Fundraising for Tour De Cure.

 ‘Cancer does amazing things’….. strange to hear this I know, but it has. 

Most of you will know that I am riding 1192km over 2000m of climbing from Adelaide to my hometown of Melbourne, to raise money for cancer with the Tour De Cure Foundation. When you sign up for the ride, the target for each rider required to reach is $12000.

The amazing thing cancer has done is brought a community of people together to generously donate to my fundraising page. It also instigated a parent from my school, Sandra and her husband, Michael to organise an amazing fundraising night, with many auction items being donated and a venue kindly donate to us for the night……Sandra has her own battle with Cancer and was so determined to organise this night and see me reach my $12000 target.

Brian Rabinowitz talking about my Journey

Packed House

Venue

Lisa and her cousin and good friend

Lisa's very good friends

My Mates

 Sandra is going really well in her journey with the Cancer Beast. When she was ill and receiving treatment, all I wanted to do and try to do was guide Sandra on a path of positivity and motivation to live and fight hard and she is doing this with the utmost dignity and guts.

I cannot thank Sandra, Michael and their amazing children enough for what they have done. Both their boys have been amazing also organising the middle and senior school by organising a BBQ, casual clothes day, and a chapel service.

Also a friend of Sandra and Michael, Nick is shaving his hair and beard for my TDC ride.

I am truly speechless with the number of donations I have received and what we have raised so far. All donations go to many cancers areas and the variety of organisations relating to cancer throughout Australia. I am currently at a total of $27400. My old football club Templestowe, are also holding a Fun Run to raise more money. Truly overwhelmed.....Thanks Travis Wason for organising this. See you all there. 

I am training hard and probably the fittest I’ve been in years. Riding an average of 300km a week. The irony of all this, is that in 2012 I was facing death, unable to walk, function as a fit healthy male adult and be a strong father to my girls and now I am cycling hard and excited to be apart of an amazing school community and the Tour De Cure fundraising ride and experience.

My family is really well growing up too fast, Kalita loves Prep, Zahlia is the Queen of 3YO Kinder kids and a gymnastics princess. Ariella is blitzing Year 2 and loving her swimming, gymnastics and her friends. Lisa is busy being a mum, training when she can, keeping her Osteo Clinic functioning. She is an amazing, patient wife and without her I wouldn’t be here today and be able to train the hours I am doing.

Love this photo

Kalita at School

Zahlia at Gymnastics

Zahlia Ballet

Zahlia off to Kinder

Ariella

Special moments like seeing your children grow and achieve are very precious and one's I treasure forever. 

I have scans in the middle of March and obviously confident and determined I will remain disease free.

Something for all of you to see is this movie I went to see about a guy who had cancer and rode an amazing ride to achieve is dream of riding Corsica. Worth watching and something that I could truly connect with.

 

Referring back to the first line of this blog entry….. I feel blessed that I have the support and love of so many people. When I do my presentations on my journey to various organisations, I always say that cancer (melanoma) has been something that was given to me to as a ‘gift’ and it is up to me to unwrap it…..in a positive manner.

My ride is 24^th April to 2^nd May. Head to Tour De Cure for more information. 

REMEMBER TO HUG YOUR LOVED ONE'S

HERE'S TO AN AMAZING 2015!

HERE'S TO AN AMAZING 2015! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! Christmas has past and 2015 has begun.  Christmas this year for Lisa, the girls and I was at home with Lisa’s family coming over to share the day with us.

My parents hosted Boxing Day, unfortunately my mum had to work Christmas Day, therefore the only free day for my family to celebrate Christmas was the day after.

My brother who is 11months younger than me. 

My beautiful family 

I love Christmas time! Being a teacher and in a school environment makes it even more enjoyable….listening to all the rehearsals for Carols and end of year assemblies makes it very exciting and people tend to get in to the spirit of Christmas.

As a family, we hold our traditions of attending Church, Carols and putting up Christmas lights, going to see the Myer windows, putting decorations on the tree, the traditional Christmas family photo with Santa and reading the Christmas story the week leading up to Christmas. The girls obviously write their letters to Santa and browse through endless amounts of catalogues, circling stuff they would like to have.

Myer Windows

Myer Windows

Myer Windows

I enjoy putting up the lights around the house and always say to the girls, ‘we have the best lights in the area.’ This year we received and very kind note in the letterbox saying; ‘Thanks for lighting up our Christmas with your lights.’ Such an unexpected note and one that made all of us feel as if our house has brightened up the street.

Christmas morning was a late start by the girls. Surprisingly they didn’t wake till 8am and rolled into our room excited that Santa had been.

The photos below show how much they loved Christmas. These are the moments that are most precious to me. Watching the girls open presents with the most amazing smiles…..sitting there with my family for another Christmas made me feel very lucky.

Back in 2012 it was a special Christmas for many reasons, but for me it was a significant milestone of success….knowing I was almost dead that year in October from Cancer. Christmas morning 2014 for my third Christmas since the beast of Melanoma strolled into our lives was astounding.  

