Hope & Heroes - Hope & Heroes funds the life-saving work on childhood cancer and blood disorders in the New York region. Treating Children. Curing Cancer.
  
  
  
  • In particular, I will be fighting for the Hope & Heroes’ Greatest Needs Fund. The fund helps make possible interventions that save families from homelessness, hunger, and many other hardships resulting from their child’s illness.
  
  
  
  


• Weill Cornell Medicine - Weill Cornell Medicine is among the top-ranked clinical and medical research centers in the country, providing compassionate care for the whole patient for their whole life, training the next generation of health care leaders and speeding breakthrough discoveries from the lab bench to the patient bedside. With your help they can expand their impact around the globe, set a new standard for the development of life-saving treatments, deliver equitable and evidence-based care, and continue the ground-breaking research that will improve the quality of life for millions of people.
  
  
  
  • This is where I received my treatments. They are changing medicine. Let's help them change it together.
  
  
  
  

Why I fight:

This event is not just a boxing match to me. The most important aspect of this is to prove to myself that I can do this after going through my cancer journey. It is to prove that I am not broken after everything that I have been through. I am looking to prove to myself that not only can I be like the person I was prior to my diagnosis, but in fact, be a better version of myself after the gift that I was given.  This is a fight for my true self. It is a fight for self-love and confidence.

I want to inspire current cancer patients to continue their fight and not give up. I want to inspire cancer survivors to use their gift to be better and do better. I want to inspire them to fight through the darkness and depression. The depression that comes during and after cancer treatments is very real. There are days that I still experience that darkness, but I fight every day to beat it, mostly with gratitude.

I was fortunate to have access to world class doctors and top of the line treatment. Cancer treatments are expensive, others might not be as lucky. I want to fight for others that cannot fight for themselves. I want to fight to help people less fortunate.

Simply put - I fight for hope!

My Cancer story:

In 2019 I was involved in a bad car accident that left me with multiple broken bones and a host of other injuries. As I was rushed into the hospital, a full body cat scan was taken to check that I did not have any internal bleeding. On the second day, as I am writhing in pain on my hospital bed, the doctor came in to go through my list of injuries. At the end of it he also mentioned that the radiologist noticed several lymph nodes all over my body that were swollen and much larger than normal. This accident turned out to be a blessing in disguise. An incidental finding in the cat scan started a life changing journey for me. As a result of what the doctor mentioned, I scheduled a follow up pet scan. The pet scan lit up which warranted a biopsy. Then came the news after the biopsy…I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Lymphoma.

My entire life turned upside down. When you think of cancer, a host of emotions rise to the top. The reason that word elicits so many raw emotions is because it is a heavy word. And when something is heavy, it also has gravity. The word carries a lot of personal feelings from our past experiences with loved ones. My grandfather whom I loved dearly died of cancer, as did my uncle, as have several other friends and relatives. At the time, when I thought of cancer, all I could think about was death since that is all I have known in my past. They say a word has gravity because just like the immensely powerful physical force, it does the same thing to your emotions, it pulls you down. Cancer is something I initially had a tough time with, but I refused to play victim. I fought through the initial depression. Instead, I concentrated on gratitude. I was grateful that I was able to find this indolent cancer that I otherwise would not have known about if it was not for the car accident. I was grateful to be surrounded by people that loved and cared for me.  

I am born and raised in Queens, NY. In 2015 I had moved cross country to the west coast for work. I lived there until the beginning of 2020 where I had to move cross country again from Los Angeles back to my hometown in Queens, NY so I could be with my family to fight this disease. I went through 6 rounds of chemo treatments. I did this all alone considering it was during the height of Covid and no one else was allowed with me at the hospital. But after this fight, by the end of 2020, I had the most positive outcome, remission. I am excited to say I have earned one of the most important badges of my life, Cancer Survivor. 

This journey was possible by implementing something I like to call the 4F’s:



1) Faith. My faith enabled me to maintain a positive outlook to not only survive this ordeal but thrive.



2) Fight. Cancer tests the deepest and darkest levels of your mental fortitude and resilience. This fight was successful due to the amazing team of nurses and doctors that looked after me.



3) Family and Friends. I am thankful to have been surrounded by amazing family and friends that have supported me throughout my life and have always pushed me to do better, to be better.



I hope to implement these 4F’s again as I train and fight in the Haymakers for hope Charity Boxing event that commences at 6:30pm on November 2, 2023, at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

 

Cancer is a bit like boxing with its ups and downs. It often feels like you got hit by a knockout punch, but like my previous cancer fight, I refuse to go down. I never got to ring the bell due to Covid. I am looking forward to going the distance and ringing that bell now. 

Thank you so much for your support, kindness, and generosity! Let's all knock out cancer together. 

#Haymakers4hope #KOCancer #HaymakersforHope