I'm sorry that I am a day late on posting this but I had a lot of things going through my mind over the last day. I have received many comments from everyone telling me how proud they are of what I am doing. I do appreciate your thoughts and feelings but, I feel that I need to say this. This journey that I am on is not about me nor is it about the great guys that I am sharing this trip with. The people that I feel you need to be proud of is the women and men that I have had the utmost honor of meeting and being able to write about. They are the real hero's. They have battled and won or stood beside a person during their battle or, they have lost someone very close to them. How about those battling cancer and not only having lost their homes or jobs but, the very people that they thought were friends. The people going through cancer treatments alone because they have no one else. My thought is they are the ones to be proud of. They are the reason we do this. I write about them to give you an idea about the people in the communities that I am visiting. We have them in all of our communities. This is the time we really need to look back and say hey.....what happened to that sense of pride of our neighborhoods, communities, cities, or even counties for that part. I feel we need to get back to where we care about those in our communities. We need to share our love with everyone and put others first in our lives.
Yesterday was a very long day for us. We were up at 5am to start our drive to Ponca City, OK from Hurst, TX. For those of you that dont know where Hurst is, its between Ft Worth and Dallas. When leaving Hurst we had to make a slight detour to a school. Our movie star on the tour has a sister that is a teacher there. We made a special trip to see a little girl named Esther. She is in 5th grade and is battling Leukemia. She misses alot of school because of this. The whole school was outside to greet us when we pulled in with the Garland Fire Department. It was very touching to see all the kids out there supporting their classmate. We brought her up to sign the truck and do some pictures with her. Then Dave spoke to the audience of teachers, administrators, volunteers, and children. Esther's parents were there also. I have said this before, children are our hardest calls to make as a fire fighter. It isn't any easier as a Guardian. Because we know what they are going through from stories we have heard from others. She was in great spirits. Godspeed Esther, I hope and pray that you beat it.
After the visit we hit the road heading north. Both Mac and Tony spent the next 4-5 hours riding in the open cab of Karen up to Blackwell, OK. During that stretch we did hit some traffic thanks to the great guys in Law Enforcement in OK. They had a chase and caught an escapee from Louisiana. So we finally reached Blackwell somewhere around 330pm. We stopped at the fire station for a brief second then was in a parade down main street. It reminded me of when I lived in Portland, TN. Blackwell is a small town with approx. 8000 people in it and there were a lot of people lining the streets for our parade. Adults and kids alike. They held a little ceremony and then we greeted the 20 or so survivors in the community. A little girl wanted to sign the truck and I asked if she was signing in honor of someone or in memory of. She told me that she wanted to sign for her mom who has cancer and was too stressed out to make it to the parade. The girl who must have been around 9 or 10 showed her mom the respect and returned that unconditional love to her mom by walking to the parade just to be able to sign her moms name. The Deputy Chief was standing by my side and asked where she lived because he was going to head over there and check in on her. Thats a community leader wanting to take care of his community. Thats the message that we are bringing. It gave me a real sense of pride. After the event we went back to the Blackwell Fire Department where they fed us a great dinner. Thank you Blackwell, it was great.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Day 8
Today before we left Killeen, TX we stopped at the women's hospital at Ft. Hood Army Base. Did you know that it is the largest military base in the continental United States? I didn't until we got there. Once we got to the base, we had a military police escort to the Carl R. Darnell Medical Center. We were greeted by about 150 military personnel. It was a great site seeing those that stand on our wall and protect the very freedom that we enjoy everyday. We must never forget the men and women that serve in our military. In our crowd today we had many cancer survivors. I spoke to Mary that was a survivor who has 2 other sisters that are also survivors. Mary is the oldest and is a 7yr survivor and her 2 other sisters were both 9 and 10 year survivors. It is such a joy to be honored by these women and to hear their stories about the battle that they won. When we were finished there my good friend Bob from East Hartford, Connecticut had to leave to head back home. If you remember Bob was the Guardian that I met last year at the Memphis event and we became Facebook friends. I am going to miss him being on the road with us. We have spent the last 7 days rooming and driving together. I hope you had safe travels my friend and yes I will tell your wife that you tried calling twice this morning, just tell her to call me.
From Ft. Hood we trucked down the road to Georgetown, TX where we had a 3 hour rest period. We were able to grab a couple of hours sleep before our event in Georgetown. The rest was welcomed by all. I'm not going to lie, that was probably one of the best power naps I have ever had. We all met back downstairs at 3p to head to Station 1 at the GFD. There we were able to have a good dinner and continue our rest before the parade started. Once the parade started someone forgot to tell us and left us at the fire station wondering which way we needed to go. I mean who forgets about the Pink Fire trucks. So we tried to find where we needed to be but no luck so we just parked on the side of the street until a search party came looking. We figured it wouldn't take long for someone to realize that we were missing. Well needless to say after the parade ended and all of the fire trucks parked they did and sent the police out to find us. So yes we did finally make it and yes the crowd was overjoyed that we made it. It made for some good comic relief. As we were at the event the crowd must've been a few hundred people there. We had many sign the trucks today and the one person that hit me was one of the last people that came to sign for his wife. He told me that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 and that the doctors told her in March that she had about a year to live. She so very badly wanted to come and see the trucks and wanted him to sign it for her. So he being the rock and great supporter brought her to the event. She was too weak to get out of the truck and also having a portable oxygen tank with her she stayed in the truck. I asked him to take me to her. As I got to the truck I introduced myself and told her that I was there to deliver a hug of hope and love to her from Memphis, TN. The tears started rolling down her face in joy. Then Little John came and the rest of the Guardians to deliver hugs also. Little John then told her husband to drive the truck over to the Ribbon of Hope for a picture. Bam Bam and I moved the barricades to allow him to bring her in. We got her out of the truck and put her on the trailer and all of the Guardians along with her and her husband posed for a picture. I think we surprised her with the amount of love and support that we showed her. After the picture Little John called for round 4. After I tell you about this imagine rounds 1-3. All the Guardians circled around her and Little John started the tune. We sang to her Good Night Sweetheart and then the tears started rolling all over again. My eyes were far from dry.