This Christmas also saddened me this…..I was thinking about those families and loved ones, who I know, celebrated it without a loved one with them as, melanoma had taken them away. My heart broke and I felt guilty that I was here with my family enjoying the moment.

As it is a new year, I have decided to not make New Years Resolutions, strange I know, but instead set some huge goals that I would like to achieve.

In no particular order, these are the goals that I would like to see achieved:

• -       Further enhance the Melbourne Melanoma Support group. Introduce people attending to meditation, exercise and other forms of therapy
• -       Train extremely hard for my 1194km Tour De Cure Ride in April
• -       Complete the Tour with success and reach my $12000 fundraising target
• -       Recently I found this amazing site http://www.survivorsociety.com and have spoken with Jacob Walker who had Brain Cancer and is now a survivor, and the creator of this site. He and I have a lot in common and have the same drive, passion to support people with cancer and sharing our experiences….anyway my goal is: for he and I to put our brains together to host and create a conference based on Positive Mindset, exercise, health and fitness when you have cancer and share stories of survivorship
• -       Work closely with Amanda Lucci and MIA to develop a well run Melanoma March which is on 22^nd February, to raise awareness of Melanoma and funds for the Melanoma Institute Australia
• -       Enjoy my family more than 2014
• -       Less worry about work issues to not over work this year
• -       Find another way of fundraising for MIA
• -       Be healthy, super fit and cancer free for the this year and hopefully longer

Small things

Small things in life are the most simple, enjoyable and rewarding……when the family and I went to the park the other day…..the girls ran freely and loved playing around on the equipment…..nothing concerning them and likewise Lisa and I enjoying the environment and the girls fun loving nature…… feeding the ducks off the bridge was something simple that made me feel calm and relaxed. We need moments like these to reassess and remind us of what is valued in life.

Another amazing thing that was well worth enjoying was seeing Ariella and Kalita move further in their schooling. Kalita finishing Kinder and Ariella moving up to Year 2. 

A mate of mine Andrew Rust, who walked from Sydney to Melbourne 900km to raise funds for Melanoma research…..recently had scans that revealed his Melanoma had returned…. 14 years ago he was diagnosed stage 4 and for the past 5 years he was in remission…..unfortunately his melanoma has returned and I am wishing him all the best with his treatment. 

He mentioned to me that he has had another wake up call and is determined to heal and become disease free, but enjoy the simple and small things in life. In fact he's had 50% reduction in tumours (Dabrafenib works).

Andrew Rust on my Right and Jay Allen on my Left.

I am going really well. Health has been good. I did unfortunately manage to pick up a gastro bug after Christmas it knocked me for about seven days, I lost 3kg. 

Under the guidance of my oncologist, I did have to go off my Dabrafenib for three days to ensure I improved in health. I am due for bloods next week. But feel amazing and can't see anything being a surprise from bloods. I am the fittest I have been in a long time. I have been riding, keeping the training going for the TDC ride. Below is an app story of my 2014-year on the bike. I did not create it; it was created by an app called Strava that I upload my rides to for training record. http://2014story.strava.com/video/97131

The bike is a massive release for me and I am riding around 270km a week and climbing some big hills. Love riding with my mates Matthew Collins and Adam Grills....of course there is a coffee at the end.

Feeling Stuffed here.

Grillsy, Matty and I riding Christmas Eve.

On February 21^st I will be holding a fund raising event to raise money for my TDC ride. If you are wishing to come along which I would truly love, here is the link to book tickets: Fundraising booking

Thanks to Sandra and Michael Green for all their hard work for this event. 

 Or feel free to donate to my fund raising page:

 Donations Link

I do want to leave you with this very interesting quote I found from the Dalai Lama, he was asked what surprised him about Humanity, his response really had me thinking and is very true. 

Life is amazing I am so happy to be this healthy and alive, don't live in the past, or look at the future with negativity, live in the present. 

 REMEMBER TO HUG YOUR LOVED ONE'S

IN THE CLEAR

Starting this blog with this:

Now

For the very first time

Don't you pay no mind?

Set me free again

You keep alive a moment at a time

But still inside a whisper to a riot

To sacrifice but knowing to survive

The first decline another state of mind

I'm on my knees, I'm praying for a sign

Forever, whenever

I never wanna die

I never wanna die

I never wanna die

I'm on my knees

I never wanna die

I'm dancing on my grave

I'm running through the fire

Forever, whatever

I never wanna die

I never wanna leave

I'll never say goodbye

Forever, whatever

Forever, whatever

These are lyrics to a ‘Foo Fighters’ song, ‘Walk’. This particular part of this song really makes me think about how much I want to live and how I learned to walk, talk and function again after all that has happened in the past two years.

I am far from a musical knowledgeable person or profess to know about music…… however, when something is repeated three times over and over again it symbolises an enforced message. Repetition is the basis for many poetic/lyrical forms. The use of repetition can heighten the emotional impact of a piece. As you can see above:

I never wanna die

I never wanna die

I never wanna die

I am a massive fan of this band and pretty much all their songs have a connection to my cancer journey in some way.

