Remissionman.com Joins Beyond Sport World Network

By Steve | Published: May 30, 2012

I’m happy to announce that Remissionman.com was accepted into the Beyond Sport World family. Connecting the widespread, global population dedicated to sport and development just got easier. This is Beyond Sport World – now live and ready to provide an online center for you to interact with thousands of other sport-for-good focused people around the globe.

The main aim of this site, through the various membership groups (companies, federations, sports teams, governing bodies, initiatives, independent projects, umbrella organisations, and the many others) is to provide an online opportunity for collision. Beyond Sport World allows you to connect with others who are within and outside of your sector to trigger new partnerships and ideas.

 Through Beyond Sport World, you’ll connect with others using sport to tackle issues, receive a constant stream of discussions, updates and debates, and get regular announcements about goings on in the sector from the Beyond Sport team.

Click HERE for the Beyond Sport World link for Remissionman.

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A Little Scott Tinley Perspective

By Steve | Published: May 23, 2012

I was feeling particularly introspective, or insightful, or …. Something yesterday. Often times when those triggers start, I need to connect with a few key “go to” friends to help me affirm, refute, or process whatever is going on in my head. So yesterday I reached out to Scott Tinley. Below is my email and his response. Thanks ST, as always.

How are you ST? What’s new in your world? I needed a little dose of your insight, wit, and candor so figured it was time to drop you a line. I am living in the beauty and delicate balance of enjoying my family and beautiful granddaughter, reconciling a mild flare up of my leukemia, and trying to stay in (race) shape. I am actually racing Eagleman in 2 weeks and I think that distraction, and a little dose of Vigorito will be good for me.

But in short – LIFE IS QUITE GOOD.

I wouldn’t trade my life for anything or anyone else’s . I don’t “wish” for anything. Well that’s not true, I wish for others to be happy and feel as good as I do. And I pray for patience and perspective when the surf gets a little rough. But I don’t want or ask for “things”.  I feel like I have everything in life that could possibly bring me joy. I live a fairly tale life – and I am a happy guy. I simply try to do the right stuff and be open and accepting of most people and their individualities. It makes the world a happier place. And living in a happier place is a hell of a lot better than not.

Oh and have I told you that I am filthy rich? And getting richer each week…Of course actual currency and assets have nothing to do with my wealth. But the fact that I get calls and emails weekly from complete strangers who tell me they have seen or heard of my story, and it gave them hope lifts me to this breathtaking place that I can’t describe. I give them “HOPE”, Scott. Just typing it warms my soul.

The ability to do that for another human being is far greater than any paycheck or lottery winnings that you could ever throw my way. This is my mission. This has become my reason. It’s enabled me to look at my leukemia as a gift that I can use to my benefit and the benefit of people I will never ever know. I realize that sounds crazy. But many have called me crazy through the years. I was born a goalkeeper, went through a skydiving phase in the early 1980s and race marathons and ironman to “feel good”. Of course I’m crazy. But I like to think I have channeled it in an effective and meaningful way.

Life is strange. One minute you are looking up to your father, the next minute you are your father. We transition from overcrowded sleepovers to empty nests and then look around trying to figure out where the hell everyone and everything went. Some days, I desperately want to have a catch with my father. The one thing that is really important to me is the footprint I will leave behind one day. Especially for my kids. How will they remember and describe me to future generations? How will they talk about the father, husband, athlete, and man as they sift through the boxes of medals, pictures, and clippings.

These kinds of things matter to me and it’s one of the reasons that I try to live my life happy, clean, respectful, and most certainly FUN.

I hope all is well with you out left my friend. Drop me a line as time permits.

Steve

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The Purity in the Sport

By Steve | Published: May 20, 2012

y bikeThe Community YMCA of Eastern Delaware County held its first annual youth and family triathlon on Sunday May 20th. The “Tyke Triathlon” was held at the organization’s Ridley YMCA facility and was designed for children ages 3 – 6. Yes, you read that correctly. This event was designed for children THREE to SIX years of age.

I was honored to serve as this year’s Race Director and to be perfectly honest, this was one of the most rewarding and satisfying events I have ever been involved with. And that includes a personal racing career that spans decades and countless other events that I have been involved with on the production and volunteer sides.

Before anyone takes issue with the idea of involving such young children in a competitive multisport event, I need to explain a little about the purpose of this “race”. For starters, this event was not timed. So there was no concept of anyone “beating” anyone else or whose time was good, better, best, first or last.

