Hello everyone! My name is Christy Burress and I own A Step Above Dance Company. I want to share the story of a good friend of mine, David Gore and his beautiful family.

In the spring of 2014 I met David’s wife, Simeon, when she enrolled their beautiful 3 yr old twins, Sara and Lora, for classes at my studio. I didn’t meet David for several months as I believe he was deployed at the time. Over the years I have watched this sweet family as they nurtured the girls’ passion for dance. I remember David nervously practicing with the girls for our annual Father/Daughter routine in the recital. He would often come to me outside of class to ensure he was practicing correctly; he wanted to ensure not to let Sara and Lora down!

The “Gore Four” (the cute name they refer to their family as) have been very active volunteering at the studio and serving in the community for many years. David has also extended his service to our country and is a retired Air Force pilot. They are always willing to go above and beyond giving help to anyone they can!

I believe it was sometime in early 2020 when David was first diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in his spine, it was stage 3 when they discovered it and this form of cancer does not have a stage 4! The doctors were shocked as this form of cancer does not usually happen to someone as young as David. He went through chemotherapy, had bone marrow removed, and many other tests and procedures before entering remission spring of 2021. We were all so thankful and relieved, except we still felt it looming as the doctors said it would return at some point.

Fast forward to the most recent events and it is with the saddest of hearts that I inform you, his cancer has returned with a vengeance. He is now struggling with many tumors throughout his body, including one on his skull pushing on his brain. Most recently his body does not seem to be responding to chemotherapy so they have begun radiation. In December he will be going to Emory in Atlanta begin car-t cell therapy. During this time (at least a month) he will have to live no more than 20 minutes away from Emory hospital. Meanwhile, Simeon will need to care for him, Sara and Lora, and still somehow care for herself.

If you know Sara and Lora you see what talented and invested dancers they are! They are both on the competition team at my studio, part of the Middle Georgia Youth Ballet, and have different roles in the Nutcracker of Middle Georgia. Simeon is still trying to manage all of these daily activities being the strong and amazing woman she is! She will most likely have many trips back and forth to Atlanta over the next several months. Even though I know Simeon is a strong woman who often will not ask for help, I want to OFFER everything I can.

I am only one person, but I know that if I can get everyone to rally for the Gore Four we can do amazing things to help them! All these trips are going to be costly and won’t take long before it all starts adding up so I would like to try and raise $2500 to help them! If we can raise $2500 by Thanksgiving my husband, Joe, will take a Polar Bear Plunge in our icy cold outdoor swimming pool wearing a TUTU!!! We will make sure to go live on the studio Facebook page for this event! Can you help us out with any amount of donation?