2025 – that always sounded like the future when I was a kid. I am using the same language as last year, and likely will use the same language with a few twists and updates until we Defeat DIPG.
Here we are living in the future, but still a future that has monsters. 2025 will mark 8 years since we first heard those four letters strung together D-I-P-G and I can tell you that beyond a shadow of a doubt I had no clue what those three consonants and a vowel would bring to my life, to my family, to my wife, to my daughters and to my son. I have often written that one of the more challenging aspects of life after losing Luke has been combating the complacency and numbness that the daily grind of life brings forth each day. I think that the battles we fight take on many forms. Some we choose, some we have no choice about, others seem to present us with that moment of doubt & uncertainty that can cause us to not choose or evade that battle. So, how to handle that moment of uncertainty? For me, for our family, it is by pausing and it is by remembering why we fight. We remember our Nugget, our Lukie, our Supernova who didn’t get the choice, who had his battle thrust upon him at an age where his biggest concern should have been what his favorite Lego was and ended up battling a monster called DIPG.
As we move into 2024, we are continuing our fight in Luke’s memory against DIPG. We are fighting for awareness. We are fighting for a cure. We are fighting for the day when a family and a child presented with the challenges DIPG has options, has a way to fight that monster.
How can you help us continue to honor Luke? You can continue to remember the light that he brought into the world and support us as we fight for that cure, fight for awareness, and fight for a better tomorrow. You can do that by joining us as members of LukesSquad’s 9th Annual ChadTough Defeat DIPG Race Team.
It will be 7 years on November 27th since we lost a son, a brother, a grandson, a cousin, a friend and a light that was such an important part of our lives. Six years of memories that never happened, six years of memories that no longer had Lukie's mischievous smile, his laughter or the simple joy tied to his hug. Nancy & I can't even begin to describe the mixed emotions of seeing Lucy & Amber growing into the amazing young adults that they are becoming, all the while wondering just what might have been had DIPG not touched Luke, not become part of our family's journey.
Join us in choosing to react to the most challenging of moments in life with positivity, with mindfulness, with gratitude and above all with hope & love.
We hope you can join us again. This year’s race will again be completely virtual, which means your support in joining the race team means that you would be supporting the ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation by joining and racing (running, walking, hiking, or whatever) when you have the time. Or, give me a call, we might just have a get together that brings all those who choose to join us.
We can't thank you all enough for the love and support you have shown our family. More importantly though, thank you for keeping Luke's memory alive, keeping him a part of your journey and for remembering a kind and special life that was cut short far too soon.
Keep Expecting Miracles, both big and small every day!
XOXOXO - Rich, Nancy, Lucy, Amber & Luke
All donations will be used to fund essential research for treatments and a cure for childhood brain tumors through ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Thank you for joining me to support this important cause!
