Prostate Cancer Awareness

Today is February 22nd and it's been 10 months since my dad passed away.  Two months from today will, of course, be the one year anniversary of when he ended his courageous battle with Prostate Cancer.  I'm not going to lie, the 22nd of every month is a difficult day, but April 22nd will naturally be the most difficult.  While this is looming in my mind, I know my mom and sister are also thinking about it.  And we wanted to do something in his memory.  We decided to start out with something small, so we've made a team for Zero's Prostate Cancer Run.

My dad and I would always watch for legislation issues regarding prostate cancer awareness and research funds.  Every time there was a petition, we would sign it.  We would dutifully email our respective house representatives and senators about these issues.  We kept each other up to date and one of our main resources was the Zero - The End of Prostate Cancer organization.  The organization facilitates the sending of the emails above, it lets you know about all the recent news regarding these important issues, and it does so much more to further the prostate cancer awareness cause.  My dad and I talked about issues like this often enough that Zero was one of the organizations we chose to name in his obituary in lieu of flowers.  Afterwards, I spoke with the representative who handles things of that nature and the customer service (for lack of a better description) further endeared this organization to me.

January 2012 - after shaving his head bald for chemo.

Our team will be participating in the Chicago area race, held on June 1st at the Advanced Urology Associates practice in Joliet, Illinois.  There are several options: a 5K run, 5K walk, or a 1 mile run/walk and everything is available for youth to participate as well.  This will be a great way to get together in memory of my dad while the funds raised go to a cause obviously extremely near to my heart.

We've made a team in his memory and named it Roy's Aces, as his cancer support group lovingly referred to him as Ace.  If you'll be in the area on June 1st, join our team!  We'd love to have you!  All you need to do is click on the Roy's Aces link above, click "Register Here," agree to the waiver, and click on "Join a Team."  Below the options, "Join an Existing Team" will populate with team options and you select us - Roy's Aces.  The rest is pretty well directed.  At the very least, please make sure you dads, uncles, grandpas, cousins, husbands, brothers, and all the important men in your life are aware of prostate cancer and the simple PSA blood test that can save a life.