10 Years of Going

“I’ve always felt a special connection to the Lincoln Memorial, and on the day I found out I had gotten this job, I went by myself to the memorial. It was an emotional moment. I was awed that I was going to have a role in helping to protect this site for America.” – Bob Vogel, National Park Service’s National Capital Region Director (Man on the Mall, Tennessee Alumnus, December 16, 2011)

Dear Director Vogel and Superintendent Vietzke, 

I sometimes start to feel it as I make my way down 23^rd Street towards the mall and the top of Lincoln’s memorial begins to creep above the treetops lit up against the early morning sky.  Occasionally it isn’t until the Memorial’s full beatify comes into view as I make my way unto the mall.  Other times I feel it during that first hug or while we are bouncing up and down for a warm up.  Ultimately, if it hasn’t happened yet, I feel it every time I reach the summit the Memorial’s mountain of stairs.  It’s that feeling of awe.  The same awe that Mr. Vogel described after his visit to the Memorial.

Growing up in DC (yes, actually in the city) the memorials, monument, mall, and parks were always just there.  Elementary school fieldtrips to the Air and Space Museum lead to History class projects on the surrounding battlefields which lead to high school visits to the Capitol.  We would take yet another long school bus ride down to West Virginia to visit Harpers Ferry or to whitewater raft past the historic town.  Trips to Virginia meant gazing at Roosevelt Island from the Key Bridge or passing by the mall before crossing the Potomac.  I took the magnificence of this city for granted.

That all changed when I went to my first November Project workout at Lincoln back in December 2014.  As I nervously ascended the steps 17 times for what I was told was called “PR Day” the length of my pauses at the top increased, partially because of exhaustion but more so because of a feeling. That feeling was awe.  Each time I made my way around the Memorial’s powerful columns I couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe for where I was, what I was doing, and most importantly, who I was doing it with.

November Project, and specifically the 5:30 AM Wednesday workouts at the Lincoln Memorial, has allowed me to understand the power and appreciate the beauty of a city where I have lived for 25 years.  While I can’t tell you that I always enjoy the 4:40 AM alarms or the long early morning workouts on frozen stairs or in 90% humidity, I can tell you that I love this community and admire the Memorial as our ultimate urban national park memorial to one of our country’s greatest presidents.  For 68 out of the last 70 Wednesday mornings I have cherished that feeling of awe that surrounds every aspect of my time with Lincoln.

My exploration and appreciation for this city continued to grow as November Project workouts brought me to parks, playgrounds, public plazas, sidewalks, streets, and bridges that I never knew existed.  The admittedly small area where I spent a majority of my life growing up in this city was quickly being expanded by a desire to be part of a community that contributes to the personal and physical growth of its’ members and respects the environment in which it exists.  I quickly realized that these people were finding there “awe moments” alongside of me. These people were, and are, a community that works to elevate the opportunities for DC area residents and the city itself to become better versions of themselves.

As I was trying to get a better understanding of the National Park Service’s history, purpose, and mission I came across a line in the organization’s material on the importance of urban parks, including the Lincoln Memorial, “The NPS, through its many programs and parks, has much to offer the urban dweller: a sense of place, an escape from cubicle confines, recognition that everyone’s history is important, a restored and accessible waterfront, and a threshold experience to a greater outdoors.”

I couldn’t help but make the connection between what the NPS believes urban parks can offer and what the November Project at the Lincoln Memorial provides. How does this sound, “The November Project, through its community and weekly workouts, has much to offer any urban dweller: a sense of place, an escape from cubicle confines, recognition that everyone’s history is important, and a threshold experience to a greater outdoors”?  This community, through its’ use of the area’s many urban parks and spaces, helps people from across the country and world connect to, and build respect for our city.

I write to you today not only to ask that you allow me to have even one more moment of awe at the top of those steps, but also to help us, as a community, provide future members with the ability to find their sense of awe. Taking away our privilege of building a better community through a collective climbing of Lincoln’s mountain of stairs will not stop us from welcoming others into this movement, it will only prevent us from doing so in the one of America’s greatest public spaces.  Let us, together, give others the opportunity to experience the Lincoln Memorial’s power and beauty through the November Project community.

