Relay For Life 16 Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

It’s almost over and tomorrow is the start of the big weekend. I want to thank all of you for your amazing support for my journey with prostate cancer and Relay For Life 16 which starts tomorrow.

If you are in the neighborhood, the Opening Ceremony at the Millennium Institute will be at 3:45 PM and I will be one of a small group giving a brief speech, which is a huge honor in part due to the number of you who have donated to our team Early Birds. Following that we have the first lap led by those of us who have been told “You have cancer” and our supporters and partners. It would be great to have you join us if you can.

If you want to come and say hi or walk a lap with us, our tent is at site A8 right on the side of the track on the opposite side to to main Millennium building.

We have dropped to 5th place in the fund raising rankings, being beaten by 3 schools and a bank, which are hard acts to follow as we are just a small group supporting friends and family. But what a great job you have done! For me personally you have donated over $1,500, our team over $6,000 which adds up to about 4% of the total of around $150,000 which will help the Cancer Society save lives and make the journey easier for cancer sufferers like myself.

I want to give a special thanks to Gemma and Tracy, my daughters, who set our team up for me after asking what they could do to help me get through this horrible disease. They have been awesome. Also to Gemma and Mark for the awesome singlet and hoodies they designed and had made. The 16 (for 2016) is made up of the names of the people our team are walking and running for (for 18 hours!), so we can carry those people with us.

It’s not too late to donate $5 if you haven’t already done so, by going to my page at https://aucklandnorthrelayforlife2016.everydayhero.com/nz/luigi. It’s also never too late to go and get a PSA test guys and I am so proud that 13 of you have been motivated by me to go and get tested and as well as all being clear, now have a base line for future tests.

I will be posting pics on my Twitter account https://twitter.com/bluesbro so if you want to stay in touch and see what’s happening and send me some support.

I am very grateful to the Cancer Society for what they do and to your for your support. This isn’t just about supporting the 1 in 3 people in NZ who will be diagnosed with cancer during their lives (think about those numbers in terms of your family, friends and colleagues), it has also been a welcome distraction for me, something to be focused on and excited about.

As I go through this journey it is about having things to look forward to and making the most out of one day at a time. I am working on lots more things to look forward to, but most of all it is about friends and family. Things are cool, but ultimately its about people and you have helped me more than you realise.

I have never been one to ask for help. The support helps me, but the money may help you and yours in the future. The Cancer Society is not funded by taxes, rates or anything other than donations. So this is the last time and I won’t be asking again. If you can spare $5, please do so at https://aucklandnorthrelayforlife2016.everydayhero.com/nz/luigi.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Now I have to get to work!!!!

 

Where I first saw Martin Crowe play Cricket

This is where I first saw #MartinCrowe play cricket. The Grendon Rd Oval. After school and weekends you would often find Martin Crowe, Jeff Crowe, Martin Foster (also deceased) and others playing cricket on the road. Little did we know that he would become a legend.

 

I wish I had gone to the funeral now, but I was just a kid who chatted with them as we walked down South Titirangi Rd after school. They were thoroughly good guys, but at that time, just ordinary school kids with a passion for sport. I think I would have felt out of place among so many dignitaries, so many legends.

 

I so felt for Hogan as he went through some agonizing times where he felt the world was against him, where misguided people ridiculed him, the classic Kiwi tall poppy syndrome. I think that took a lot out of him, but it didn’t stop him becoming a legend. Things people say, bad jokes and innuendos take a toll on people and affect their self esteem, often for life.

 

I am so happy that he received his accolades including the induction into the Cricket Hall of Fame.

 

His standards, his work ethic and attitude are an inspiration. He proved the point that if you put the effort in, day after day after day, you will get the results. I suspect that his commitment to his sport was one of the reasons he and Grant Fox got on so well, being another person who devoted so much of his time to practice, train, practice. Today many young professional athletes with natural skills frequently focus on the money and not on what it takes to be a star.

 

They say that if you do something for 10,000 days you can become expert at anything. It has been proven in sport, music and other areas. If you have the genetics to go with it, even more so, but ultimately it comes down to attitude and commitment. Also passion. For some people that is there from the start, for others it comes with success.

 

I hope that we as a nation are growing up and that those who like to shoot the tall poppy’s down think about the damage that they do to people. If you see or hear people doing it, don’t just stand by and watch.

 

Another man cut short by cancer and gone too soon. I do relate to Lorraine’s, Jeff and others comments about cancer saving him, giving him a chance to really think about what ultimately matters at the end of the day. “Authenticity, loving and full of prayer”.

 

As a cancer sufferer, I also tried one of the alternative treatments, because I was told he was trying it, a sea cucumber extract. It apparently helped him for a while.

 

As someone with cancer, I relate to his awakening and focus on living in the moment and enjoying whatever life throws at you. It’s hard to do and sometimes shit needs to happen before it really sinks in and even then living in the moment positively, day after day, while you undergo radiation or other treatments and wait each month for results isn’t easy, but it is important to stay positive and it was awesome to see him looking so dapper when he got his recognition.