Tonight we had to say good bye to one of the trucks that have been with us since Beaumont, TX. Debbie had to go back home to Victoria, TX. I can't recall if I have explained to you about the names on the truck but, I will tell you about Debbie and go back to my previous posts to see if I told you about Karen and Tonya. So back to the South Texas Chapter of the Guardians of the Ribbon. Debbie, who the truck is named after is a 2yr survivor of breast cancer. She just celebrated her 30th yr of employment with the Victoria, TX Fire Department. She fought and won and the South Texas Chapter wanted to honor her by dedicating the truck in her name. Well our wakeup call is in 3 hours so its time to hit the bed. Good night all.
From Ft. Hood we trucked down the road to Georgetown, TX where we had a 3 hour rest period. We were able to grab a couple of hours sleep before our event in Georgetown. The rest was welcomed by all. I'm not going to lie, that was probably one of the best power naps I have ever had. We all met back downstairs at 3p to head to Station 1 at the GFD. There we were able to have a good dinner and continue our rest before the parade started. Once the parade started someone forgot to tell us and left us at the fire station wondering which way we needed to go. I mean who forgets about the Pink Fire trucks. So we tried to find where we needed to be but no luck so we just parked on the side of the street until a search party came looking. We figured it wouldn't take long for someone to realize that we were missing. Well needless to say after the parade ended and all of the fire trucks parked they did and sent the police out to find us. So yes we did finally make it and yes the crowd was overjoyed that we made it. It made for some good comic relief. As we were at the event the crowd must've been a few hundred people there. We had many sign the trucks today and the one person that hit me was one of the last people that came to sign for his wife. He told me that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 and that the doctors told her in March that she had about a year to live. She so very badly wanted to come and see the trucks and wanted him to sign it for her. So he being the rock and great supporter brought her to the event. She was too weak to get out of the truck and also having a portable oxygen tank with her she stayed in the truck. I asked him to take me to her. As I got to the truck I introduced myself and told her that I was there to deliver a hug of hope and love to her from Memphis, TN. The tears started rolling down her face in joy. Then Little John came and the rest of the Guardians to deliver hugs also. Little John then told her husband to drive the truck over to the Ribbon of Hope for a picture. Bam Bam and I moved the barricades to allow him to bring her in. We got her out of the truck and put her on the trailer and all of the Guardians along with her and her husband posed for a picture. I think we surprised her with the amount of love and support that we showed her. After the picture Little John called for round 4. After I tell you about this imagine rounds 1-3. All the Guardians circled around her and Little John started the tune. We sang to her Good Night Sweetheart and then the tears started rolling all over again. My eyes were far from dry.
Tonight we had to say good bye to one of the trucks that have been with us since Beaumont, TX. Debbie had to go back home to Victoria, TX. I can't recall if I have explained to you about the names on the truck but, I will tell you about Debbie and go back to my previous posts to see if I told you about Karen and Tonya. So back to the South Texas Chapter of the Guardians of the Ribbon. Debbie, who the truck is named after is a 2yr survivor of breast cancer. She just celebrated her 30th yr of employment with the Victoria, TX Fire Department. She fought and won and the South Texas Chapter wanted to honor her by dedicating the truck in her name. Well our wakeup call is in 3 hours so its time to hit the bed. Good night all.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Day 7
Well today started with us leaving Victoria, TX heading towards Killeen. That was a long ride at 65 mph in a fire truck. We are fortunate enough also that the truck has a/c. Its hot down here in TX. I think the temp reached 88 today. Bob was telling me that it was much cooler back in Memphis and that its even colder back in Connecticut. He is leaving the tour tomorrow after being away from home for the last 11 days. Its funny cause the saying goes if you dont know what day it is or the date or even if you can't remember what city you were in yesterday you know you are on tour. Well I have felt that way over the last few days. Someone asked me today where are we heading to tomorrow and I had to ask them what day is it today.
Today was really awesome. We had 5 or 6 fire departments that were represented in our parade that stretched a good ways. They took us from a staging area through 3 towns into our event. They all had their lights on and it was an amazing sight to see. Today I was dressed in Pink turnouts taking pictures with people on the trailer with the Ribbon of Hope. I wasn't able to spend alot of time talking to those that have battled or are battling. But I did have the pleasure of meeting a married couple, Donald and his wife Dawn. They rode with us on Karen into the event. She was so excited that she was able to ride and wave at everyone. We passed a jail and she was even waving at them. Dawn was telling us how hard it was in her battle and that her husband kept coaching her along telling her that he loved her and she will make it through. Well come to find out Don is a survivor also. He battled and won with his cancer. But thats one of the points that I am trying to pass to all of you. Its about the love and support that we need to pass on to others. Its about loving our women and supporting them even if they are not sick. We as men need to step up and say I am here for you.