President Obama, in a recent interview in Yosemite National park, captured the purpose of our parks, and in doing so, the purpose of our November Project community, “It [the parks] roots you. It gives you a sense that there’s something bigger and grander than you. It gives you a sense of order.”

It has been a little over a week since I walked across the stage, shook the Provost’s hand and walked down the aisle to receive my diploma from the place that I called home for the past 5 years.  As I walked down the center aisle, surrounded by my fellow graduates, I could not help by think about how special that moment was. The sea of brown robes dotted by the yellow, orange, white and blue of the graduation regalia, represented much more than just the 1800 men and women who received diplomas that day.  Each person, sitting in the white folding chairs on what was simply the perfect day for graduation, was a part of my Lehigh story, my Lehigh experience, and now my Lehigh thank you.

I first want to thank those 1800 or so people who ended the first, or second, or third, part of their Lehigh experience that day.  We sat in the same chairs, we listened to the same speakers and stories (and “songs”, and we celebrated our accomplishments and journey’s together. I want to thank you, and the people who sat in the same chairs for 4 previous graduation ceremonies, for making my Lehigh experience much more than just a couple of pieces of paper.  We learned together, studied together, drank together, argued, laughed, cried and rejoiced.  We made discoveries, designed buildings, analyzed structures, and presented our work.   We became friends, brothers and leaders.  We graduated.

I next wanted to thank my family for giving me the opportunity to find the challenges that I needed to overcome.  You have been there for me even when I didn’t think that I needed you.  You challenged me to challenge myself. You showed me the power of being myself in a world of immense pressure to conform.  You guided me, comforted me, inspired me, and loved me. I thank and love you.

I want to thank the faculty and staff members that I learned from and worked with over the past 5 years.

To the professors that created an environment and discovery, thank you.

To the staff members who gave me the necessary room and tools to understand my own abilities to lead and follow, thank you.

To HT for helping me, more than anyone else, understand the immense power that we have as designers and architects to affect lives and change.  The extra hours, stress and guidance that you provided to all of us is something that I will forever cherish and use as inspiration as I develop within this profession.  HT, thank you.

To Jessi for constantly challenging me to be that better version of myself.  Your guidance during what was one of the most challenging times in my life allowed me to fight the hard battles and have the tough conversations.  Jessi, thank you.

To the Lehigh alumni, who gave all of us the opportunity to live up to your legacy, thank you.

To Lehigh University, for all of the highest highs and lowest lows, for being an inspiration to succeed, for helping me understand my power as an individual and role in the community, for giving me 5 incredible and transformative years, and for the many years to come, thank you. 

Next Monday I will become the third person in my family to graduate from Lehigh University. When I walk across the stage at Commencement, shake President Gast’s hand and make my day down good the field to receive my diplomas, I will be the first person in my family to receive a Lehigh degree in almost 94 years.  That day, when I am handed the diplomas that I have worked the last 5 years to obtain, my Lehigh legacy will not be starting or ending, it will be continuing.

My Lehigh Legacy started over 130 years ago when my great great grandfather, Dr. William L. Estes Sr, became a Lecturer on Physiology and Hygiene at the still young University on South Mountain.  Two years earlier, in 1881, William Estes Sr. became the first Superintendent and Chief of Staff at St. Luke’s Hospital.  At the time, the University and Hospital had a close relationship, which saw many doctors participating in the academic life at Lehigh.  William Sr. was born in 1855 in Brownsville, Haywood Country, Tennessee and went on to receive degrees from Bethel College in 1874, University of Virginia in 1877 and University Medical College in New York in 1878.  When he arrived in Bethlehem around 1880, he helped to establish one of the first nurse’s training schools in the country at St. Luke’s and became an integral part of the hospital’s development.  Two of William Sr’s children, William Jr and Edward, continued their father’s, and now my Lehigh Legacy at the turn of the century.

(Dr. William  L. Estes Sr, M.D.)