The reason for telling you this is because….my most recent scan was last Friday….I wasn’t feeling the best during this week.... I had about a week of headaches, I do have scanaxiety when scans come around so I was hoping it was this stress and the stress/pressure of finishing off the school year and organising the Year 6 Graduation with my close friend/colleague Bruce Oakley….. hoping this was all adding to my headaches.

Fun at work with Graduation Props:

Whilst waiting for my scan, I always listen to music to ease my mind and take my thoughts away from all that relates to cancer…..when I was called in for my scan, I forgot to pause or stop my phone playlist……when I finished and collected my phone the song that was on the screen was the Foo Fighters song ‘In The Clear’. 

Coincidence or not……my results came back clear, no evidence of disease…..NED……still in remission for the past three months.

My nerves and anxiety disappeared and my focus turned to finishing the school year.

The excitement of being in remission and not having any tumours present in my body…..makes me feel amazing, but at the same time I feel guilty that I am ‘In the Clear’ of tumours and Melanoma…..when mates of mine are still fighting off the beast of Cancer……It is hard to share my news with them as I feel bad that they are still fighting and I’m feeling so good. Is this wrong to feel like this????

Much has happened since my last blog post…….Lisa and the girls have been busy with dance rehearsals and concerts. The photos below will show how beautiful the girls looked and I can say as a very 'unbiased' father the girls looked amazing on the stage…….moments to lock away in my memory bank and be thankful to see and enjoy.

Family affair, cousin who did dancing with the girls

The girls at the Dance Concerts

My only sister and younger brother (Olivia and Reardon) both had their birthdays. Time to gather as a family and enjoy each other’s company. I am thankful to have them in my life, great support and very caring.

My younger Brother and Sister 

About two weekends ago I competed in a team Half Ironman (IM) race…..My good friend Matthew Collins had entered as an individual for the half IM, however after much procrastinating he decided to change his entry to a team entry….John Sidebottom did the 1.9km swim, I competed in the 90km bike leg and Matty brought the team home on the 21km run.

Matty (such a great support and good mate) and I watching the swim leg

Transition

Heading out on the ride.

Matty on a very hot run leg

It was the best feeling to be amongst the Triathlon scene again….even if it was only a 90km bike leg…..my ride was solid and at the same time very much an achievement for me.

John swam very well and placed us well for my bike leg which was slightly hilly, but at the same time a fast course. I averaged 34km/h and completed it in 2hours39min. Goal achieved… aiming to stay under 2hours50min and above 32km/h average. Matty had the worst time of the day to run…..he ran well however, the heat did mess with his body.

This race was a part of my training for the ‘Tour De Cure’ (TDC), April 2015……. Please feel free to donate to this link for the TDC: TDC DONATION PAGE.

Also I want to take time here to mention the fundraising event happening on Feb 21st for my TDC ride. Thanks so much to the Green family for passionately organising this event, especially Sandra who has her own personal battle to fight, but finds the energy to organise this event.

I was riding and training was on very hard…..until….BANG! Yes I stacked one ride home last week. Hitting tram tracks and landing heavily off the bike! Right arm and leg, badly grazed…..my bike was also damaged, snapped rear gearing…..this has put me off the bike for at least a week so far. I was going so well training too, clocking an average of around 260km a week….this is not the end of the world….I’ll bounce back and ‘hit’ the road again soon…..not literally!

After the crash

Slowing healing

Damaged bike

It is important that things don’t hold us back and we tackle all that comes our way.

Kalita our middle child has attended her Prep Orientation days for 2015…….. and Zahlia had her 3YO Kinder Orientation mornings also……they are both ready for the next phase in their growth…..as for Lisa and I, we are probably not ready for all our girls to grow up so quickly….but I am very much looking forward to seeing them off to school and kinder…..to be here and well for these moments in their lives are priceless and something I cannot and will not miss….just to be here for these days and moments are steps to moving forward and enjoying life.

Christmas and New Year are times for all of us to recharge, forgive, connect and change what needs changing in our lives. I love Christmas and yes the big kid in me comes out...... I have gone all out with Christmas lights on the house and garden this year. I LOVE it…….we even had a very kind note placed in our letterbox saying ‘Thanks for brightening up our Christmas with your lights’. Very kind and unexpected note from a neighbour!

Lisa is well and I think she is looking forward to having me home for the summer holidays after a very busy year. I am very much looking forward to spending time with the family, training and keeping healthy.

Life is great and I am feeling amazing and very grateful for all that has happened to us in the past two years.....I know this sounds weird to be grateful.....but I am...Cancer has changed my outlook on life and all that is around me.....it has re-calibrated what is important.

Enjoy your Christmas and New Year everyone….take time to spread the cheer and love.

REMEMBER TO HUG YOUR LOVED ONE'S.