The Bernsteins

There have been so many incredible people that we have met through our time at Blessed Sacrament - hence the reason to drive the added miles to church every weekend.  One of these families are the Bernsteins.  They are a family with 2 little girls, a little boy, and another on the way.  As odd as it sounds they are partially to thank for the miracle that Gabriella is in our lives.  Michael and Monica teach the NFP class and Blessed Sacrament and it was through that course that my eyes and heart were completely opened to NFP.  Sarah planted the idea in my head which I had never thought of as a "normal opportunity" in the past and it has been one of the best realities in our life.  So without going into all of the detail (this is a cycling blog and all) the understanding of Natural Family Planning is to understand your body and get to know it in terms of when you are fertile and when you are not.  This knowledge helps you to achieve pregnancy or avoid depending on what God is calling you to do.  Men... well we are always fertile, but it is very interesting to get to know your wife on a very different intimate level.  Well, because of those courses and their shared knowledge, when we were diagnosed we had a much greater likelihood of conceiving a child because of NFP.  For this and many other reasons, the Bernsteins have a special place in our hearts.

One weekend after mass Michael shared with us 2 very contrasting things.  They were pregnant and could use our prayers during the earlier times, and also that Michael's mother was rediagnosed with breast cancer.  They were blessed to find out that the cancer was at stage 0 but still, surgery was recommended.  Last we heard, Mrs. Bernstein was doing well, but still never a thing someone wants to go through.

The family also made a very generous donation to our fundraising efforts and so this last weekend when we were out for our ride, I wanted to ride for their family.  We did a ride over the north end of Lake Washington, up Juanita hill, through Kirkland and Bellevue and over the windy I-90 bridge before re-entering hilly Seattle.  It was a victorious 45 miles and I was very happy with the added energy I had after pounding through those hills.  Great to be improving as a climber!

LIVESTRONG

Well over 200 miles...

So as I've mentioned before I've been tracking every donation that I get to make sure that I ride enough miles in honor of the people who my donors ask me to ride for.  In fact, I know that I've covered enough miles for every dollar donated so far (reading between the lines that means I unfortunately haven't gotten any donations in February), however, I'm still saving one ride for a sunny day away from work.  So far my largest donor was my cousin Adam Sutton and I owe him 50 miles.  Making such a financial commitment that he did, I do not want to repay those in 12 mile increments of commuting or leisure rides.

That being said, I'm well beyond the other 202 miles that I owed you, but far behind on documenting any of it here on the blog.  That being said, I'm really sorry but I promise I will be better in the future.  Especially since my beautiful bride called me out on it - and in all seriousness, you are donating your hard earned money for such a great cause and deserve the recognition that I promised.

We have had one of the coldest February's on record and the beginning of March hasn't been much better.  Last year the average low temp for Jan-Feb was 41 degrees.  This year the average high for the same period was 40 for our area.  ZOIKS.  But with the gas prices the way that they are, I told Sarah that if gas gets anywhere near $4.50 (let alone $5 like they are saying for the summer) I will be investing in some more cold/wet weather gear and plan to bike commute 99% of the time.  No sense in paying that type of cents for gas.  (Pathetic pun and play on words I know).

That being said, I've gotten some good riding in these days.  Especially the past few weekends when we have seen some breaks in the weather.  Actually, Sarah helped me recently with some photos when I got back from a training ride because I needed to submit some for a few different reasons.  Firstly, there was an Alumni Spotlight article done about my battle and fundraising in our Sigma-Xi newsletter for TKE.  I tried to pass on some info to Nationals but no luck.  Secondly, my friend Ford works for the YMCA and at his Y they are running the Livestrong at the Y program and wanted to interview a cancer survivor.  I'll have to see if anything was posted about me there.  Anyway, here are 2 pictures.

I love this family pic!

Rather than rambling too much on here, I'll give a quick foreshadowing to come (and hold myself accountable to blog more).  I have updated and also added some organized rides to my summer.  Also, some fundraising updates other than targeting family and friends is underway.  See what you could do to help us!

Now to catch up on those miles:  Thank you very much to those who donated, especially to push me over $1000 for the month of January.  Here is who I've been riding for...

My friend from high school and college, Chris, made a donation in honor of his father.  Chris's dad is still around and a cyclist himself.  He wishes there were rides like these in the Midwest because Chris knows that his dad would want to get involved.  

Cosmo is a girl I knew from college.  She sent me an extremely compelling story about her Uncle Jim.  His cancer was bound and determined to get the best of him and Cosmo knew that all she could do was pray.  She said that thinking of our story and all that we are doing now really gave her hope.  Well, the last I heard, her Uncle Jim was doing well and the tests were providing the results that they wanted.  I really need to check in with her.