William Jr, my great uncle, was the first son and family member to graduate from Lehigh in 1905.  Like many of the students at the time, William was heavily involved in many areas of college life.  William was a member of Kappa Alpha Fraternity, played attack and captained the varsity lacrosse team, served as class secretary throughout the duration of his studies, and was a member of the Lehigh Burr, The Arcadia, The Senior Society, the Chess Club, the Democratic Club and the Lehigh University Press Club.  Needless to say, being overly committed to campus activities is something that runs in my family’s veins.  In 1905, William graduated with a L.S, or Latin-Scientific, degree before earning his MD from Johns Hopkins University 4 years later.  After becoming a Doctor, Dr. Estes Jr returned to St. Luke’s and later became the Chief of Surgery and Director of Medical Education, acting as one of the most influential figures at the hospital. 

(1905 Lehigh University Lacrosse Team, Captain William L. Estes Jr)

My great grandfather, Edward Estes, or Ted, graduated 15 years after his older brother in 1920.  Like his brother, Ted was heavily involved in campus life.  He was also a member of Kappa Alpha Fraternity, played and captained the varsity tennis team, served as class secretary throughout his studies, was the committee chairman of the Class Day festivities, and was a member or the Mustard and Cheese drama society, St. Paul’s society and the Soccer Team. Ted graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1905.

(Edward Wynne Estes)

The legacy that each of my family members started and continued for me over the past 130 years, has given me the ability to reflect on my own legacy at Lehigh.  My Lehigh experience has been enhanced by my involvement in Greek Life and my fraternity.  While I did not know this when I joined, but my Fiji legacy did not start with me, my great great grandfather, William Sr. joined Phi Gamma Delta while studying medicine at UVA in the late 1870s.  I can only assume that, because of his involvement with the University at the time, my great great grandfather was at the founding of my fraternity chapter in 1886 at Lehigh.  This intangible connection to the history and traditions of Greek life and fraternity men in my family at the University, only works to amplify my desire to make that community better than before.  

When I walk across the stage in Goodman Stadium next Monday, I will be graduating 108 years, 11 months, and 5 days after the first person in my family member did the same thing.  It will be 93 years, 11 months and 5 days since my last family member, Ted Estes, received his diploma.  But one of the most special things about the ceremony next week will not be the fact that I will be receiving multiple degrees or the highly touted commencement speaker, it will be that in the audience will be sitting my grandmother, the daughter of Ted and granddaughter of William Sr. I will be continuing the Lehigh Legacy that they started many years ago with the understanding that I am a part of that legacy, both during my last 5 years and in the future.  I can and will continue to my personal and family Legacy at Lehigh for many years to come. 

P.S. If you want to check out the amazing history of Lehigh for yourself the entire collection of Epitome Yearbooks, Lehigh Alumni Bulletins and much more is all available for free through the link below. Check it out!

https://archive.org/details/lehigh 

I am sitting in one of my favorite spots at Lehigh, the middle of the front lawn, Adirondack chair below and sun above.  The grass is perfectly green and the slight breeze creates that the ideal balance between hot and cold.  There is a couple throwing a Frisbee, a group of friends discussing last nights activities, and a few other people like me who probably came here to do work. This is a spot that for me exemplifies Lehigh’s campus.  This is an experience, not just a place.

I remember my first visit here.   It was a perfect summer day during the summer before my senior year in high school.  I had seen some pictures online, but really had no reference of what I should expect.  Because it was the summer my parents and I were not able to go on a campus tour so we had to show ourselves around.  I will always remember my first time walking away from the Alumni Memorial Building towards the front lawn, the Presidents house on my right and Packard lab on the left. 

That experience is one of the many reasons why I wanted to become a tour guide once I got here.  I wanted to help potential students understand that spending time here is much more about walking up steps or from class to class.  It is about the sense of wonder that you get from studying under a stained glass window in Linderman.  It is about the sense of tradition that you feel walking through the heavy wooden doors of Packard Lab.  It is the feeling of excitement that you get when walking to class across the bright green grass on the front lawn and run into the many people that you know there.

One of the most important factors for me when looking at which college I would attend was the campus.  I wanted to feel inspired while walking to class each day.  I wanted to be in a place that allowed me to experience my surroundings but also never wanting to leave.  Every day when I walk down the mountain, past the fraternity and sorority houses on the hill, past Taylor dorms and the UC, along the paths that cut through the front lawn as Linderman and the UC tower over me with beauty, down the walkway towards STEPS with Packard Lab’s historic grandeur and Packer Memorial Church’s holy wonder, I feel that I belong here. 