 

When I do Relay For Life next weekend, I will be be remembering a kid ad his brother I chatted with walking down South Titirangi Rd when I was in my early teenage years. Just local Titirangi kids. I will remember watching him play in Cornwall Park, Eden Park and countless hours on TV.

 

RIP Hogan. You fought your cancer the way you played your support. With dignity and courage and you learned how to make the most of it with your friends and family. I am also reminding myself of my priorities, self, family and friends being at the top of the list. I doubt that you knew that many people suffering with cancer took strength from the way you dealt with yours. I’m grateful for you. We will remember you as a great person and a great Kiwi.

A gift for anyone looking at buying a house

It’s my birthday and I am celebrating it after a long (good) day at the office by thanking people who have donated to my Relay For Life 16 charity walk that I will be doing overnight with Team Early Birds on 19-20 March to support the NZ Cancer Society both because I have cancer and the many other family and friends I and my team have lost or are helping through their struggles due to this horrible illness. Thanks team for helping me keep my little birthday secret by the way lol:) The desk decorations were a nice surprise.

This morning before I raced off for work, I blogged a request for people to donate $5 to my cause and I have been overwhelmed by generosity of people donating way over what I asked for which is awesome. I am incredibly grateful and humbled. But, I am hoping for more. Just $5 from each of you is all I ask. Just because others are being enormously generous and I think that is awesome, if each of you give $5 I could double our collection for such an important cause.

As a thank you and to pay it forward, I have made my Kindle eBook free for the next 5 days. If you know anyone who is thinking of buying a house, this eBook could save them a lot of time and money and you and they (donating or not) are all welcome to a free copy from Amazon here. No coupon code, nothing, just click on buy now and it will come up as $0.00. Even of you feel you don’t want to donate, please feel free to download a copy anyway, no strings attached.

Just one little nugget you will find in the book is using maps to identify crime in the neighborhood you are looking at buying in. When I published the book, this information wasn’t available in New Zealand. Today thanks to the NZ Herald it is if you follow this link. This alone is worth the price of zero for downloading my book and if you don’t agree I will give you your zero dollars back, no questions asked.

If you do like the book, please leave a review> if you don’t that’s OK too:)

Thanks again to all my dear readers, friends and associates. You rock!

It’s my birthday and have a request

I don’t ask for much and I don’t need much. I am the worst person to buy presents for, ask my kids.

As you may know I have prostate cancer and I am doing the Relay For Life, as per countless posts below. What I am asking for is for all my friends to donate $5 to my Relay For Life entry at https://aucklandnorthrelayforlife2016.everydayhero.com/nz/luigi. If you are in NZ it is tax deductible. The money goes to the cancer society, but I would consider it an awesome gift to me. Do it now.

I know $5 seems like such a piddly amount that it’s hardly worth the effort. But it is. I have a lot of friends and associates and if you all did that, it would add up to helping the cancer society deliver on the needs of a growing client base, big time. Every single person in New Zealand, diagnosed with cancer gets offered a pack with brochures and booklets giving them information about their condition and support services available to them. 60 people will be diagnosed with cancer in NZ today going by averages.

If you really don’t feel that this is something you want to do, here’s something else you can do for me instead. Guys. go get a PSA test. It’s just a blood test, and even if it comes up healthy, you now have a base line for future tests. I didn’t have any symptoms and his simple blood test led to us finding out that I have cancer. At this point due to my urging 13 men have had their blood tested and a woman has also had a lump tested that she had been putting off. 60 people are newly diagnosed with cancer in little old New Zealand every day. If you do, let me know, I’d love to know that I have helped more people.

How am I doing? One day at a time. The side effects are slowly reducing, but I’m generally nodding off to sleep from about 6:30-7PM every night which doesn’t make me very good company for my wife and family, but I have lots of support and lots to look forward to. My next meeting with the oncologist after another PSA test is the beginning of April, so I don’t have too long to find out how I’m doing.

The Cancer Society has asked me to do a brief speech at the Opening Ceremony of the Northern Relay For Life on the 19th of March at 15:45 before we start our 18 hour baton relay around the running track at the Millennium Institute. That will be a real honor and I have promised to keep it brief, but I will be thanking you. Come and check it out and keep an eye out for Team Early Birds.

So as to my birthday request. Got five bucks you can spare? Don’t do it for me, do it for one of the many people that you know or are related to that are battling or have battled cancer. 1 in 3 Kiwis get it at some stage in your life so you will be helping someone you know or care about. Don’t put it off. Do it now. If you know someone else who is doing the relay, donate it to their account, it all ends up in the same pot. And guys get that blood test.

Thanks from the bottom of my heart. In the meantime, I’m off to work. Busy day ahead before I catch up with my family tonight before I fall asleep again:)