Well I have 6 more days on the tour. Tomorrow we head to Ft. Hood in the morning then we go to Georgetown tomorrow afternoon. From there we start our journey up to Oklahoma. I hope that this blog has helped you in some way to understand what we as drivers see and do while out here on the road.
Today was really awesome. We had 5 or 6 fire departments that were represented in our parade that stretched a good ways. They took us from a staging area through 3 towns into our event. They all had their lights on and it was an amazing sight to see. Today I was dressed in Pink turnouts taking pictures with people on the trailer with the Ribbon of Hope. I wasn't able to spend alot of time talking to those that have battled or are battling. But I did have the pleasure of meeting a married couple, Donald and his wife Dawn. They rode with us on Karen into the event. She was so excited that she was able to ride and wave at everyone. We passed a jail and she was even waving at them. Dawn was telling us how hard it was in her battle and that her husband kept coaching her along telling her that he loved her and she will make it through. Well come to find out Don is a survivor also. He battled and won with his cancer. But thats one of the points that I am trying to pass to all of you. Its about the love and support that we need to pass on to others. Its about loving our women and supporting them even if they are not sick. We as men need to step up and say I am here for you.
Well I have 6 more days on the tour. Tomorrow we head to Ft. Hood in the morning then we go to Georgetown tomorrow afternoon. From there we start our journey up to Oklahoma. I hope that this blog has helped you in some way to understand what we as drivers see and do while out here on the road.
Day 6
So today we are in the city of Victoria, TX. We started our day with a breakfast that the South Texas chapter hosted. They did a great job and let me say thank you to everyone involved. After breakfast we were placed on stage to do a little Q&A session. Everyone in attendance seemed really receptive of what we all had to say. After leaving the breakfast we were able to have a little down time until the event this afternoon. Jeff and a couple of the other guys took Karen to do a little maintenance on her and get all of her lights working again. We all met back up a little after 1p to put a fresh wash on all three of the trucks and I'm sure the trucks appreciated the baths that they got. We went back to the hotel to pick up everyone else and get ready for Victoria's event. We pulled into a store not far from the park that we were going to spend the rest of the day at. Wendell and the rest of his Chapter put together a real good event. We arrived at a store not far from where we were going. There was a high school band and cheerleaders that led us into where we were going. I was driving Karen and had a lot of survivors riding on the trailer with the Ribbon of Hope.
While at the event we had a survivor come visit us at the trucks by the name of Calise. She is a 4 year survivor of Leukemia. The bigger thing is that she is only 7yrs old. She has a great personality. The first thing she said to me before I could give her a hug was that she was a survivor and that she has had cancer since she was 3. Now if you ask any firefighter what is the hardest call that we deal with, they will tell you its anything having to deal with kids. It breaks my heart because they are still so young to fight for themselves. But this little girl fought and is in 4 years of remission. Living in Memphis, we are blessed to have St. Jude's. We hear their telethons across the country each year. Chili's does a color the chili every year and also Malco Theaters sells the film bows. How many of you take the time to donate? There is alot of great research that takes place there and they help out lots of families each year. This is another place that can use your support.
As you can read and hopefully alot of you have gone to www.pinkfiretrucks.org to find out more about what we are doing. We bring these pink trucks to communities so that we can do fundraisers in our own communities so that the money stays right here. We have to find the America where volunteering used to live. I think that we have moved so far away from that part.
While at the event we had a survivor come visit us at the trucks by the name of Calise. She is a 4 year survivor of Leukemia. The bigger thing is that she is only 7yrs old. She has a great personality. The first thing she said to me before I could give her a hug was that she was a survivor and that she has had cancer since she was 3. Now if you ask any firefighter what is the hardest call that we deal with, they will tell you its anything having to deal with kids. It breaks my heart because they are still so young to fight for themselves. But this little girl fought and is in 4 years of remission. Living in Memphis, we are blessed to have St. Jude's. We hear their telethons across the country each year. Chili's does a color the chili every year and also Malco Theaters sells the film bows. How many of you take the time to donate? There is alot of great research that takes place there and they help out lots of families each year. This is another place that can use your support.
As you can read and hopefully alot of you have gone to www.pinkfiretrucks.org to find out more about what we are doing. We bring these pink trucks to communities so that we can do fundraisers in our own communities so that the money stays right here. We have to find the America where volunteering used to live. I think that we have moved so far away from that part.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Day 5
Wow is all I can say about today. We started today at 8am and took the trucks to meet our escorts for the days event. When we arrived at our location we saw a sea of motorcycles. I would have to say at least 30-50 of them. I was driving Karen to this event and I had a special passenger. Here name is Anna Beth. Anna Beth has cancer and is scrapping like a girl with it. Her attitude was great. It was her first time being inside a fire truck let alone being able to sit up front and ride in it. I told her the one rule she had to follow was make sure she waves at everyone. Her son sat in the back of the open cab with the other Guardians of the Ribbon. Anna and I had a great conversation about her cancer and luckily my sunglasses are dark enough that she couldn't see my eyes welling up because of the honor I had driving her to the event. Anna, I know your reading this now and hopefully I will start reading your blog as soon as your start it. Keep fighting the fight like a Girl and know that we love and care about you. Pink Heals!