This campus, and the experience that it represents, is one of the most important aspects of a Lehigh Experience.  While I might be leaving here in a couple of weeks I know that each time I come back, the sites and sounds of South Mountain will remind me of the times that I spent in each place. The campus creates the experience, is the experience and reminds us of that experience later on.  When I leave Lehigh for the final time as an undergraduate student I know that this place will continue to allow students to create their own memories and experiences. It will continue to inspire. It will continue to embrace. It will continue to hold out memories. It will continue to be, Lehigh. 

As the final two weeks of my undergraduate education come to an end, I thought that I would take the time to reflect on my experience here at Lehigh. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be writing about the various parts of this University that have defined my time here. But first, being a lover of both numbers and productive-procrastination, I thought that I would try and quantify the last 5 years of my Lehigh Life through numbers.  I tried my best to get these numbers as accurate as possible, but some estimates were made.  By putting these numbers together, I have been able to better reflect on what my Lehigh experience has looked like.

But the Lehigh, or college experience, is about much more than numbers.  It is great to look back on the 600+ homework assignments completed, 100+ tests taken or even the 350+ visits to upper, but the real quantities, for me, can’t be measured.  My Lehigh experience would never have been the same without the countless friends, professors and staff that have each help to create the person that I am today.  My Lehigh experience is quantified by the number of times that I have walked to class on perfect spring day and tried to understand how we could all be this lucky to be a participant in the 149 years of Lehigh.  My Lehigh experience is quantified by the lives of future students that we have been improved through policies and initiatives. My Lehigh experience can’t be quantified.

The following numbers quantify my Lehigh experience, but they do not define it.

Years at Lehigh: 5

Degrees Earned: 2

Semesters: 10

Summer Sessions: 1

Days at Lehigh: 1001

School Days: 811

Final Exam Days: 50

Hours in Class: 3192

Classes Taken: 58

Credits Taken: 158

Professors and TAs: 54

Labs: 11

Classes Missed: 17

Homework Assignments: 620

Quizzes: 247

4 o’clocks and Midterms: 78

Final Exams: 42

Papers: 18

Individual and Group Projects: 85

Research Grants: 1

Research Displays: 1

Research Papers: 7

All-Nighters: 3

Fieldtrips: 5

Clubs/Organizations/Committees: 14

Leadership Positions: 6

Executive Positions: 2

Student Representative: 4

Sports Teams: 3

Leadership Conferences: 5

Candidates Days: 5

Relay for Life: 3

Tours Given: 53

Places Lived: 3

Roommates: 7

Meal Plans: 2

Attendance at Chicken Finger Friday: 23

Lower Cort: 93

Rathbone: 105

Upper UC: 390

Pandinis: 120

Lucy’s: 14

Baker’s Junction: 11

Lehigh Lafayette Games: 5

Lehigh/Lafayette Wins: 4

Times We Beat Duke: 1

Spirit Week Bonfires: 1

Spirit Week Concerts: 3

Sundaze Concerts: 2

Founders Days: 3

Graduations: 2

Look out for more posts in the coming weeks, and as always, please feel free to share and comment!

Today marks 11 years since I returned to my sixth grade classroom after leaving school five months and spending 90 days in the hospital to undergo chemotherapy.  I use this day to signify 11 years of being cancer free, and to remember all of those who got me through the treatments.  To my family, friends, neighbors, classmates, teachers, doctors and nurses, I say thank you.  Thank you for being there for me and helping me not only during my time in the hospital but also in the years since. 

I cannot begin to celebrate the 11 years without understanding the remembering all of those who are unable to celebrate their milestones.  Too many people have lost their fight against this terrible disease.  We must continue to raise awareness for testing and treatment as well as continue to support the research for better treatment options and eventually a cure.   This is a battle that we must fight together.

This Friday I will be participating in my final Relay for Life as an undergraduate student.  The event has always been an incredible indication for me that this disease affects all of us and that there is an unbelievable community of support around us.  The American Cancer Society and Lehigh’s Colleges Against Cancer does wonderful work to promote awareness and provide support.  I would love for any and all people to participate in this event, or support those people you know who are walking.

