June 19th, 2009 
jwarren As a father, husband, and grandfather, I need to say “Thank You” to each member of my family who have posted messages in the Guestbook. In some cases their messages are sweet and cute, and others heart-rending. Reading how my cancer affected them is very, very sobering.
My oldest daughter, Megan, wrote about the very day I broke the news to my children that I had been diagnosed with cancer. I had brought all my family together so I could meet with everyone at once. As I finished speaking those words, “I have been diagnosed with cancer,” I looked around the room waiting for questions or comments, and all I saw were dropped jaws and looks of terror. I was totally unprepared for how my diagnosis would affect my family and cause them so much sadness, anxiety, fear, anger, and dozens of feelings and emotions I probably haven’t yet recognized to this day.
While a diagnosis of cancer causes the patient many of the same feelings and emotions, we’re pretty much in survival mode. We’re simply soldiering-on, completing the tasks given us: another surgery, another session of chemotherapy, and another radiation treatment. While we’re task focused, our families are there with us every step of the way, and want to take away the pain, the suffering, and make things like they were before cancer. Yet they’re powerless to do anything. I learned during my cancer experience that the disease is much more difficult on families than it is on the patient.
And, in part, I guess that’s the point: cancer may be limited to only one member of a household, yet its’ cold, harsh, reality takes every member of the family in its’ ugly grasp.
So we have the Ride From Reno, a fund-raising bike ride across Nevada and Utah, focused on raising money for Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City to help them find better tolerated, less toxic treatments for the disease. It’s a bike ride, yes, but the ultimate purpose is to raise money for HCI to help them achieve their mission to alleviate suffering.
Today’s ride (Day 4) was all about suffering. Don, Mike, and Larry have all written about what transpired but I have to add Day 4 (Thursday, June 18th) was one of the most difficult days I’ve spent in the saddle. The wind was relentless, which added to the fun, but the ride across Snake Valley, up Mormon Gap, and the final 60 miles through alkali flats and rolling desolate desert into Delta seemed interminable. It was almost as if God got angry at the Utah border. The lush, green, desert of Nevada was replaced by dry, brown, almost dead-feeling Utah desert. What a contrast!
I’m excited to arrive at Huntsman Cancer Institute on Saturday afternoon (around 4 p.m.) and hope you’re able to be there and help us celebrate.
Thanks for all your messages in our Guestbook; they’re like gold to us and we appreciate them more than you’ll ever know.
Jeff
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