Text of a welcoming speech given on June 13, 2010 at the Scripps Cancer Center’s National Cancer Survivors Day Celebration.

Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for joining us today.

I was at a graduation yesterday and heard a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that seemed very fitting for today…

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.”

For many of us, the path of life we were following disappeared abruptly on one fateful day, leading us through incredible hardship. I have fought through 8 skin cancers and two kinds of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, Two allogeneic stem cell transplants, Five chemotherapy sessions, Total Body Irradiation and countless side effects including frozen joints, loss of my teeth, Graft vs Host disease, blindness, and nearly loosing the ability to walk.

But with incredible hardship comes incredible opportunity. For me, being a survivor is not about being better, it is about living exceptionally, being more than I was before. It is an opportunity to motivate, inspire, live with triumph and celebration, and change the world we live in.

Since becoming a survivor I have become an endurance athlete and fund raiser, raising thousands of dollars a year for cancer research. I have ridden 6 century rides on my bicycle. I have walked a half marathon, Last March, I completed an Olympic distance triathlon, and last week I rode the Rock and Roll Marathon San Diego, one of over 4500 athletes who collectively raised over 12 million dollars for cancer research. I am currently fund raising and training others to complete a triathlon. This is a direction through life I never could have imagined seven years ago.

My dream is that the trail I leave behind me is one of inspiration, helping, encouragement, comfort, triumph, and healing. The markers on that trail are the lives touched, better cures, and eventually, a world without cancer.

Welcome to Cancer Survivors Day! Join us in this Celebration of Life