The Kick Shirt - Unveiled!

Back in 2002 I went from being a goat to hero as it was framed by the ESPN football announcers as I connected on a 44 yd field goal as the time expired in my first ever start as a place kicker at the University of Michigan. The play to this day is simply known as "The Kick". It happened to be my first ever kick that I made in college. What people often forget (thankfully!!!) is before The Kick, there were two other kicks that I missed in the first half that would have cost us the game if it wasn't for one last second chance at redemption from 44 yards out.

That experience back in 2002 was a faint memory until I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (a blood cancer) back in 2008. For a couple of weeks I was down and out. The darkness of a cancer diagnosis for a father of two little ones who were 2 and 6 months at the time seemed unbearable, and unfair at best. BUT, as I looked back at The Kick I started to realize that in that game, there was very little hope that I would ever make that prayer of a kick. Furthermore, it took the two missed kicks in the first half to even allow the game to come down to the opportunity for any chance at a last second heroic.

So looking back on The Kick, I knew I still had another game winner in me. I knew it was not going to be easy, but I knew that with the support of so many people, my experience and my faith, that I would get an opportunity to make another long shot field....I was aimed and poised to Kick Cancer! So that's what I am doing roughly two years later and now almost to the date one year into my treatment; which may be the most aggressive treatment ever experience at UMCCC given the amount of chemo and two stem cell transplants I endure this summer.

To commemorate the moment and to use it as a motivator to kick Multiple Myeloma for good, a graphic designer has graciously produced a shirt that will be released on Saturday as way to bring both the spectacular moment back in 2002 into a motivator for me and others as we push to dominate cancer. The shirt design is viewable on the Cancer Kicker Facebook page: http://facebook.com/cancerkicker

Quick Chemo Update: I am in my second week of my 2nd cycle of chemo. I am pretty exhausted this go around, but doing my best to keep up with everything go on.