Figured I better update my blog before people think I died or something.

Where do I start.

Walking ,I’m happy to report that while my lung function hasn’t been all that great this year, I am indeed still walking. I’m putting in about 22 miles a week, which is actually more than I was doing last year at this time. Unlike in previous years when I was doing all those races, I’m now walking primarily to stay active and in shape. Walking conditions my body in such a way, that makes it easier for me to tolerate my dyspnea. It also affords me the opportunity to get outdoors and to listen to my favorite tunes. Music always sounds better to me when its piped into my ears in high fidelity. Next to my guitar, I think my MP3 player is my favorite toy. I’m not ready to make an official announcement just yet, but there maybe another marathon attempt in my future. Stay tuned.

On the personal health front, I seem to be having more frequent severe exacerbations. Since April, Ive been hospitalized 3 times and had to be intubated during 2 of them. Fortunately, I now have wonderful pulmonologist following my care, which makes the difficult times just a little bit easier to get through. Knowing you have someone who you can call anytime and is there to help you, really makes a difference. I’m also having a VAP, venous access port put in. After 50 years and 104 hospitalizations, I have no veins left. This new port( which is implanted under the skin) will go a long way in stopping the torture I have to go through every time I need to have an IV started. Of course a central line carries it’s own risks, but to me it’s totally worth it.

Music, Well what can I say, except I love it and that it brings me a lot of joy. I wish I could play my guitar all day.
Ive only been playing now for about 4 months, but have regained most of what I had forgotten during my 35 year break. Bass playing styles and techniques have expanded exponentially since I last played. I’m really loving learning all these new methods. My real passion though is traditional jazz and rhythm and blues styles. I love latin and Motown too. Been experimenting with Mixcraft audio mixing software and have created a couple of tunes. ( I’ll post them in the future if you want). I’m hoping to attend one of Victor Wooton’s bass camps next spring. He’s a gifted bassist and a wonderful teacher.

Some traveling in the picture. So next month, if I don’t get sick, I’ll be taking my very first trip to the UK. Ive been to other parts of Europe , especially Italy where I have family, but Ive never been to England. I’m only going to be there for 12 days, but I have a lot crammed into those 12 day. I’ll be staying in both Bath and London and will travel to different areas of the country from those locations. I think England is such a beautiful country and I love the people. This trip has been in the planning stages for almost a year now. I’m getting itchy to go.

Asthma advocacy and support. I’m happy to report that membership and/or readership to both my blog forums and my Facebook SARP group continue to grow. We are creating a real community based on education, compassion and support for those suffering from this disease. Our members include world renowned scientists and physicians, Nurses and RTs , but mostly we have really nice people who have really bad lungs. If you have asthma or have an interest in it, please join us.

Finally, It’s my ( our) favorite time of the year, Autumn. Winston wanted to show off his Halloween costume with his fans.He’s a bit of a ham, like his human counterpart.

Meet my friend Gayle Myrna. Gayle is a long time reader of mine and suffers from pretty severe asthma herself. Gayle is also an accomplished performer and songwriter.

She recently entered a songwriting contest presented by Billy Ray Cirus, the Country Music Association and DRIVE4COPD to promote COPD awareness. Gayle is probably one of the few entrants that actually has lung disease, so you know her song was written from the heart.

I hope you’ll show your support for this worthy cause and for Gayle’s song by voting for her.

You can vote for Gayle’s song here “Inhale the Future” You can sign up with your email address or log-in with your Facebook.

I probably sound like a broken record when I say this, but it’s true… I might have crappy lungs, but it’s because of those crappy lungs that I’ve been able to meet so many wonderful and interesting people.
My friend Alin certainly fits in that category.

Alin has Autism, Spastic Quadriplegia Cerebral Palsy and an extremely rare condition that effects his heart and lungs, called Hypothalamic Dysfunction, Hypoventilation and Autonomic Dysregulation or (ROHHAD). Because of his condition, he has to be connected to a ventilator every night and occasionally during the day to help him breath.

Alin is an intelligent, articulate individual with a love for all things technical and tactile. He considers himself a nerd of sorts, and for good reason. He’s a near genius when it comes to computers and is also a bonafide Stock Market expert. He became fascinated with stock trading at a young age and found out he had a real knack for picking winning stocks. He’s also active in the ATIA, and in 2010 was a guest speaker at their annual conference.

