Numbers

A while back I received an email from a woman named Amy. A mutual friend of ours had shared this blog with her because Amy's husband, Chris (who goes by "Butch") has been fighting Ocular Melanoma for two years now.

Amy shared with me some facts about Ocular Melanoma(OM). OM is the most common form of eye cancer in adults but is still considered rare (affecting 6 people per million each year in the US). Half of the people who are diagnosed with OM develop metastasis, which is always fatal. Fortunately, Butch remains free of metastasis. He was treated with a radiation plaque which was implanted into his eye for a week and is now almost completely blind in his affected eye.

The medical terms and the statistics are scary but what really moves me are the other details and numbers that Amy shared...She and Butch have been married for 14 years. Amy describes Butch as her best friend for over 15 years and a wonderful father to their 2 children, ages 9 and 12. Those are the numbers that matter. She says that they live in fear that his next scan will show that his cancer has spread and that she is desperate for more awareness, funding and research for her husband and for her children. It is gut-wrenching to think of Amy and her wonderful family having to live in fear and desperation. I pray for them every day and am honored to run for families like this.


28 million people are living with cancer today. 28 million! People just like Butch who have families and friends who love them and who are fighting with them against this horrible disease.