Why

I have had many friends and family ask me why I am interested in climbing 69 flights of stairs and participate in the Scott Fire Fighter Stair Climb in Seattle WA.

Honestly, at first I felt it would be another great adventure and I would be supporting a good charity.

Things became a little more focused yesterday.

Yesterday I traveled to Hartford CT to help my Sister Kathy around her house.  She has had a tough year.  Early in 2011 her husband Gene passed away after a long courageous battle against Parkinson's.  In the fall a perfect storm combined heavy snow and wind to topple many trees and power lines on and near her house.  She was without power for over a week.   Her yard still had many trees and limbs to remove.

I delivered a generator for Kathy to use in the future if needed.  While her sons Eric and Ethan wired the generator into the house I took my chain saw and began to work on the downed trees.  Kathy's daughter Emily, and daughter in law Melinda pitched in to help move branches and logs as I kept the chain saw moving.

It was much harder work than I had expected to do yesterday.  I twisted my knee again but kept working.  I was concerned that it would again swell and hinder my training.

At the end of the day the trees were cut and the generator was working and tested out fine.

We all sat down for a simple meal and some family conversation.  Eric and Ethan have become fine young gentlemen.  Emily is studying with a goal of earning a PhD, perhaps the first in the family I think.  Melinda is married to Ethan and I learned they recently bought their first house.  You can tell she is busy putting her mark on it.  Sitting at the table with them you could feel the strength of family.  The trust and love they have for each other and the group.  I felt very humble.

Kathy tells me that when she was diagnosed with Leukemia she was given few options.  She had to be her own advocate to find and seek out better treatment options.  It is a shame but our health system has created the need for patients to be their own best advocate in order to get the best treatment.  My sister is tough as nails don't let her subtle appearance fool you.  She once threw me through a wall when I was a teenager.  (I deserved it and I had forgotten she studied Judo).   As her own advocate she searched and found a treatment that allows her to be with her family today.

Yesterday I figured out why I am going to climb those stairs.   So my sister and others who are fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters can have an advocate and better treatment and even a cure for their Leukemia.  So they can have dinner with their family too.

See you at the Top!

John