27 October 2010

A Pleasing Plea, Preferrably Perused Promptly

This is one of those publicity posts that are meant to garner attention to a charitable cause, such as collecting and canning acorns for starving squirrels or harvesting beeswax for candles to support the less fortunate living in caves. The cause I am bringing awareness to is one regarding a great friend of mine named Leo. Now, this same cause was promoted on Nie Nie's blog and that same day there were literally an additional thousand hits on the website, so I'm hoping for that same type of success. I am in the process of concocting a little inchoate device meant to repeatedly hit "CTRL R" on my computer tomorrow to keep refreshing the webpage and getting hits for the webpage so that my superiors think I have a lot of sway with the Blogosphere, even if no one reads this post but President Otunbayeva, alluded to in my 200th post. That was not a run-on sentence, it was a half-marathon sentence. Anyway, allow me to hook you into this cause.

Leo is a good friend of mine, despite being at least 12 years my senior, having three kids, and being way cooler than me. He began his career at BYU in the early nineties but later left because he scored a sweet job that paid him lots of money (I'm editorializing a lot here). Almost 20 years later he decided he wanted a formal college education (and he missed the frat parties at BYU, plus college tuition includes access to the gym at BYU and it's cheaper than most gym memberships) so he came back to BYU. I guess the BYU admissions people just thought he was still on his mission or something, even after all those years. Anyway, Leo came back in 2008 as a mathematics and economics major and began studying with me. I was intrigued by his wisdom and stunning ability to always have his shirt tucked in so I sought him out as my study partner. He is the opposite of a slugabed and was one of the only people willing to stay until 6:00pm on a Friday night with me to finish our homework. He's a champion to the extreme and taught me way more during our study sessions than I ever learned in class. He forced me to learn the concepts, and despite getting a little impatient at times (like when the fire alarm was blaring and he kept saying, "Three more problems David, and then we can evacuate") I always appreciated the time he gave me. I made him cookies at Christmas and he sent me pictures of his new baby. We took three classes together and then he graduated in August 2010. The week after graduating, he was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma cancer. But this wasn't even the first time. He was diagnosed with cancer in the early 2000s but beat it bravely. Or so everyone thought. When it reappeared this Summer it was devastating. Leo is back doing chemotherapy and struggling with its side effects. He, his three kids, and his wife need all the support, love and help they can get right now. There is a 5K on Novemeber 13 in Provo, UT to raise money for his treatments, as well as a regular run-of-the-mill donation website. The website for the donation is http://pledgie.com/campaigns/13638 and from that page there is a link to sign up for the 5K. I'm doing the 5K and if you want to run with me I would be absolutely tickled.
P.S. I used this photo without anyone's permission. Sorry, Leo, I hope you like it. I chose it because you don't have your shirt tucked in.
P.P.S. Did I use my "thans" and "thens" appropriately here? I can never get them straight.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

hm, stuff like that always puts life into perspective
good luck on the run!

Megan said...

Good for you for signing up! I would like to say that I would do it if I wasn't 8 months pregnant, but I really am not a runner so I would be cheering you on from the comfort of my couch, regardless. Good luck!