Now about the event, we were back in Baytown, TX which is a suburb of Houston. Baytown really understands that Pink Heals. They had a Poker Run, walk/run, vendors, and other raffles taking place. Once we had our 3 Pink Trucks and 1 Pink Squad car set up in its place we were ready to begin. I had alot of visitors come by that I had met the day before at the Cancer Center. Ms. Maxine and her husband Cecil for starters. They both battled cancer and Cecil is finishing his battle. They have been married for 57 years. She came back 3 different times during the day to see Bob and I. She had to get a picture of the 2 guys that brought her such joy in our visit with her. I loved the fact that she kept coming back. Then I met Adele, her story is completely opposite. Her rock in her 1 year battle of breast cancer has been her sister. Why? Let me tell you why, her husband left her when she was first diagnosed. She said that he didn't know how to cope with it and he found someone else. When she told me this, I got very agitated hearing this. We as men need to be there to support our women. We need to give them that love and let them know its unconditional. Here she is a 1 year survivor and receives her love from her sister. She just recently found out that 4 more lumps have been found. Her sister said she has been there during the first fight and will be there all the way through this next one. Then there was Stephanie. She was a spunky one. She is a survivor of breast cancer and is currently waiting on her doctors release. And she is waiting impatiently because she has a zest to start her next chapter as a Roller Derby girl for the Rocket City girls. She fought and won. And then I have Kim. Kim is a survivor who has signed our Pink truck Karen 4 different times while it has been in the Houston area. Her signature is on the inside of the passenger door and every time she signs the year and location the truck was at. She beat cancer and also developed a close friendship with another survivor while at a cancer walk. These are just a few of the hundreds that I spoke with today. And then there were the Mays family. They lost their son to cancer in his kidneys. Their son was a fire fighter for the city of Houston. RIP Mad Mike Hayes!
I had to reread yesterdays blog because I got some comments on it being very sweet. I had to ask why and was told that I actually opened up my feelings on it. Like I have said a few times already, its really difficult to truly express what I am feeling when I have the opportunity to listen to a story about a battle. I get goosebumps, my eyes well up. I get like this cause I know my worse day can not come close to what these people have already experienced. What would your reaction be if you went to the doctor tomorrow and was told that you had stage 4 cancer? They have gone through the notification process, they have gone through the treatment process. But what happens when they reach their cap on their insurance? What happens when the now can't afford that wig if they choose to get one? Or what about reconstruction surgery? This is why the tour is so important. We bring our trucks to communities for free. We come so that the communities can do fundraisers to raise money for their local cancer facilities to help off-set these costs that I have mentioned. If we all started seeing the whole picture then we would see that Pink will Heal. It starts with us. It starts with us giving support. In Memphis we are working on starting our own Pink Heals Chapter. Are you ready for it? I would like to say a special thanks to a few people from our 2 day visit in the Houston area. First to our 2 Harris County Deputies that escorted us everywhere we needed to be. Also thank you to Kim the photographer that kept snapping the shots and telling us to lean on our back foot so that we look slimmer for the pictures...lol
Now about the event, we were back in Baytown, TX which is a suburb of Houston. Baytown really understands that Pink Heals. They had a Poker Run, walk/run, vendors, and other raffles taking place. Once we had our 3 Pink Trucks and 1 Pink Squad car set up in its place we were ready to begin. I had alot of visitors come by that I had met the day before at the Cancer Center. Ms. Maxine and her husband Cecil for starters. They both battled cancer and Cecil is finishing his battle. They have been married for 57 years. She came back 3 different times during the day to see Bob and I. She had to get a picture of the 2 guys that brought her such joy in our visit with her. I loved the fact that she kept coming back. Then I met Adele, her story is completely opposite. Her rock in her 1 year battle of breast cancer has been her sister. Why? Let me tell you why, her husband left her when she was first diagnosed. She said that he didn't know how to cope with it and he found someone else. When she told me this, I got very agitated hearing this. We as men need to be there to support our women. We need to give them that love and let them know its unconditional. Here she is a 1 year survivor and receives her love from her sister. She just recently found out that 4 more lumps have been found. Her sister said she has been there during the first fight and will be there all the way through this next one. Then there was Stephanie. She was a spunky one. She is a survivor of breast cancer and is currently waiting on her doctors release. And she is waiting impatiently because she has a zest to start her next chapter as a Roller Derby girl for the Rocket City girls. She fought and won. And then I have Kim. Kim is a survivor who has signed our Pink truck Karen 4 different times while it has been in the Houston area. Her signature is on the inside of the passenger door and every time she signs the year and location the truck was at. She beat cancer and also developed a close friendship with another survivor while at a cancer walk. These are just a few of the hundreds that I spoke with today. And then there were the Mays family. They lost their son to cancer in his kidneys. Their son was a fire fighter for the city of Houston. RIP Mad Mike Hayes!
