Our Story

Our family has been impacted by cancer.  Unfortunately, that makes us far from unique. Devin's bicycle shop burned to the ground in 2006.  In a twisted way, this was a good thing as it left our family with a great deal of flexibility.  Our new found flexibility turned out to be of great benefit as Devin's mother who was healthy, from a genetically long lived family and and physically active was diagnosed with stage IV(terminal) Glioblasoma.  This was our first up close experience with cancer and we were thrown into the deep end of the pool.  We needed to know everything and learn it very quickly as critical decisions needed to be made.  The Internet was our best resource along with websites targeting particular types of cancer.  

Unfortunately what we learned was that 

1. Large cancer organizations are either 

A. too large to be responsive, or 

B. completely overwhelmed by the need.  
2. hospitals are not safe places for the sick.  
3. Everyone who has a  serious illness needs a patient advocate: Someone who can take notes during doctor consults, who can research other options and locate the correct doctors for second opinions, who can track drug information, organize procedure scheduling and make sure that hospital staff perform in a timely and appropriate manor.  
4. You need to form your cancer team out of the best of the best.  This is your life we are talking about.

Spring of 08 Laurel's father was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer.  Our learning curve was much quicker the second time around.  But the fact of the matter is that we are sick of this disease and would just as soon it went away.  What we would really like to do is run away from cancer, all it's possibilities and all it's implications.