Additionally, it was a mandatory requirement that each child be partnered with a parent for the entire duration of the race. The race format included a one width “swim” (using any flotation device and parental assistance necessary) of the pool. Following the swim was a lap of the closed parking lot area on their bikes and finishing up with a single loop run around the grass field behind the Y.

The goals were simple. We wanted to promote family togetherness and involvement. We wanted to promote the community aspect of the event. And we wanted the kids and parents alike to feel the exhilaration of participation and accomplishment in a safe, accepting, and “everyone wins” atmosphere.  We also wanted to open their eyes to what this sport can do for the character and confidence of athletes of all ages. Most importantly, we wanted everyone to have fun.

The design of the course was perfect because you could easily see everything that was happening along the bike and run portion simply by walking a few feet in either direction. So after doing some race start logistics and organization, I took in the energy and excitement of the cyclists and runners before manning my spot at the finish line so I could personally place the medals around the necks of every finisher.  In a word – emotional.

The expressions on the faces of the kids and parents as they crossed the finish line together were priceless.  I will repeat what I said earlier, this was one of the most rewarding and satisfying events I have ever been involved with.

y medalI wish I had been able to record a number of the comments that I overheard as people crossed the finish line. I do recall a few of the more meaningful quotes. One dad summed it up best as he held hands with his son and simply yelled “This is AWESOME”!!! I overhead another parent to say “this was like his own personal ironman”. And perhaps my favorite came towards the very end when a woman approached me and thanked me for helping out but then said “My daughter wants to know if she can come back and do this again TOMORROW”!

I think we made a very positive impact on many fronts today and I am looking forward to this being the beginning of something much bigger – than all of us.

And as I think about it, I would love to go back tomorrow and do it again as well.

Train safe, race smart, and thank the volunteers.

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Inspiring New Book: a young triathlete and his astonishing comeback

By Steve | Published: May 18, 2012

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Michael Vitez just couldn’t get one story out of his mind – and neither could his readers. Michael first wrote about a young man named Matt Miller who had everything and then, in an instant, nearly lost it all, as a three-part series for his newspaper, The Philadelphia Inquirer. He received an overwhelming response from readers, who, like Michael himself, were deeply touched by the inspiring, against-all-odds story and wanted to continue to follow it. Michael’s new book, “;The Road Back, A Journey of Grace and Grit,” launching this month through CreateSpace, Amazon.com’s self-publishing platform, celebrates the human spirit and the power of fidelity and faith as it follows one young man’s incredible, soaring comeback from what should have been sure death.

Matt Miller, then a standout student and athlete at the University of Virginia and member of his college triathlon club, and two classmates had just pedaled up a mountain pass. He was on top of the world in so many ways – Matt was in love with his high-school sweetheart, Emily, and had dreams of attending medical school. He was so fit his resting pulse was 42! But as he cycled along Virginia’s Blue Ridge Parkway, he suddenly fell into an oncoming car and his life forever changed. Matt broke every bone in his face and suffered a massive brain injury. The real story though is not just about what took place on that terrible day, but what happened after. Today, Matt, 24, attends the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and is engaged to Emily, who has stood by his side throughout his entire ordeal and is in medical school with him at Penn. Remarkably, Matt has completed a dozen triathlons and the Cozumel Ironman since the accident. In “;The Road Back,” Michael compellingly shares with readers the humbling and miraculous journey of Matt’s survival and recovery and the people who rode along with him, rescued him and helped him heal. It is truly a story of grace and grit, one that is as gripping as it is inspiring.

After writing about Matt for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Michael continued to watch him recover in the most astonishing ways. He was so taken with Matt’s courage and commitment, that Michael decided to take a leave from his job to more fully immerse himself in Matt’s life and write this book. The award-winning writer and author of the popular “Rocky Stories” (about the famed Philadelphia steps and all those who have come to run them) is one of the latest examples of the red-hot trend of established authors choosing to take control of their publishing “journey” and opting to self-publish their work. Though his new book centers on one young man from the Philadelphia area,  Matt’s amazing story and the book’s messages are universal. “The Road Back” is available in paperback on Amazon.com and as an e-book on Kindle, Nook and Ipad.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael Vitez has been a staff writer at The Philadelphia Inquirer for 27 years. He won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism for a series of stories about five people approaching the end of life. Vitez has taught classes in narrative non-fiction at the University of Pennsylvania and was a visiting Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton. He is also a former Michigan Journalism Fellow. He is the author of Rocky Stories: Tales of Love, Hope and Happiness at America’s Most Famous Steps. (2006, Paul Dry Books) He graduated from the University of Virginia, where he was editor-in-chief of The Cavalier Daily. He is married to Maureen Fitzgerald, food editor at the Inquirer, and they have three children. For the last 12 years, he has organized the annual triathlon at the Erlton Swim Club in Cherry Hill, NJ.  www.michaelvitez.com 215-313-3518 michael.vitez@gmail.com @michaelvitez on Twitter.

