Everyone thinks their dad is special and we are no different.  In fact, we know we were so lucky to have him - even though it was a shorter amount of time than we wanted.  He was known as a great dad, a loyal friend, an awesome soccer coach, a motivating boss, a tireless volunteer, and a provider of nutrious meals to not only his family, but also to tens of thousands of students in the school districts in Red Clay Consolidated School District. 

 

Below, we have some highlights of our time with our dad and we have captured some information to give each of you an understanding of the awesome relationship we had with him and to impress upon everyone that physical life on earth is a temporary gift - so make the most of it!! 

 

In preparation for his funeral, we thought of some of our dad's "Mike'isms" that he never realized he taught us & from which we have learned: 

 

When I did the eulogy at my dad's funeral I got a chance to tell everyone how I felt about my dad. I was so honored to have the opportunity to do so. Even though it was very difficult, I know my dad was there with me and gave me the strength to get through it. From that moment on I realized that from now on my life was going to be very different and I was not going to have a very important person in my life anymore. The day I found out my dad had cancer was by far the worst day of my life. But little did I know there was going to be an even worse day that would come 18 long months later. His cancer came back 3 times in those months and each time seemed to get harder to handle. Each time it seemed my dad was getting worse and even more tired. My family and I all tried so hard to stay strong but with each time it seemed we were all getting weaker and weaker. Even so, we kept our heads up and my dad did as well. He was an amazing fighter.

 

He fought so hard and always was making an attempt to lighten the mood. I always tried to keep a brave face in front of him and never really let it all out in front of him because I was so afraid. Afraid of what the future might bring and afraid of what good thing was even going to come out of this situation. In the last few weeks we could all see the pain in my dad's eyes and how much harder it was getting for him. On October 6th my dad had a bad fall. The nurse gave him medicine and the last thing my dad told my mom was "tell the kids i love them." The following day around 3:30 in the morning, my dad died. I happened to be wrong before. That was the worst day of my life. I no longer had my dad, I no longer had my best friend by my side.

 

Until now, we have all been so numb with pain and have tried everything we could to keep ourselves busy. One of the things to keep ourselves busy was start this organization. The only good thing that has come out of this. Kids Kickin' Cancer is what my brother and I have started in order to keep my dad's memory alive. My family and I are trying to raise as much money as we can so that eventually we can make my dad's dream come true. He always dreamed that one day he could start a house at the beach for anyone who has a relative or who has cancer for them to escape and just get away. That has become our dream.

 

Finally, I just want to stay thank you to all the people who have helped us get this organization started and off to a great start. Hopefully this year will be an even bigger success. So come out and show your support for all those people who have died of cancer and who are fighting their battle! Thank you so much. =]  

 

My dad was one of the greatest people you would ever meet. Once he found the lump on his neck, I didn't know what I was going to do, but I kept a positive attitude about the whole situation. After the doctors did all they could to get all the cancer out of him, my family and I were so relieved. When they told us that the cancer was all gone we were as happy as could be.

 

At one of my soccer games in the spring of '06 my team got a penalty kick in a really close game and my dad was sitting down while coaching us and one of my teamates was accidently blocking his view. Trying to see what was going to happen my dad leaned back too far and he fell over, and without anyone seeing what happened, he got back up to see us score. A couple days after the game, my dad started having pains in his shoulder from his fall at the game. So he decided to go to his doctor to see what was going on. The doctor did some tests on him and sure enough he told him that the surgery he went through didn't clear all the cancer from his body. Once my parents told my sister and I this we thought our world was over. So we just did everything that we could to keep a good attitude for him. We enjoyed a great summer at the beach - our favorite time together - even though he was getting sicker!  But even though he fought really hard and we did lots to help him out, he just couldn't hold on any longer and he passed on October 7, 2006 around 3:30 in the morning.

 

My sister and I really wanted to give something back in my dad's memory. So we created the organization Kids Kickin' Cancer. Through this organization we are trying to raise as much money as we can to help out with cancer research. The fund raisers that we are doing include a 5K run/walk, a Golf Outing, and for this year we are creating a cookbook. We are trying to hold the 5K every year in May, because that is when my dad's birthday was. The golf outing is going to be in August. We are trying to release the cookbook around October 1st.

 

In conclusion I would just like to say thank you to all the people that helped my sister and I out in raising $20,000 that was donated to the Helen F. Graham Center. For this year we are going to try and raise even more money to donate. So please come out and show your support in helping my sister and I make this year's 5K and Golf Outing even more of a success.