The Adventures of Neurosquid: Stronger than cancer

On Saturday, Jeremy and I joined one of our friends for the "Survivors at the Summit" hike up at Snowbird. The hike is a fundraiser for the Cancer Wellness House, a local organization that our friend is involved with. The hike really hit home for a few reasons:

1) It's just shy of three years since Jeremy's best friend JayJay lost his battle with bone cancer

2) Jeremy's grandpa was recently diagnosed with colon cancer

3) A fellow CMS Athena was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. Emily was a couple years behind me in college, but we knew each other through athletics. She was on the CMS volleyball team and we interacted often in the training room. Emily has the most common type of lung cancer to strike young, non-smoking women like herself (adenocarcinoma). What the cancer doesn't know is that it is up against an uncommonly strong woman (http://embenkickscancer.wordpress.com). Emily has already started her chemo treatments at City of Hope and has adopted a truly inspiring attitude towards her battle. If you have a minute, read the blog her husband and family have put together. It will change your perspective on life, I promise.

These three were in our thoughts as we hiked the 4.5 miles from the base of Snowbird to the top of hidden peak (11,000 ft). At the summit, we were greeted by a sea of yellow prayer flags against the bright blue sky. It was a truly inspirational day.