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Julie Moss and Kathleen McCartney Returning to Kona

By Steve | Published: May 14, 2012

Two Big Island originals are coming home to race the 30th anniversary event
Published Monday, May 14, 2012

Julie Moss and Kathleen McCartney Returning to Kona

Two of Ironman’s original leading ladies are returning to Kona this October. We followed them to Nytro Multisport in California, where they each received brand-new Cannondales for the months of training to come.

by Jennifer Ward Barber

Thirty years ago, a college woman named Julie Moss made history by crawling her way across the finish line of a grueling race in Hawaii. Over the coming years, that Big Island suffer-fest in 1982 would evolve into the famed Ironman World Championships—held every October in Kona and attracting the world’s best triathletes.

This year, Moss and Kathleen McCartney, the woman who passed her that year to take first, have decided to return to Kona to race the 30th anniversary event together.

“I’ve always wanted to do the Ironman again and I just thought the 30th anniversary of that special race Julie and I had would be a really great time to go back,” said McCartney, who committed to the race in February of last year. “I just wanted to do something really positive for myself,” she added.

McCartney immediately thought of calling Julie to see if she wanted to join her, but the ball didn’t get rolling until the two spoke at a November Triathlon Club of San Diego meeting. The weekend following the event, the two participated in a weekend triathlon relay (at Bob Babbitt’s prompting). This got them talking about the idea, and it wasn’t long before both had signed up to swim, bike, and run their way to the Ali’i Drive finish line on October 13th. (The last time either completed the race was back in 2003 when they raced together for its 25th anniversary.)

Even though her last Ironman is a distant memory, McCartney says that having done the race a total of eight times gives her confidence. “At any time in my life, whether I was in triathlon shape or not, I’ve always felt like if someone told me I had to go do an Ironman tomorrow, that I could do it,” she said. She says she’s felt this way since she did her first Ironman, and that this knowledge gives her a sense of strength and empowerment. Needless to say, McCartney has no doubts she’ll finish.

McCartney’s calm confidence is balanced nicely by Julie Moss’ bubbly energy. The spark that compelled Moss to try her young legs at the 1982 race in Kona—all in the name of a college Phys Ed course—is still burning strong. At Nytro Multisport in Encinitas last week, where Bill Rudell of Cannondale presented them each with brand new Cannondale Slices, the two women provided hours of entertainment while they tested “funny looking” saddles and asked questions about hydration and transition tactics.

Moss said she’s excited to race once again in Kona, but what she’s really looking forward to is the “Lance Factor.” “I want to see it,” she said. “I don’t want to read about it or follow it online. I want to catch a glimpse of it myself.”

As one of the original darlings of the sport who helped catapult triathlon into the public eye with her stark determination, Moss will likely share some of that limelight with Mr. Armstrong. It will be an exciting year in Kona indeed.

Visit lavamagazine.com to watch a video of the bike fitting and see a photo gallery of the afternoon.

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The Cat Rattles his Cage

By Steve | Published: May 13, 2012

Living with a chronic disease like chronic lymphocytic leukemia is like living with a caged up wild cat in your basement. You do your best to keep it locked and chained and barricaded away. You live your life with an “out of sight / out of mind” mentality. Intellectually, you need to be aware that you have a huge and sometimes angry cat locked away in a room downstairs, but emotionally, you can’t let it own you. So you work hard at keeping those reminders held at a safe distance. You work hard at doing the right things and address those things requiring attention, and turn blinders to the rest.

On February 24th, 2006 I was first diagnosed with CLL and introduced to this animal. And while I needed to undergo 4 rounds of chemo and 2 years of follow up maintenance chemo,  generally I felt in control, or made every effort to be,  and would walk past that cat’s cage and glance at the lock to check that it’s secure and then move on with my amazing fairy tale of a life. Often times even giving that cat a cocky glance to let him know that I am living my life on my terms in complete control of the mental grip and fear that his existence wants to bring to some people. Sometimes I would hear it snarl a little, or even stand up and pace just to try to let me know he IS still there.  But generally speaking, I walk past, give him a smirk, jiggle the lock, flip him the bird, and move on.

I take pride in how I continue to manage my situation for myself and my loved ones and,  for the sake of others, many of which I may never know. But who I know are out there listening and reading. The strength and support they draw from my is very important and I take that aspect of ‘my gift” very seriously. (There I go calling my leukemia a GIFT again!)

