Many of you know, but for those that don’t, my wonderful wife, Kristen, was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2023. She made it through all of her treatment and is doing well. The fight is never over, but it gets better every single day. Kristen’s success is because of a few different reasons.

1) She is the biggest badass, take-no-sh*t person I have ever met and fought this vile disease with every ounce of her being. Kristen possesses every great quality you could ever want in yourself or a loved one and demonstrated courage, bravery, and strength from day one.

2) Her treatment was world-class at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The word “If” was never used when talking about her future victories, only “When.” Her care team was amazing and confident every step of the way. They never considered a less-than-excellent outcome for her treatment and only set an expectation that she would win.

3) People like you. The calls, texts, check-ins, kind words, all of it mattered. Every person that said they cared and would be there for us made us stronger in the fight. Somehow our circle got both bigger and tighter through this.

Not every warrior has this type of support. Our goal is to help at least one person, hopefully more, get through their fight.

In Kristen’s honor, I am running the Baltimore 10k on October 18th and want to raise $10k in her name. The donations and funding that breast cancer research has received and will continue to receive is why so many women are successful in their own fights. The walks, the runs, the fundraisers, the pub crawls, the witty t-shirts, they all matter. They really do.

If you can donate, please do. The donations will be going to the Breast Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital to further the efforts, treatments, and research of people like Dr. Melissa Camp, Dr. Antonio Wolff, Dr. Fariba Asrari, Dr. Michele Manahan, nurses, medical assistants, Jesse and the welcome staff at Skip Viragh, and anyone else that saves lives through cancer treatment.

If you can’t donate, start your own fundraising for yourself, a loved one, or a cause that matters to you. I'll gladly donate and support your efforts.

If you can’t fundraise, support someone through their fight. This is the hardest challenge we faced as a family, and we were fortunate to have each other. Not everyone has that. The days are tough and the fight is long. Our rule was, “You can be tired, you can be worn out, you can want to stop, but I won’t let you.” Be that person for another person.

Thank you if you read this far and thank you for caring. 10K for $10K for Kristen.