 We Celebrate. We Remember. We Fight Back

If you would like to support my Relay, the link is below. Thank you!

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/bojohns2014

I was sitting in an aisle seat of a completely full Southwest flight yesterday when I realized the situation that I was in.  The relatively short flight from Detroit’s Metropolitan Airport to Chicago’s Midway Airport was a pretty average flight for me.  There was the boarding, take off, cruising, turbulence, descent, landing and deplaning.  These were all things that I have experience many times before, but never before had I taken to the time to understand, or realize what I was doing.

I was sitting in a slightly uncomfortable seat, surrounded by 140 strangers, all of us trapped in a metal cylinder traveling at around 450 mph 35,000 feet above the earth.  We all left from the same place and would soon be arriving together at another.  We all experienced the boarding process, the take off and the landing.  We all experienced the constant turbulence that prevented us from receiving our inflight beverage and peanuts. And we all were a part of this process and experience of airports and flying. 

It has only been during the past couple of years that I have been able to understand my fascination and love of airports and flying.  From one perspective, the airport has always given me an escalated environment for observing the interaction between design, through architecture, and the human experience.  From another, airports and flying have enabled me to experience other cultures and locations that really would not have been possible without flight.  The first idea is something I experienced but had not realized until I started my formal education in architecture.

For me, there are few other places that I have visited that excite my love of architecture and the human experience more than airports. One of the reasons for this interest in airports is the building form’s ability to take on many purposes and variations.  Airports’ primary role as a vessel for connection between locations is supplemented by its role as a destination, business, hotel and icon.  People from all over the world can interact within the confines of an airport before leaving for a new destination.  These interactions, while typically momentary and trivial, fascinate me.  You can have a conversation of interaction with someone from a completely different background while waiting for your airport to take you away. I think that these interactions are able to happen because of the equalizing nature of the building form.

Airports create shared experiences between hundreds, thousands and sometimes millions of people.  These experiences can be good or bad, long or short and important or not.  But these moments in time are shared between us.  While architecture always creates an environment for interaction, no other building form creates this environment for the number or diversity of people.  You can take the time to realize the importance of the waiting area seats, the large windows bringing light into the space, the high ceiling that reduce the sound level in halls or even the color of the paint and signs that line the connection spaces.  Even when you are nervously running from one wait to the other to catch that flight, the environment that you are in and people that surround you are having an impression on your experience.

I love airports and I love flying.  I might be one of the few people who not only enjoys love layovers, but sometimes encourages them.  The feeling of an uncomfortable seat in a cramped overheating plane is overpowered by the thrill of flying.  I have been able to realize that while you might be flying with 140 strangers, each of them has an equally important story to tell or reason for flying.  The metal tube that constricts the size of your seat and legroom, was design through decades of research.  The flight attendant that isn’t able to do serve your that drink because of the turbulence went through years of training and experience to arrive on that plane.  And that airport that connected you between the ground and the air was designed by an architect to fulfill desire to create a space and experience.  

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/bojohns2014

I’m back.  While it has been over a year since my last post, I have been thinking a lot about the blog and sharing my thoughts again.  I also thought that today, World Cancer Day, would be a good time to start writing again, as I have been able to reflect more on my experience as a survivor, as a student and as a leader.  I will also be graduating from Lehigh in May and as one period in my life comes to an end, I have been reflecting on my time here and how it has shaped me into the person that I am today. Over the next few weeks and months I want to continue to think about my experience going through chemotherapy, my life as a survivor and everything that has gone along with it, but also about everything else that has gone on in the 11 years since my diagnosis. 

But today, World Cancer Day, I reflect on my experience as a cancer patient and survivor and how the experience has shaped my path in life.  I have been given countless opportunities to pursue my passions in life, from architecture and design to engineering and problem solving.  I have been encouraged to use my life to help others, through the Go Bo Foundation and other means. I have been put in the position to better the lives of those around me through countless leadership opportunities and situations.  I think that through my reflection of my treatment and survivorship I have been able to figure out what is important for me in life and what I should ignore.  I have slowly been able to understand that my desire to be around like minded people comes from my understanding about the preciousness of life.