I recently had a situation where my pet man eater decided he wanted to let me know he was awake and restless.

Several weeks ago I was starting to have a few uncomfortable symptoms that very much resembled what I felt when I was first diagnosed close to 7 years ago. So I checked in with my oncologist and did the normal blood workup along with a CT scan. And as suspected, a few CLL symptoms have returned. My blood work was actually ok, but the CT scan showed very pronounced lymph nodes in my neck and in my throat. The good news is that the rest of my CT scan was quite good and clear but we needed to do something about the nodes that were on the move. Initially we tried to treat these symptoms with a low dose steroid to see what may happen.  Which wasn’t  much and came up a little short.

We talked about a number of potential treatment options and next steps. My symptoms are very localized and confined to my neck and throat. While my tonsils and lymph nodes are uncomfortable and very enlarged, and are making swallowing a challenge and even talking a little uncomfortable, the rest of my body is still rather “normal”. So that ruled out a conventional chemo treatment protocol. At this point anyway. The leukemia may be starting to awaken from a relatively quiet and innocuous sleep, but we can (and will) address this early and knock it way back off of the radar again.

So what we have agreed to is an aggressive hard core 4 day round of a high dosage mega steroid. And maybe repeat this in 2 weeks. It’s a relatively standard quasi chemo option in cases like this. The downside is that I need to take a few other things just as an infection preventative with this drug. The real downside is that I don’t sleep on this stuff – at all. Saturday was day one and I was awake most of the night. (Actually I was car shopping online at 3 AM. So perhaps there is a perk out of all of this because I am picking up my new car on Wednesday.)  This is only a 4 day blast so it won’t last too long.

Honestly, this is fine. The bottom line is, I am OK. But in the spirit of full disclosure I have included my family, friends and cancer community contacts along for the ride from the very beginning. This is just another chapter of the story to discuss and hopefully learn from. And I will treat this with the same diligence, determination, and even a little humor that I try to display with all of this. It’s just another opportunity to lead by example. While so much of my cancer journey has been good, there are some less favorable parts along the way that still must be dealt with. And I want people to take my lead in their reactions to all of this. Patients, and supporters alike. We’ll take care of business and lock the cat back up where he belongs.

And again I would like to remind people to not just live WITH their disease or condition, rather, live ABOVE it, and live loudly and proudly above it.That being said, the races and events on my calendar for this year are ABSOLUTELY still on. This little treatment blip should pose no threat to my 2012 goals.

Don’t focus on any (perceived) limitation. Focus on taking action and MOVING.

Hakuna Matata

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New Philly Health Watch Article, “Get the Heck OUT”!

By Steve | Published: May 5, 2012

I am a huge fan and advocate of sneaking in a workout any time, and any place possible. Thus my motto of “always keep a bag packed”. You never know when you might be able to sneak in a quickie. And quite often, that quickie might be in the gym, the basement, a hotel, etc. Opportunities to “steal” a little fitness are abundant; you just need to keep your eyes open for them.

Continue reading…

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Eagles Fly for Leukemia Golf Outing

By Steve | Published: May 2, 2012

On June 4th, I will join Master of Ceremonies Vince Papale to speak at the Eagles Fly for Leukemia’s 28th Annual Golf Classic and Dinner. This year’s event will be held at the Huntington Valley Country Club in Huntington Valley Pennsylvania. For more information, and to reserve your foursome, please contact Eagles Fly for Leukemia at (610) 622-0600 or efleukemia@aol.com .

Founded over thirty years ago, Eagles Fly for Leukemia supports pediatric cancer and leukemia research at three Delaware Valley hospitals, helping their world renowned scientists in the quest for a cure.

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First Descents Coming to NYC

By Steve | Published: April 18, 2012

First Descents offers young adult cancer survivors (ages 18–39) a free outdoor adventure experience and is excited to launch a new program FD intro (FDi) which is a shorter, more accessible adventure experience for young adults with cancer. These two-day programs are designed to make the FD experience available to young adult survivors who might not be able to do a full week program due to health reasons, treatment schedules, family and job commitments, or just general hesitation.

FDi is free of cost for participants. The next program is June 2–3, 2012.

Please contact Kimarie Boerger, LCSW at 646-888-4736 for more information about this program or visit www.firstdescents.org

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New Philly Health Watch Article

By Steve | Published: April 3, 2012

Check out my latest contribution to Philly Health Watch:

Looks Really Do Count! (…sort of)

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"Be the change you wish to see in the world " - Gandhi
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