Alin’s story is both heart breaking and inspiring. He’s an incredibly positive and upbeat person considering everything he’s been through in his short life. He’s had countless medical procedures done and last year had to have a tracheostomy put in. Thanks in part to a loving adoptive family, Alin thrives despite his disabilities.

What I like about Alin, is that what you see is what you get. He’s brutally honest and tells you exactly what’s on his mind. He’s very open about his condition and is not afraid to show off what it has done to his body. He’s the only other person I know who posts his bronchoscopy photos and other personal medical stuff. When I first made contact with him it was like a competition to see who had the most graphic medical photos. Hands down, Alin is the winner in that area.

Anywho (as Alin would say), if you’re so inclined, stop by Alins site and tell him Steve sent you And while you’re there, give him a big hug….He loves Hugs!

Friend, Award-winning Chef , severe asthmatic and fellow SARP alumnus, Sheila Brillhard, wrote me the other day to tell me about her new cookbook . She created it for people who have to take prednisone for their asthma or other medical conditions. What a cleaver idea!

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how steroids can effect your appetite and how important it is to eat the right foods when you’re on the stuff. Sheila’s book is chock full nutritional tips and tasty recipes designed for people like us to have to live on the evil candy, or as Sheila calls them in her book, “scare-roids”.

Her book is available through Amazon or you download it from Lulu.
You can read more about Sheila on her website SheilaBrillhart.com

Introducing the “Breathinstephen Blog Awards”

Once a year around the holiday season I like to put together a list of my favorite lung blogs. This year I thought it would be fun to give an award to those bloggers as well.

If your blog is on list, feel free to copy and paste the code for the award badge to your site with the little widget I made. You can remove the back-link to me from the code if you want .

<a href="http://breathinstephen.com" title=”breathinstephen"> <img src="http://breathinstephen.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/breathinstephen-blog-award-1.jpg" alt="blog award" title="Blog award"></a>

A special thank you to Ms Kerri for designing this years award badge.

So, without further ado, here are this years picks…..

I normally don’t post excerpts or links to other peoples posts, but this one I couldn’t resist. Like the many others who’ve reposted it, I just love it.

Piper, a recent double lung transplant recipient who had Cystic Fibrosis, lists her recommendations for that perfect holiday gift. I especially love the gift of prednisone.
Her thought provoking humor on this topic is the bitter sweet reality for a lot of lung transplant recipients. It made me think a lot about my own predicament and just how lucky I have it right now. I was going to post it last week when I first read it, but had an unexpected date with a hospital bed instead.

Every year the holidays roll around and hundreds of CF/post-transplant spouses and significant others are left struggling with what gift to buy their sensual, scarred sweetie. Tragically, many of these clueless Cassanovas will miss the mark entirely, presenting their beloved with a gift basket of grapefruit or a membership to the Raw Meat of the Month Club. But don’t be one of them! Let us help you stuff her stocking and trim her tree with helpful and exciting drugs from all walks of post-transplant life. Trust us, she (and her lungs) will thank you

read the entire post here

You know what? I might be cursed with crappy lungs, but I sure seem to be blessed with some cool and caring friends. Case in point:

After spending a pretty ugly night in the local ER, I woke up the next day to find a bunch of Facebook alerts on my phone. My talented friend and one women cheering section Kerri M, created this incredible mural for me and put it on my Facebook Fan Page (which she also created). I also found out that she had been posting updates about my condition on her blog. Kerri always finds way to cheer me up when times are not so good, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised ….but custom artwork? How many people would take the time to do something like that! I love it, and am going to have it printed and framed. Thank you Miss Lovely.
Are you sure you weren’t born in the 1960s?

And how about this one from Danielle(another one of my asthmatic buddies up in Canada) ….So cool.

Thanks Danielle!

OK, Case in point #2:
After finding out that I had been hospitalized again, Sally Wenzel took time out from a convention she was attending in Chicago just to see how I was doing. She spoke to one of the doctors who was taking care of me and made herself available to them if needed. Mind you, Dr Wenzel who is one of the world’s imminent asthma specialists, has never been paid a dime for any of the help she’s ever provided me. She continues to be my strongest advocate for lung transplant and is a dear friend.

Case in point# 3:
During my hospital stay I had the privilege of sharing a room with one of the kindest, most compassionate and non pretentious people Ive ever met. His name is Larry M. And despite facing major open heart surgery in the coming hours , he was more concerned about my predicament than is own. Larry and I have very different views on religion, (not to mention the sexual orientation thing), but in the 2 short days that I got to know him and his family, I now consider them dear friends and I think the feeling is mutual. In a couple of months after Larry heals from his surgery, we plan to do some serious walking together. Maybe we’ll make up the “Heart and Lung” contingent for a future Boston marathon.