With this in mind, I want to reflect on my experience with Lehigh’s Colleges Against Cancer and the Relay for Life. Coming to Lehigh I did not know whether or not my experience with cancer would have any effect on my college experience or if there were other people whose lives had been effected by this terrible disease.  I left a community at St. Albans that was with my throughout my treatment, a community of people that knew what I had been through, and a community that I understood.  I didn’t know if I would ever be able to find this in a much larger and more diverse community at Lehigh. I found it.

While my experience with Colleges Against Cancer has been somewhat limited due to my other involvement opportunities, I know that there is a group of people that are dedicated to the education, advocacy and support of those affected by this thing called Cancer.  My most intimate contact with this organization has been through speaking and participating in the various events that accompany the Relay for Life.  The opportunities that the members of CAC has given to me through this participation have been incredible.  I have been able to not only share my story with others, but also learn about the battles of others.  I am so grateful that I have peers who are also dedicated to the this cause and have worked to get other people involved as well. 

There is no other time during my college career that I have felt more a part of a community than when I have attended the Relay for Life.  This event, held throughout the country, brings people from all parts of the University together in the fight against cancer.  We, as a members of the Lehigh community, come together as one group to support this fight.  Last year was the first time that I decided to participate in the “survivor lap” and it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.  I walked around the track with the feeling of immense support from those around me and those who were walking with me.  We were all there for the same reason and we were all there as one community. 

With this in mind, I wanted to say how excited I am to be participating in the Relay for Life again this year.  Below is my donation page, and any contribution would be very much appreciated.  I want to continue to reflect on my experience as a member of the cancer community, the Lehigh community and the Relay for Life community.  On this day, World Cancer Day, I reflect on how grateful I am for those who have been there for me throughout my life as well as each person who has been there for someone throughout their fight.  We have lost too many amazing people this disease and cannot afford to back down from out fight. 

We Celebrate, We Remember, We Fight Back

 Relay for Life Page –>  http://main.acsevents.org/goto/bojohns2014

There have been a lot of ten year anniversaries over the last couple of months. 10 years since getting my tonsils removed. 10 years since hearing that I had cancer. 10 years since I celebrated another year of life by turning 12. 10 years since I saw 2002 turn into 2003 through the window in my hospital room.  10 years since I completed my first round of chemotherapy, then the second round, third, fourth and fifth.  10 years of spending my last night in the hospital. 10 years of being cancer free.

Finally, there is today.  10 years since returning to my 6^th grade classroom, the day that I will forever remember, April 1^st, 2003 as the day that I beat cancer.  5 months, 6 rounds of chemotherapy, 90 days in the hospital, unmeasured love and support from the people around me, amazing doctors and nurses and many movies later, I was cancer free.

But this is only the beginning of my 10 year anniversaries.  There will be my 10 year anniversary entering high school, winning championships, learning what I loved, graduating high school, entering college at Lehigh, finding my passions, graduating from Lehigh will degrees in areas that I love. But who knows what I will celebrate next.

The past 10 years have taught me to be forever grateful for the people around you, for the people that inspire you, who love you and who are there for you.  Through this struggle, I was able to begin the process of understandings the importance of others in my life, and my importance to others.  Every day we have the opportunity to make someone’s life better, to say hello, put a smile on their face, to make an impact.  We are here to make each other better, to be there when we are needed, to hug when hugs are needed, to listen when listening is needed, and to love when love is needed.  We cannot begin to predict what will happen in the future, but by establishing meaningful relationships with the people around you, you will be able to get through any struggle or hard time that might come up. 

But while remembering the battle that I won, we cannot forget to remember those who are currently fighting their fight or those who have already lost it.  We must remember their lives while we collectively fight this disease. We can never stop fighting for a cure, and we can never stop remembering.  Finally, please support those who are battling this right now, no one should go through this struggle alone. 

Thank you for sharing this experience with me so far and I look forward to posting more in the future.  Never stop fighting and never stop remembering

Tonight i was fortunate enough to be asked to speak at the kick off event for this years Relay for Life at Lehigh. I was very honored to be asked to support this great event

“First I would like to thank Colleges Against Cancer for asking me to speak today.  It is an honor to share my story and help promote the fight against cancer. 

