it has taken me 2 years to write this first blog !
I'm not sure where to start here goes ! my brother Dean was diagnosed 4 years ago with MDS not many people knew of the disease until Robin Roberts this year told her story of being diagnosed with MDS or myelodysplastic syndrome. It's a disease of the blood and bone marrow and was once known as preleukemia.
When my brother was diagnosed I decided I needed to do something I was tipping the scale at 200 lbs & out of shape & could barley walk from the couch to the mail box, mind you my mail box is 300ft down the drive :) so I decided to join WW & start running yep me ME running all 200 Lb of me so I downloaded Couch to 5K program & hit my treadmill otherwise used for dust collecting, I soon was loosing weight & running stronger I signed up for my first 5K at WDW on my Birthday Jan 8th by now I was down to 155 and looking & feeling great .
I continued my journey while my brother was battling for his life the disease started to take hold of my brother & was soon in need of a stem cell transplant, his name was in the world database & no matches my turn I was praying Id be a match the most devastating news I was not a match at this point I felt like I had let him down so badly, I remember the call as if it was yesterday all tears on the phone even harder I live in the states & my brother was back home in Birmingham UK .
Dean was getting worse & no donor then a miracle a partial match donor so they took Dean in for Chemo he was admitted to an isolation ward at Ward19 at Heartlands Hospital there care was amazing they too fell in love with Dean many many months was spent in hospital in this small room Dean soon realized while his stay in Ward 19 he needed to start a charity up where the funds went to better the patients lives while they stayed for treatment, off he set about raising funds charity walks I went home to see Dean when he first came out he seemed to be doing much better here is a picture of the 2 of us
I went back home feeling confident my brother would beat this horrible disease so I signed up for my first half marathon Jan 8th 2011 on my birthday at WDW I had a great run I finished in 2:44 I was happy I was down to 150 & healthy at last
My running took on a new life well a crazy running racing every weekend I became a half fanatic
yep crazy runner I had become here is a picture of some Half Fanatics & the famous Dave Mari :)
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I decided if my bother can be so ill in &out of hospital I could raise funds & run WDW marathon in the name of my brothers charity Ward19charityfund I trained hard I found a great new buddy Kirsten who lives 2 miles from me we train to this day together, we had formed a training group that soon become family we call ourselves PRC panera running group nothing like running then eating breakfast yep as most runners we do so we can eat ;)
I had been home several times in 2012 to see Dean & now the cancer was back again & now he wa back in isolation for most of the year I was off to do Space Coast half marathon when my Mm called to say my brother would not make the weekend the hospital had done all they could transplants after transplants his body kept rejecting & letting the cancer win & all this time he was still worrying about his charity & raising funds, after the race I went to the beach for drinks with Paul Tim & Jillian who tried to keep me occupied & all of a sudden I knew he had gone & passed over to heaven where god was welcoming him to sit & watch over us until we all meet again :( Dean passed away November 26th 2012
We flew back home for my brothers funeral 300 plus people he was so loved one of the kindest people you would ever want to meet always helping others this picture was on the back of the service order even in death he was still helping others family flowers only, all donations to his charity he loved life Diving he would try anything such a packed life this picture says it all his walking to heaven
Now I knew I had to dig deep January had come around it was 13th at 4 am while all my running buddies supporting with there blue ward19 bands on blue white ribbons we took some pictures before heading to the corals, I was so happy my parents could be there to see we were all running in honor of my brother as I walked to the corals I looked at Kirsten & said my brother was supposed to be here & started to cry !
As the race got under way the worst conditions possible the heat the sun unreal it was a very emotional race at mile 23 Brandi looked at me & said you are quiet are you thinking of your brother I looked at Brandi & said yep he has to get me over the next few miles I'm digging deep for Dean who I loved so much & who I felt was watching over me that day as I crossed the line you can see my tears I had done it for Dean !! & will continue to run for Dean & his Charity x
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