I had to reread yesterdays blog because I got some comments on it being very sweet. I had to ask why and was told that I actually opened up my feelings on it. Like I have said a few times already, its really difficult to truly express what I am feeling when I have the opportunity to listen to a story about a battle. I get goosebumps, my eyes well up. I get like this cause I know my worse day can not come close to what these people have already experienced. What would your reaction be if you went to the doctor tomorrow and was told that you had stage 4 cancer? They have gone through the notification process, they have gone through the treatment process. But what happens when they reach their cap on their insurance? What happens when the now can't afford that wig if they choose to get one? Or what about reconstruction surgery? This is why the tour is so important. We bring our trucks to communities for free. We come so that the communities can do fundraisers to raise money for their local cancer facilities to help off-set these costs that I have mentioned. If we all started seeing the whole picture then we would see that Pink will Heal. It starts with us. It starts with us giving support. In Memphis we are working on starting our own Pink Heals Chapter. Are you ready for it? I would like to say a special thanks to a few people from our 2 day visit in the Houston area. First to our 2 Harris County Deputies that escorted us everywhere we needed to be. Also thank you to Kim the photographer that kept snapping the shots and telling us to lean on our back foot so that we look slimmer for the pictures...lol
Friday, October 21, 2011
Day 4
So today we started at 615am. We pulled out of Beaumont heading towards Houston. Our stop today was at the Hot Zone conference. It was a HazMat conference hosted by the HFD. During our stop there was a call for 2 to join the South Texas Chapter to make a visit to a cancer center in Baytown, TX. Bob and I jumped at the chance. We took a police escort to get there and was fortunate enough to see about 100 survivors in attendance. After visiting with them and doing a pink balloon release we continued with our visit. Today 2 people stuck out, the first was a lady named Ms. Mandy. Mandy was a 30 yo who was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer back in February. She was very up beat and told us that her cancer was genetic. She was 1 of 6 grandchildren that was diagnosed with it. She said that after her diagnoses she was bitter until she met a 7 yo that was doing chemo for cancer. The 7 yo told her it would be ok. She said after that her view had changed concerning her situation. It brought tears to our eyes. There was another that had just finished cancer and I gave her a hug and told her that I came from Memphis, TN to giver her this hug and she broke down into tears saying thank you and telling me that I didnt know how much it meant to her for me to tell her that. I thank Bob for suggesting to me that we take the trip to the cancer center. Our choice was to stay at the event with first responders o r do the visit. I think it was a no-brainer.This is what I was talking about when I said the high of highs and lows of lows.
So today we also added more to the mix on the tour. First lets add Jeff from Arizona, I like to call him Mac. And Ken from Connecticut. He works with Bob. We havent given him a nickname yet but I feel one is coming. And oh yes, I was given the nickname Memphis......go figure. Also, I can't forget Vicki from the South Texas Chapter. I like to call her Vicki Valencourt, can you guess why?...lol..And the only person that we lost was Tin Cup from Texas. But he assured me that he will see us again on Sunday when we are due in his city.
One thing that I have learned from being here is that I have gained more brothers and sisters from all over that I can not only call friends but family also. We have all bonded on this trip and we all feed off of each other. Go figure when we all are used to being in a fire house. Anywhooo, after leaving the cancer center we went back to the event that everyone else stayed at earlier in the day. When we got back, I had to move Karen to the back parking lot and have her set up as a backdrop for the final events of the day. Everyone that stayed at the event did a lap around the parking lot for Reliant Stadium. Bam Bam asked if I would ride shotgun with him as he was leading the walkers with his Pink squad car. Being that we were at a HazMat conference, we had alot of first responders there. After leaving the event we went to dinner. Do you know how hard it is to get a table for 20? It was not fun...
But enough with how filling our day was... Bob and I just recapped our day and discussed this blog. I want you all to know what life is like on this Tour. But, one of the most important things that I really haven't gone too much into is what really am I feeling. Well, let me tell you. I have the greatest opportunity by being able to share my love and hope to those battling cancer or that has beaten cancer. I feel that I have changed even though I have only been here for 4 days now. Karen (my wife) and I had a great conversation tonight about it also. I have the privilege to tell a person battling cancer or that has survived cancer that I am here for them. And that I am here to give them a hug and show support to them. With some of these people they may not have heard that before since becoming diagnosed in the first place. But to see there faces light up when they see us or to have the opportunity to sign one of the trucks, the feeling is undescribable. We are bringing a message of supporting the women in our lives. We as a nation or community have to start there. To let them feel wanted or special again. I so very much enjoy listening to their stories. About how they have fought cancer and are winning the battle. Like I said yesterday, doing the home visit just brought chills through my body. These are things that you cant make up. How many of you took my challenge from yesterday and told a person that is battling or who have battled that you care about them. How many of you shared a hug with them.
Also I had to make a correction in yesterday's blog. JR was at ground zero on 9-11 but he was working on an ambulance that day and not working as a fire fighter. I wanted to share with all of you about the different people that I am with on this journey. But not take away from why we are really here. We all are here because we all want to share in this movement by supporting the women in our lives. And to help these communities that we visit in doing local fundraising so that the money that is raised can be given back to the communities in which they live. A good friend of mine lost her husband a very short while ago to a 5 year battle with cancer. He was upbeat and smiling all the way to the end. He was 38 years old. People that is young! There are many people that are out there in the same position. Lets get with them and share all of love with them and let them know that we care about them. Lets all help in assisting in finding a cure.
