Wacky Blog

There before the grace of God, go I…

This posting is a little late – I started taking a daily multivitamin earlier in the week and subsequently caught the mother of all colds.  I’m throwing the vitamins off a bridge.

The Honored Hero Run was an amazing event!  Dave Van Buskirk, along with his adorable wife, Julie and his extremely competent staff pulled together a wonderful banquet the night before the race.  They were so organized!  The race packets were all bagged and tagged by name, combined with our new Wacky tech shirts.  Dave was able to use the middle school cafeteria where his children attend and had an entourage of youth assigned to serve us a pasta dinner (I’m guessing there were about 120 of us attending).

Dave said a few words then introduced me.  I ended up saying nearly nothing I had intended to say; not sure how that happened.  I had outlined various stories to tell and not a one escaped my mouth.  In my head, I could only hear myself in Charlie Brown talk:  mwah, mwah, mwah… My whole body screamed for me to just go back and sit down.  Oh brother.  Then Lee spoke and redeemed Wacky Warriors with his warmth and ease as he shared his thoughts and perspective.  Following Lee were two close friends of Mike Olbrish, both reminiscing about Mike’s courage – not so much about cancer but as a wonderful man.  Mike is obviously very deeply respected and dearly missed. We then presented the Nick’s Wacky Warriors Courage Award to Mike’s wife, Jennifer Olbrish – all three of us were in tears as Lee handed her the beautiful sculpture.  We also presented a Buzz Lightyear doll for Preslie, Jennifer’s 3-year old daughter, so she can carry on Nick’s superpowers to infinity and beyond.  Jennifer was then able to express her tender gratitude for the sincere love and support she and Preslie have received (and continue to receive) from the Edward Jones “family”.  It was a lovely night.


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The race went off without a hitch – the 20-milers started off first (that would be Paul); then the 1k participants (had I known there was a 1k, I would’ve signed up for that instead of the 5k); the half marathoners (Lee, Dave, Dave and a handful of other Wacky participants) and then the rest of us wild and crazy 5k’ers.  The Wacky shirts looked amazing – you could see them everywhere! The Honored Hero Run benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; a significant number of children are diagnosed with leukemia so there were many runners dedicated to various young ones.  They had a stage set up and introduced several young heroes with various stages of cancer, honoring their fight.  The entire event embraced a youthful spirit, even the official tee shirts and other race logos were designed by kids.  What I was going to mention in my talk the prior evening was that I had recently watched a video again of the interview of Nick done by Huntsman Cancer Institute.  He had just relapsed again but he made a comment that yes, his cancer was tough, “…but those kids with leukemia – now there are the fighters.”  I agree.

Dave, Lee, Paul & Dave



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My favorite – Isabella, Preslie & Kennedy – they “trained” for the 1k and were showing off their muscles!

I’m going off topic for a moment.  When I got back home, I went to help our neighbor.  Her foundation, Love Soup, participates with the Genesis Project in Ogden.  Part of their program consists of opening their doors to the food pantry once a week for the needy.  Love Soup provides frozen individual servings of home made soup and also provides a free meal of warm, delicious soup, a roll and a cookie during the time the food pantry is open.  Because the temperature has dropped, the number of those in need increased and we served between 175 to 200 people.  This was an enormously impactful day for me.  When I see a homeless person on the street, there is an element of hesitancy in not knowing how to separate the down and out from the dangerous.  But as these lovely people came to me for soup, their eyes were completely full of gratitude and humility.  Every single person said please and thank you.  Tears came to my eyes as I briefly touched a man’s worn, ice old hands as I handed him his bowl.  His voice cracked as he said, “Thank you, thank you, I’m so very hungry.”  The tears continued as a young boy, about the age of 10, offered me some potato chips he got from the food pantry.  “Are you sure?” he says to me, grinning from ear to ear. “They are pretty good!”  Oh, the sweetness of child who acknowledges he is going to have a good day because he just had soup and was leaving with a pocketful of potato chips.

In the midst of everything else, we have several family members dealing with very serious health issues; we have learned a few friends and business associates are now facing cancer; financial concerns are impacting everyone.  Yet, serving others  brings me an incredible peace, whether at a Wacky event or a soup kitchen.  I am reminded that everyone has their trials and it is so much more bearable when we know we are not alone.  In another video of Nick being interviewed for the “Turning Point” series, Nick is quoted to say, “My chances of relapse are pretty high.  But I don’t think I should be asking ‘why me’, but what can I do now that I have cancer to help others.”  Thank you, Nick, for setting a beautiful example of how to be a better human being.

For there before the grace of God, go I…

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