http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3242404 Kenechi Udeze has lukemia. As stated in the article, its a form of cancer that strikes the blood and bone marrow. While the disease can be fatal, people under 65 genearally get the acute form, which can go into remission after six months of strong chemotherapy. A doctor quoted in the article who has no direct knowledge of Udeze's condition states that being an athlete doesn't hurt, but it doesn't help as much as lukemia will still "kick [you] in the teeth." A Minnesota TV station said that Udeze is undergoing further testing on the severity of his condition. Whether it be lukemia, or another type of cancer, the disease will affect all of us in our lives. If it hasn't happened yet, the odds are that someone in your life will be stricken with cancer. I hope that we all able to go through our lives without the challenge of cancer to overcome. I hope more that cancer will not affect any of us in our lives, either directly or indirectly.. I hope even more that I will live to see a cure to the many different forms of cancer that can strike any of us. I urge you all to do what you can to support the cancer charities out there. Here are a few to think about relating to athletics (some directly, some less direct), which I know is of interest to us all. - If you live near (or on in my case) a college campus, see if there are one of the 800 women's basketball teams participating in the "Think Pink" event, raising money for the Kay Yow/WBCA breast cancer fund. St. Bonaventure's event is coming up on Saturday, though I'd bet I'm the only one in the area. See if your near by NCAA, NAIA, AAU, or High School Team is holding an event: http://www.wbca.org/thinkpink.asp - One of my fraternity brothers is biking cross country with his sister and a friend to raise money and awareness for lung cancer, brain cancer, and bipolar disorder: http://www.leavecancerinthedust.org/home - There is The V-Foundation which we all ought to know about, if we don't already. The YouTube link is Jim Valvano's ESPY speech from 1993. The second link goes to the V-Foundation site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePXlkqkFH6s http://www.jimmyv.org/ - Relay For Life is one of the American Cancer Society's major nation-wide events. On this site, you can find Relay events near you, or teams near by to donate to. Again, if there's a college near by, there's probably a Relay event near by as well: http://www.relayforlife.org/relay/ While there are just a few links here that I have provided, I hope that we all take a moment to help with cancer research and cancer charities that mean something to us. If that means your time or your money, do whatever it is you can so that we can live to see the day that those around us do not have to worry about being stricken with cancer of any form. If you have any other links that you'd like to direct our attention to, please post them here.