I was 11 when I found out that I had cancer.  I was a chubby 6^th grader with long blonde hair, hearing that doctors had found cancerous cells in the tonsils that they had been removed from my throat just days earlier.  I sat there, listening to one of many doctors that I had never met before, tell me that they needed to preform some tests on me over the next couple of days in order to find out what was going on.  That is when my life with cancer began.

What they had found in my tonsils was Large B Cell Lymphoma, a type of cancer that effects the white blood cells, and in my case, the lymph nodes. The treatment for my type of cancer called for quick rounds of highly intensive chemotherapy.  My first round in the hospital was 30 days.  For 30 days I did not go outside, I did not shower, I rarely left my bed, and had fluids running into my body every second of the day. 

I don’t remember a lot about my first few days in the hospital, everything was pretty much a blur.  I was wheeled around the hospital from one test to the other, spending a large amount of my time laying down on uncomfortable beds while large machines attempted to take images of the inner workings of my body.  I was scared, angry, confused and worried.  I didn’t know what was going to happen.

Over the next 5 months I spent a total of 90 days in the hospital, going through 6 rounds of chemotherapy.  During those 90 days I celebrated my 12^th birthday, watched 2002 turn into 2003, watched over a hundred movies and played a lot of video games.  During those 90 days doctors and nurses killed all cancer cells in my body, I lost all of my hair, and lost a lot of weight.  But what was really important to me about those 90 days, or the 5 months battling this disease was the support that I had every step of the way.

While I was in the hospital I was fortunate enough to have parents that were able to take time off of work to be with me.  One of my parents slept in my hospital room every single night that I was there.  The amount of community and family support that I received during this part of my life is what kept me going, allowed me to not lose hope.  I had family friends bringing me food, cards and presents almost daily.  What I didn’t fully recognize at that time was how unusual this support system was.  Looking around my floor at Georgetown University Hospital, I began to realize how fortunate I truly was.

This realization helped my parents and I gain motivation to help others who were also battling life-threatening diseases.  Other parents weren’t able to take time off of work like mine were, other kids didn’t have tutors to help them learn what they were missing in school and other families struggled to put food on the table at night.  With this in mind, my parents and I decided to start what is now called the Go Bo Fund. 

This fund raises money for the Family Relief Fund at Georgetown University Hospital.  The family relief fund provides assistance for families whose children are battling blood illnesses at the hospital. It helps families pay their rent, for gas money so parents can visit their kids.  It helps send kids to summer camp so that they can feel normal. This fund allows families to spend more time with their kids when they need the support the most.  During the almost 10 years since we started the Go Bo Fund I have delivered checks to the hospital totally almost 300 thousand dollars.  Knowing that other children and their families are living even a little bit more comfortably because of these donations is why I continue to promote the cause and share my story.

Today, we kick off the Relay for Life this spring.  My first time participating in this event was my sophomore year as part of a team from my fraternity.   I honestly didn’t fully understand what the event was about or why we were participating in it.  After receiving donations from my family and friends I headed up to the event.  When we were given out t-shirts, I got a special one.  The same design but a different color.  I got this special shirt because I was a survivor. 

While we slowly started walking around the track I began to understand the impact of what we were doing.  We were a group of college students walking around in circles, late at night not just to raise money, but to honor the cancer patients around the world currently fighting the disease, those who had battled cancer and won, and most importantly, honoring those who had not won their fight.  We were honoring the family, friends, communities, doctors, nurses and everyone else who supported cancer patients through their battles.

Today, we kick off the continuous process of honoring those people and to support the institutions and researchers that are working tirelessly in the pursuit of better treatments and practices.  If Cancer has not directly affected your life thus far, it will.  Whether it is a family member, a friend, a member of your community or your own battle, know that there is support.  Know that people like each of you in the room today are coming together to support the fight against cancer, and we will never stop.   

            10 year ago today, I was laying in a hospital bed, with cancer fighting drugs flowing into my body.  It had been 3 months since I played a sport, been to school or done pretty much anything normal.  Today, as a senior in college, campus leader and very tired architecture student, I could not me more honored to help in this fight with all of you.

Thank you”

To find out more about Lehigh’s Relay for Life or to register for the event visit the website below

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLCY13EC?pg=entry&fr_id=48330