I don’t know if it’s the Christmas season or if it’s all the hardcore drugs they have me on, but during this 101st hospitalization for this thing they call asthma, Ive been reminded over and over again just how kind and caring people can be.
To all the people who sent me cards, emails and Facebook comments, thank you SOOOOO MUCH !
I might not get a chance to thank you all personally, but I know who you are and I will never forget your kindness. People whom Ive never even met before have taking the time to reach out. Well, I think that’s pretty great.

As for this current exacerbation, it was a relatively mild one and I was discharged from the hospital today. And and while I’m still very short of breath, I’m holding my own and thankful be home in time for Christmas. So many people aren’t as fortunate.

Now you know I couldn’t end this post without a video clip of some kind, right? But this time instead of posting images of me gorked out on a ventilator or sucking on a neb, I’ll leave you with this corny but totally appropriate snippet of the little doggy Christmas party we had in room 3104. ( I took this with my phone so the quality is not so great, especially with my thumb on the lens half the time.)

Thanks everyone for making this a fun contest and thank you Microlife for donating the awesome pf meter.

I wish I had prizes for everyone. Some of you came very close, but there can be only one winner, and that is (drum roll please)…….Kris of Ontario, Canada. Congrats Kris!

Kris came the closest with her winning guess of 291 . The actual number of empty vials was 282

The following is a perfect example of what prednisone can to an otherwise intelligent and creative mind……

I was at the town grocery store the other day, where I noticed they were having a contest to see if you could guess the weight of this huge pumpkin they had as part of a Halloween display. As I was walking home I thought to myself hmmm… I should have a contest of my own, but rather than pumpkins, I’ll have people try to guess how many empty albuterol/atrovent vials I have laying around. Out of this, the inaugural Breathinstephen Halloween Contest was born.

The rules are simple:
All you have to do is guess how many vials are in the bowl and send it to me via email or comment by Oct 29th.

The person who comes closest to guessing the actual number of vials, will win a brand new digital peak flow/FEV1 meter valued at $75.00, courtesy of the kind folks over at Microlife . The Microlife peak flow meter kit comes complete with batteries, a nice carrying case and a usb cable so you can track your data on your computer. I love this flow meter, because in addition to peak expiratory flow rates, it also measures FEV1, which is a better indicator of lung function.

**Here’s a hint…The empties in this bowl represent roughly a month and a half of neb treatments for me.**

Good luck!

(PS….Wait till you see what I’m planning to make out of these things when I get enough of them.)

How’s this for a view!

In just a few weeks , if all goes as planned, I hope to be standing on that very same rock with a half a dozen of my COPD friends.

The brainchild of my Boston marathon walking partner Mike Mc Bride, the “COPD Mt Evans Challenge” as he calls it, is simply about a bunch of friends with severe lung disease, getting together for a day and hiking to the summit of one of the tallest mountains in the Rockies of Colorado…. just for the heck of it! No, we’re not going to scale an entire mountain, but we will be walking up the steepest portion of one.

Starting in Idaho Springs,elevation 8,700 ft, we’re gonna drive up the mountain road 9 miles to Summit Lake, which is situated at the 12,800 ft level. From there we’re gonna hike the last 5 miles on foot up to the summit of the mountain, which sits 14,220 ft above sea level. My COPD friends will be using high -flow oxygen @ 15 lpm to make the trek up the mountain I hopefully, will not need supplemental O2, but I’ll be closely monitoring my O2 sats just in case.

As you can see in this photo taken earlier this year during a race up the mountain, the grade along certain portions of the road is pretty steep. The part that we’re gonna be doing, gains approximately 1600 ft in elevation in just over 5 miles.

( Mike Mc Bride and Roxlyn Cole testing out their oxygen equip)

What makes this particular walk such a challenge for me (and for the other lungers), is the altitude and the steepness of the climb.
Excluding being a passenger in a pressurized airplane, this will be the highest altitude my body has ever been exposed to. The last walk I did that involved a mountain, was back in 2008 when I did the ET midnight marathon in the Nevada desert. And while it was a much longer walk ( 13.1 miles) , we only reached a maximum elevation of 5,500 feet during the race. The summit of Mt Evans is almost 3 times higher.