So today we also added more to the mix on the tour. First lets add Jeff from Arizona, I like to call him Mac. And Ken from Connecticut. He works with Bob. We havent given him a nickname yet but I feel one is coming. And oh yes, I was given the nickname Memphis......go figure. Also, I can't forget Vicki from the South Texas Chapter. I like to call her Vicki Valencourt, can you guess why?...lol..And the only person that we lost was Tin Cup from Texas. But he assured me that he will see us again on Sunday when we are due in his city.
One thing that I have learned from being here is that I have gained more brothers and sisters from all over that I can not only call friends but family also. We have all bonded on this trip and we all feed off of each other. Go figure when we all are used to being in a fire house. Anywhooo, after leaving the cancer center we went back to the event that everyone else stayed at earlier in the day. When we got back, I had to move Karen to the back parking lot and have her set up as a backdrop for the final events of the day. Everyone that stayed at the event did a lap around the parking lot for Reliant Stadium. Bam Bam asked if I would ride shotgun with him as he was leading the walkers with his Pink squad car. Being that we were at a HazMat conference, we had alot of first responders there. After leaving the event we went to dinner. Do you know how hard it is to get a table for 20? It was not fun...
But enough with how filling our day was... Bob and I just recapped our day and discussed this blog. I want you all to know what life is like on this Tour. But, one of the most important things that I really haven't gone too much into is what really am I feeling. Well, let me tell you. I have the greatest opportunity by being able to share my love and hope to those battling cancer or that has beaten cancer. I feel that I have changed even though I have only been here for 4 days now. Karen (my wife) and I had a great conversation tonight about it also. I have the privilege to tell a person battling cancer or that has survived cancer that I am here for them. And that I am here to give them a hug and show support to them. With some of these people they may not have heard that before since becoming diagnosed in the first place. But to see there faces light up when they see us or to have the opportunity to sign one of the trucks, the feeling is undescribable. We are bringing a message of supporting the women in our lives. We as a nation or community have to start there. To let them feel wanted or special again. I so very much enjoy listening to their stories. About how they have fought cancer and are winning the battle. Like I said yesterday, doing the home visit just brought chills through my body. These are things that you cant make up. How many of you took my challenge from yesterday and told a person that is battling or who have battled that you care about them. How many of you shared a hug with them.
Also I had to make a correction in yesterday's blog. JR was at ground zero on 9-11 but he was working on an ambulance that day and not working as a fire fighter. I wanted to share with all of you about the different people that I am with on this journey. But not take away from why we are really here. We all are here because we all want to share in this movement by supporting the women in our lives. And to help these communities that we visit in doing local fundraising so that the money that is raised can be given back to the communities in which they live. A good friend of mine lost her husband a very short while ago to a 5 year battle with cancer. He was upbeat and smiling all the way to the end. He was 38 years old. People that is young! There are many people that are out there in the same position. Lets get with them and share all of love with them and let them know that we care about them. Lets all help in assisting in finding a cure.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Day 3
Its Day 3 on the tour and we actually slept in till 7am this morning and got a good full 5 hours of sleep. So anyways, this morning we had to be at the trucks at 830a for our escort to the Texas Fire Museum for an event. After arriving, we had a little ceremony with a few people in attendance. That's okay though because we were still able to make an impact on those that were there. While sitting out there with the trucks we started having people drive up and talk with us and sign the trucks. One lady that came was Ms. Bonnie, she is a 13 year survivor of cancer. The joy that she had from seeing us, you couldn't explain it. Specially when she received hugs from 12 out of the 15 of us that are here on the tour in Beaumont.
Before I go further let me tell you about our cast. First you have Dave, who created the Pink Heals Tour. His drive and commitment can not be compared to anyone that I have ever met. Then you have Bob from CT, I met Bob last year while he was on the tour when it stopped in Memphis. Bob and I are driving Karen together. They had been trying to teach him southern lingo before I arrived and I only felt compelled to try and continue it. I think it might be working. Then you have John (JR) from New York. JR was a firefighter/paramedic that was at Ground Zero on Sept. 11th doing triage when we lost 343 brothers and sisters. Today is JR's birthday and we are still trying to figure out what we are going to do to him all in fire fighter fashion of course. Then you have our movie star in John Rhyne. He was the paramedic in the movie Twister. He comes from Kansas and is a retired fire fighter. He has been on the tour for 41 days cause he missed his flight home. So we are taking him there when we get to Kansas next week. He is also good for unlimited laughs. Next is James or as I like to call him JT. JT is from the Wichita Chapter and is very mellow so far. I can't leave out our 2 county deputies that are part of the Lower Texas Chapter. They drove 13 hours to be in Memphis and be a part of our event there. We have Steve or what we call him which could be Juan, Bam Bam, or Jose. He is funny as can be. Then you have his sidekick Tristan or as we decided to call him Tin Cup since he is a jailer.
So on to the rest of our day. We actually had a couple of hours of down time today where I came to sit down and start typing here. Well just as I got started I had a knock on the door about going to do a home visit. Let me tell you this the tour has a schedule for what cities we will be in. Its the unscheduled events that really make this that much better. A home visit is when we take all the trucks to a person that can't make it to an event because they have reached that stage that they just physically cant be there. Today's home visit was very emotional for me. When we were greeted getting down from the trucks by a relative that had made bandana's with the help of this young lady. It had such a special meaning for me, and yes I had tears in my eyes. She was carried by 3 of us in her wheelchair out to the truck so she could sign her name on Tonya. I really don't think that there was a dry eye in the bunch.