A gal that I indirectly met during my cancer experience named Monica has such a huge heart.  Her dad was diagnosed with Stage 4 the week after me.  So everything that we did with treatment, they did right afterward.  It was great to keep in touch with her and hear how her dad was doing, and we developed a great friendship though such an ugly experience - just another way to show how much good can come from cancer.  The rat will never get us.  Well, unfortunately, at his 3 month check-up, her dad did not have the same message from the doctor that I had.  His HL was back...and in full force.  Back to the drawing board they went and the medical team hit him with ICE - a very strong chemo.  Now all of the tests are underway and they are going through with a BMT.  I pray that everything goes well for them and when I dont have miles to dedicate, I will often be thinking of their family.  

Natasha is another girl I met in college and is currently a flight attendant.  Keeping up with what is going on through social media is how she keeps up with friends.  Well, one day she saw a post that I made asking people what they could do - in fact it was Cancer Awareness Day.  She made a donation in honor of her Grandpa who passed away not too long ago.  In fact, I recall when she posted on Facebook that he passed away and that she knew she would feel his presents when she was flying the friendly skies.

Several others have made donations and have told me that I should just ride for what we are doing.  I'm extremely grateful for all of these individuals no matter how large or small the donation was.  They include my beautiful bride, Topher (co-worker at Camp Gray), Queenie Knox-Oates from TKE at SNC, Jill Boyle, Uncle Scott, Emily, M&M Vega, Mr. & Mrs. Dougherty, and my parents.  

I'm looking for more donors and more reasons to ride.  Do you have one?  What can you do to help?  Every $5 helps.

LIVESTRONG

The Wheels are Turning

Fundraising wheels that is.  I really wanted to track my mileage this year, but I completely forgot about it and don't know if I want to reset it now since I wouldnt be capturing all of them....

...

I had to step away so I now have to catch up with this blog I started yesterday.  I reset my odometer today on my summer bike (still wont capture my rainy day rides, but decided it's worth the journey).

But what about these fundraising wheels.  Sarah's and my creative wheels have been a-spinning for various fundraising options.  Now we need to get some content around them instead of just being the skeleton ideas.  Some will definitely take more work than others.

• Event at Januik Winery - Woodinville (will likely pair with Mike and Patrick)
• Bike-a-thon - Sarah went to Anytime Fitness and they were willing to talk about opportunities to help
• Garage Sale - if you have any items you want to get rid of this spring/summer we are willing to take it
• Bombarding emails
• Reaching out to Black Raven Brewery for some sponsorship

Other ideas we've heard of, could be interesting but would need connections

• Halo or some type of Xbox or Kinect tournament
• Poker tournament
• Free-throw competition at a grade school - "Take a shot at cancer"
• Any opportunity at a bar - "Take a shot at cancer" - different type of shot
• Pool tournament - Wedgewood Alehouse?!?!?! 

I'm sure there are tons of others - if you know any connections or could help out, please let us know.

Donations

I've been very proud and even a little amazed at some of the great donations that have already come in on our journey to $12,000.  Just after Christmas, I sent out my first email blast.  Although it didn't yield the quantity that I was hoping for, the quality (read: generosity) of those that I did receive were amazing.  As I write this, we are sitting at $725.  Aside from begging friends and family on email, twitter, and facebook, I've been designing things to help get some big funds raised - I hope!


I've submitted a letter to a past employer to see if the would provide a business donation and/or sponsor a ride for me, however, have yet to hear back.  It was a long-shot and not sure if I should expect to hear anything in return.  I've contacted Golds Gym to of Redmond/Issaquah/Bothell to see if we could set up a bike-a-thon or 24-hour ride fundraiser.  I haven't heard back yet and will be checking back with the manager next week.  Though Microsoft Gift Matching doesn't apply to vendors, I did submit a letter to them to see if there was anything else we could do - set up donation jars at locations on campus, if they could support me with a donation, etc.  Hopefully, whether positive or negative, I'll hear something back on Monday.

Other ideas that I'm going to pursue are with Albertsons, TOP Foods, local restaurants, and maybe Performance Bike (though I dont think that would happen because Brent said that stuff comes from corporate down).

I'm really hopeful that I can get some businesses to allow me to put out donation containers or do a LIVESTRONG night at a restaurant for a certain percent of profits.  Or, the easiest, is always a overall sponsorship.  It would be the best, and I think it is really what we will need to really get us climbing the ladder with the added zeros on the fundraising.

Just gotta keep on keepin' on!

LIVESTRONG