My lungs are not a big fan of climbing hills. I can barely walk uphill the two blocks it takes to reach my house, let alone 5.5 miles up the side of a mountain. Putting the physical challenges aside though, the main reason I wanna do this is, is to take in the sheer beauty of it all. I think Mountains are awesome.

If you’d like to read more, or maybe even join us, check out at Roxlyn Coles blog

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/i-think-ill-go-climb-a-real-mountain/feed/ 10 http://breathinstephen.com/the-letter/ http://breathinstephen.com/the-letter/#comments Mon, 31 May 2010 19:06:06 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=13608

I receive of dozens of letters from people living with really bad asthma, but this one really touched me, because the person who wrote it….. is only 16 years old.

Hey Stephen,

Read your website have to say it was quite intriguing! Just want to say you are a hero and a role model for me. Quite amazing what you’ve been through and I take my hat off to you dude! I am a 16 year old guy from Victoria BC Canada writing to you from my hospital bed on the pediatric 4d north tower. I also have neutrophillic predominant asthma I used to have eosinophillic asthma as my IGE level was 16,000 ug. Since then it has changed into neutrohilic and harder to take control of – I feel like you. Sorry if that offends you because I know it offends me when people ask me in the hospital what are you here for? and i say asthma they reply with oh yeah my son has asthma blah blah blah when they really have no idea…when I read your website I saw life through my moms eyes Pretty scary since im used to it. But I was wondering did you ever have high IGE at one point and then your lungs like changed into neutrophillic predominant? and like when you walk don’t you get out of breath at all? it was quite amazing how you walked al those miles. And have you ever used oxygen at home? And whats you’re criteria before you get to go home? for me its Q4 Nebs and 50% FEV1 which takes about 2 weeks every admission! WTF such a flipping frustration I’ve never met anyone like me before and I seem to see it in you. I’ve also been to national jewish hospital in america for further evaluation from ” the big shots” . My FEV1 varys from 45- 50% and FVC of 65%.

Drugs – Spiriva ( for copd) have you ever been on it?
Oxygen 1-2L nasal prongs when in hosp
Formorteral (oxeeze) 12mcg
flovent
azithromycin antibiotic apparently it helps with inflammation in the airways – that’s what they said in Denver at National Jewish hospital – Have you been there?
Ventolin Nebs Q4
Q30 mins when in hospital.
Prednisone 10mg one day 5mg the next alternating when in hops 60mg for 3 days since i had a steroid myopathy I cant get steroids for a long time because there worried abut that happening again ( Diaphragm paralysis) my diaphragm stopped working which made it hard for me to breath was on Bi pap for 6 months
I HATE PRED!
flutter – Chest physio
IVIG every 3 weeks
I am also getting a bronchoscopy which should tell them more about whats going on, as requested from Denver National jewish.

I’m sorry if im bugging you – just thought your page was really inspiring and something to look up to. Thanks for your time Stephen

Darcy Ablak

No Darcy, thank YOU for YOUR time.  It’s people like you who inspire ME !  Your letter made my day.

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/the-letter/feed/ 2 http://breathinstephen.com/world-cup-racewalking-championships/ http://breathinstephen.com/world-cup-racewalking-championships/#comments Fri, 14 May 2010 13:52:27 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=13061

Just wanted to send good vibes out to my friend and racewalking coach, Dave Mc Govern who will be competing this weekend at the World Cup championships in Chihuahua Mexico. Dave will be doing the 50K race ….that’s 31 miles!

I was checking the local weather report for Chihuahua, and the temperature for the 50K at race time on Saturday morning is expected to be 70 degrees F, and heating up to 89 degrees later in the day. Yikes.. that’s pretty warm weather to be doing a 31 mile racewalk in, but if anyone can do it, Dave can. Luckily the relative humidity is supposed to below at 25%.

Jeff Savage will be providing some commentary and photos of the event on his website RACEWALK.COM The IAAF will have the official results well.

USA Team Members

Ray Sharp (50K) , Dave McGovern (50K), Trevor Barron (10K Junior),DanSeriani(20K),JonathonMatthews(50K),MaryanneDaniel(MedicalStaff),AlexChavez(10K Junior), Solomiya Logan (20K),Tyler Sorensen (10K Junior), Patrick Stroupe (20K), Jolene Moore (Junior Coach), Philippe Gonzalez (Head Coach)

Good luck to all of our racewalkers !

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/world-cup-racewalking-championships/feed/ 0 http://breathinstephen.com/my-drugs-are-still-in-the-closet/ http://breathinstephen.com/my-drugs-are-still-in-the-closet/#comments Sun, 09 May 2010 03:50:34 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=13070

(Get it?)