From there we had another event that was put together over the last 5 days at a place called Goodfellas. If you are ever in Beaumont I highly recommend going there. The owner is very committed in raising funds for the different charities in his city. We had a good turnout with alot of survivors coming out and signing the trucks and getting lots of hugs from us. He is already talking about planning next years event so that it would be even bigger to benefit the city.
I can tell you, my friend Todd from Memphis Fire, who was on tour before me said it best. He told me that you will have the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. I tried to think about what his meaning was behind that. Well being here for 3 days I know now what he meant. Being able to talk to those going through treatment and then those that have beaten it back. We are bringing a message of Hope and Love and sharing it with those and seeing it uplift them I really can't explain it. I do know that without the love and support of my wife, I wouldn't have had this opportunity. I also want to thank all of you that are taking the time to read this and showing your support. Remember, we have to start somewhere and that somewhere is with the women in our lives. So start by giving that person that is battling cancer or who has beaten it a hug and tell them that you care. You will be amazed at the response you receive in return. Hopefully, it will give you a little bit of what I have been able to experience so far being out here. I am going to end this now as it is almost 1030p and we have to be outside at the trucks at 6a tomorrow so we can make our journey to Houston.
Before I go further let me tell you about our cast. First you have Dave, who created the Pink Heals Tour. His drive and commitment can not be compared to anyone that I have ever met. Then you have Bob from CT, I met Bob last year while he was on the tour when it stopped in Memphis. Bob and I are driving Karen together. They had been trying to teach him southern lingo before I arrived and I only felt compelled to try and continue it. I think it might be working. Then you have John (JR) from New York. JR was a firefighter/paramedic that was at Ground Zero on Sept. 11th doing triage when we lost 343 brothers and sisters. Today is JR's birthday and we are still trying to figure out what we are going to do to him all in fire fighter fashion of course. Then you have our movie star in John Rhyne. He was the paramedic in the movie Twister. He comes from Kansas and is a retired fire fighter. He has been on the tour for 41 days cause he missed his flight home. So we are taking him there when we get to Kansas next week. He is also good for unlimited laughs. Next is James or as I like to call him JT. JT is from the Wichita Chapter and is very mellow so far. I can't leave out our 2 county deputies that are part of the Lower Texas Chapter. They drove 13 hours to be in Memphis and be a part of our event there. We have Steve or what we call him which could be Juan, Bam Bam, or Jose. He is funny as can be. Then you have his sidekick Tristan or as we decided to call him Tin Cup since he is a jailer.
So on to the rest of our day. We actually had a couple of hours of down time today where I came to sit down and start typing here. Well just as I got started I had a knock on the door about going to do a home visit. Let me tell you this the tour has a schedule for what cities we will be in. Its the unscheduled events that really make this that much better. A home visit is when we take all the trucks to a person that can't make it to an event because they have reached that stage that they just physically cant be there. Today's home visit was very emotional for me. When we were greeted getting down from the trucks by a relative that had made bandana's with the help of this young lady. It had such a special meaning for me, and yes I had tears in my eyes. She was carried by 3 of us in her wheelchair out to the truck so she could sign her name on Tonya. I really don't think that there was a dry eye in the bunch.
From there we had another event that was put together over the last 5 days at a place called Goodfellas. If you are ever in Beaumont I highly recommend going there. The owner is very committed in raising funds for the different charities in his city. We had a good turnout with alot of survivors coming out and signing the trucks and getting lots of hugs from us. He is already talking about planning next years event so that it would be even bigger to benefit the city.
I can tell you, my friend Todd from Memphis Fire, who was on tour before me said it best. He told me that you will have the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. I tried to think about what his meaning was behind that. Well being here for 3 days I know now what he meant. Being able to talk to those going through treatment and then those that have beaten it back. We are bringing a message of Hope and Love and sharing it with those and seeing it uplift them I really can't explain it. I do know that without the love and support of my wife, I wouldn't have had this opportunity. I also want to thank all of you that are taking the time to read this and showing your support. Remember, we have to start somewhere and that somewhere is with the women in our lives. So start by giving that person that is battling cancer or who has beaten it a hug and tell them that you care. You will be amazed at the response you receive in return. Hopefully, it will give you a little bit of what I have been able to experience so far being out here. I am going to end this now as it is almost 1030p and we have to be outside at the trucks at 6a tomorrow so we can make our journey to Houston.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Day 1 and 2 of the Tour
My first day on the Pink Heals Tour started in my home city of Memphis, TN. We started the morning out with a police escort to WREG channel 3 to appear on Live at 9. Todd Conklin of the Memphis Fire Department did a live interview talking about the tour (which he was just leaving and I was taking his place) and also about our event at Dobbs Ford for Pink Heals Memphis. After leaving the station we did a caravan to Hope Lodge. Now when I say caravan, imagine 9 MPD motors along with 3 pink fire trucks. The trucks that we had were named Karen (she pulls the stainless steel ribbon of hope), Tonya, and the Lower Alabama Chapter truck named Cindy. As we pulled up to Hope Lodge you would not even know what it is from looking at it from the street. The great people from the American Cancer Society built a home where cancer patients from anywhere outside of a 40 mile radius can stay for free for as long as they need to while going through treatment for the cancer that they are battling. The place was beautiful. They did an amazing job setting up a home away from home.
