Dylan’s Fight “Who’s Gonna Carry The Boats?”

Dylan needs our help! He is currently at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and is about to start a tough and long journey to fight a very rare disease called HLH. This disease was activated by the EBV virus (also known as Mono) and is a life-threatening disease if not treated quickly and aggressively.

Your help would mean so much! Dylan’s immune system will be compromised, and he will be limited in what he can do. Lisa, his mom, will have to be his primary caregiver after his inpatient treatments and will only be working a little bit. If this treatment doesn’t work, the next step is a bone marrow transplant, which will add additional hardships for him and our family. The hospital bills alone are going to be a tough one.

Dylan is the sweetest young man you will ever meet. He is the perfect big brother to his younger brother and sister. Honestly, he has been that way his entire life. He works hard, cherishes family and friendships, and is just an all-around loving young man. He doesn’t deserve this, nor does any young person just starting their life.

Our family has a saying we like to use when things get hard: “Who’s Gonna Carry The Boats?”. We have always taught our kids to step up when things get tough, and we need Dylan to fight the most brutal fight thus far for him. We, his parents and siblings Reilly and Kaylie, must do the same. This is going to be hard for many people who love Dylan!

Here is a little backstory of the saying, “Who’s gonna carry the boats?”. Former Navy SEAL and general bad-to-the-bone tough guy David Goggins developed this mantra during Navy BUD/S training (SEALS basic training). As part of that training, candidates are assigned to crews and carry inflatable boats that weigh more than 200 pounds through deep sand; and they do this for hours on end until candidates collapse from sheer exhaustion. As teammates would drop off, the boat became heavier, and the remaining candidates would feel frustrated, depressed, and mentally fatigued. They all wanted to quit. Goggins would yell out, “Who’s gonna carry the boats?” to spur the remaining team forward and encourage those who dropped out to get back into the fight.

Dylan is going to have a heavy boat that only he can carry for a few weeks, but I know that our tribe will rally behind him and “Carry the Boats” however we can. Let’s try to lighten that load when he is finally healthy.