Kick-Off Celebration - 11/09/09

Monday evening (11/9/09) was the TNT Kick-Off Celebration for the South Valley Teams. I attended the meeting with my #1 supporter, my wife Laarni. Ever since I told her I was interested in making the commitment to join TNT, she has been a huge supporter of mine. In fact, the day I told her I wanted to do it and why, she went on-line and booked hotel reservations in Palm Springs!! She is the best and I am very lucky to have her in my corner! I mean it's not like she doesn't have anything else to do (works full-time, we have 4 kids all under 10 years old, volunteers at school, cooks, cleans, and goes to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, that's all).

We also went with our good friends Cliff and Michelle. It was actually thanks to Cliff that I decided to join TNT. He called me one day to ask me to support his ride and of course I did, but it also got me thinking of doing it myself. I mean why not...I've always wanted to do something to support the fight against cancer. I mean I lost two fathers to this terrible disease and I've seen so many of my friends and family members have to deal with this terrible ordeal. To read about my personal story, please go check it out here:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/tdps10/hdeguzman

At the Kick-Off Celebration, a very brave and strong woman and her 6 year old daughter, Ella, got up on stage to talk to us. The place was packed with all TNT participants including marathoners, triathlon athletes, hikers, and of course us cyclists. By the end of the story, there was not one person in the room who didn't have a tear in their eyes!

This beautiful and strong little girl, at only 6 years old, has already lived through the fight of her life. Ella's mom told us how she was stricken with a blood cancer at only 14 months old. There were days that the pain was so great for Ella that her mom actually had to whisper in her ear that it was ok for Ella to leave and go to heaven so that she could rest! But no way! Ella was not ready to leave. She was determined to stay with her mom and fight through this battle. Today she is in remission, but the reality of it is that the medication and treatment that Ella endured can still have it's long-term effects. That's why it is so important that research continue so that we know how to once and for all cure these deadly diseases. For now, we are all lucky to have Ella with us.

Ella's story only confirms that I did the right thing by joining TNT. Yeah, I'm out of shape, and yeah, it will be hard to train, but nothing could ever compare to what Ella did. It puts life in perspective! All Laarni and I could do afterwards is say how lucky we are that our children are healthy!

The rest of the evening was full of socializing, meeting some great sports vendors who support TNT and its participants and learning a lot more about fundraising.

We also got our participant jerseys and are now ready to go!