After leaving Hope Lodge we traveled to the other side of Memphis to visit the West Clinic. At the West Clinic they have a foundation called Wings. Wings is an awesome organization that takes care of cancer patients. We toured the chemo floors where we were able to visit with patients that were there for their treatments. The rooms lit up when they saw all of us walk in and start passing out hugs and spending a few minutes talking to all of the patients. We were told that they see about 500 people a day come through the doors for treatment.
Now let me tell you why we went to those places. Here in Memphis all of the different fire departments sell pink shirts. 100% of the proceeds from the shirt sales are donated to those 2 different entities. It was great seeing where the money goes from our fundraising efforts.
Day 2
Today was a travel day for us. I now know what that means. We started the morning going to Graceland to take a few pictures. From there we headed south on I-55 down to the Desoto Civic Center. Where we did another photo shoot for the other part of Pink Heals Memphis fundraiser. On Oct. 29 we are painting the rink pink. Its the RiverKings first home match of the season. Proceeds from tickets sold through the Pink Heals Memphis website will be donated to the 2 places that I mentioned before. After both stops we proceeded down I-55 again this time to make a quick stop in Grenada, MS. There we met some great people that were survivors and others that cancer have affected in other ways. I can tell you that the stories that I heard brought tears to my eyes. As I told the few that I had the opportunity to speak with that I was from Memphis each one told me a story about a lady named Ms. Linda. Come to find out Ms. Linda was able to stay at Hope Lodge while doing treatments and she also was doing her treatments at the West Clinic. The 2 places that we in Memphis raise money for. After hearing all of this it gave me goosebumps and gave me a sense of pride for what I am doing on Tour but also what we are doing back home. After staying there for a little over an hour we started our journey back up. We continued on to Beaumont, TX. As I was driving Karen I had cars passing me waving and giving thumbs up to me. That gave me even more encouragement on what I was doing.
We finally arrived in Beaumont at 1030pm. I am exhausted from the drive. Driving a fire truck can be tough but pulling a trailer behind it with the Ribbon of Hope is down right nerve racking. Going through construction zones where the lanes narrowed, I felt myself holding my breath doing it. Well its now after 1am and we have to be up at 7am to get ready for tomorrows event at the Fire Museum in downtown Beaumont. Tomorrow will be busy but its for the good of delivering Love and Hope to those that are fighting and to those that have won, but most of all being able to help those that have lost loved ones know that we care. Its what we as fire fighters do. We help others. For more information you can visit the following links:
www.pinkhealsmemphis.com or www.pinkfiretrucks.org
After leaving Hope Lodge we traveled to the other side of Memphis to visit the West Clinic. At the West Clinic they have a foundation called Wings. Wings is an awesome organization that takes care of cancer patients. We toured the chemo floors where we were able to visit with patients that were there for their treatments. The rooms lit up when they saw all of us walk in and start passing out hugs and spending a few minutes talking to all of the patients. We were told that they see about 500 people a day come through the doors for treatment.
Now let me tell you why we went to those places. Here in Memphis all of the different fire departments sell pink shirts. 100% of the proceeds from the shirt sales are donated to those 2 different entities. It was great seeing where the money goes from our fundraising efforts.
Day 2
Today was a travel day for us. I now know what that means. We started the morning going to Graceland to take a few pictures. From there we headed south on I-55 down to the Desoto Civic Center. Where we did another photo shoot for the other part of Pink Heals Memphis fundraiser. On Oct. 29 we are painting the rink pink. Its the RiverKings first home match of the season. Proceeds from tickets sold through the Pink Heals Memphis website will be donated to the 2 places that I mentioned before. After both stops we proceeded down I-55 again this time to make a quick stop in Grenada, MS. There we met some great people that were survivors and others that cancer have affected in other ways. I can tell you that the stories that I heard brought tears to my eyes. As I told the few that I had the opportunity to speak with that I was from Memphis each one told me a story about a lady named Ms. Linda. Come to find out Ms. Linda was able to stay at Hope Lodge while doing treatments and she also was doing her treatments at the West Clinic. The 2 places that we in Memphis raise money for. After hearing all of this it gave me goosebumps and gave me a sense of pride for what I am doing on Tour but also what we are doing back home. After staying there for a little over an hour we started our journey back up. We continued on to Beaumont, TX. As I was driving Karen I had cars passing me waving and giving thumbs up to me. That gave me even more encouragement on what I was doing.
We finally arrived in Beaumont at 1030pm. I am exhausted from the drive. Driving a fire truck can be tough but pulling a trailer behind it with the Ribbon of Hope is down right nerve racking. Going through construction zones where the lanes narrowed, I felt myself holding my breath doing it. Well its now after 1am and we have to be up at 7am to get ready for tomorrows event at the Fire Museum in downtown Beaumont. Tomorrow will be busy but its for the good of delivering Love and Hope to those that are fighting and to those that have won, but most of all being able to help those that have lost loved ones know that we care. Its what we as fire fighters do. We help others. For more information you can visit the following links:
www.pinkhealsmemphis.com or www.pinkfiretrucks.org
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