Actually, I was inspired by Kerri’s messy drug drawer posts, to straighten up my own medicine storage area. ( There’s all kinds of double meanings here)

No , this isn’t my medication drawer, it’s my medication ROOM! I have so many boxes of Albuterol/Atrovent nebules.. I could open up a pharmacy ( a 120 boxes to be exact).

Can you tell I’m a Virgo? (aka… anal retentive)

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/my-drugs-are-still-in-the-closet/feed/ 4 http://breathinstephen.com/boston-to-big-sur/ http://breathinstephen.com/boston-to-big-sur/#comments Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:14:08 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=12819

Congrats to two of my favorite running people, Hansi and Francis, for completing the Boston to Big Sur Challenge this past Sunday. These 2 wonderfully nutty people, along with a couple hundred other crazy people, ran BOTH the Boston marathon in Massachusetts AND the Big Sur marathon in California just 6 days apart. Two tough marathons in less than a week on opposite sides of the country. Francis came all the way from Toronto Canada to do these races.

At Hansi’s Carmel home the day before the Big Sur marathon

To make the challenge even more rewarding, Hansi ended up taking 1st place at Big Sur. Francis had respectable finish times in both races as well. Heck, between the two of them, they’ve probably finished more than a hundred marathons in just about every country on the planet. My hat’s off to the both of them!

Read Frans 2010 Boston marathon race report. Lots of pics and vids too.

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/boston-to-big-sur/feed/ 3 http://breathinstephen.com/boston-marathon-video-highlights/ http://breathinstephen.com/boston-marathon-video-highlights/#comments Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:35:07 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=12681

Rather than bore you with a mile-by-mile account of everything that happened during this entire 7 hour-17 minute very fun but challenging, and at times a excruciatingly painful journey, this year I decided only to post what I can consider to be the highlights. The experience was a little overwhelming and with so many pictures , videos and texts to prepare and post, I’m gonna have to dole them out little by little over the coming days.

But, first let me start by acknowledging some wonderful people who helped make this a truly special day for me.

My walking partner in the race, Mike Mc Bride.
Our super cool spotters, Jon and Chris from the BAA
Our fantastic crew, Pete from Apria Health Care, and Tom and Brett from Caire Medical and Brett’s wife Shay.
The wonderful folks at the University of Pittsburgh’s Asthma Institute
And finally, our special course guide, the one and only Lis Shepard , who drove the spectators wild and who stuck by me the entire distance just so she could cross the finish line with me. A pretty awesome lady I’d say!

Introducing
“TEAM WHEEZY”

(hey…where’s Lis at? )

( Oh that’s…right, she’s yacking it up with the Boston Globe reporter dude)

*******************************************************************

So here’s a collection of unedited short clips that I took with my phone camera. Sorry, the video quality isn’t too good, but I wanted to give you a sense of what it’s like to be the first AND last people out on the Boston course. This pandemonium goes on goes on for 7 FULL hours!! See if you can hear my name being shouted during the middle and end portions of the clip. Every time my spotter John would see I was having problems with my breathing or my legs, he’s get the crowd cheering for me. It was like a magic potion that kept me going.

26 miles and 7 hours later , watch how Lizzy works the crowd and helps me make it to the finish line 6 minutes later. Again, this clip is a little long, but I wanted give you an idea of just how many die hard spectators waited for us to finish and how much fun it was to have Liz along for the ride.

I’ll have tons more photos and video clips in upcoming posts….

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/boston-marathon-video-highlights/feed/ 10 http://breathinstephen.com/racewalk-planet-radio-interview/ http://breathinstephen.com/racewalk-planet-radio-interview/#comments Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:01:26 +0000 Stephen http://www.breathinstephen.com/?p=12664

[JP-Facebook-Like]
Check out my radio interview with Chris Rael over at Racewalk Planet Radio

Chris is an awesome racewalker and coach. It was a video of Chris racewalking(The long and winding road) that got me interested in the sport 5 years ago. I finally had the pleasure of meeting him at Dave Mc Governs advanced racewalking clinic in Solana Beach last October.

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/racewalk-planet-radio-interview/feed/ 3 http://breathinstephen.com/in-good-company/ http://breathinstephen.com/in-good-company/#comments Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:16:41 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=12428

There might not be very many of us (only 26 this year) and we might not be as sleek as the other runners, but there are some pretty amazing athletes who compete in the Boston marathon’s mobility impaired division.

Take for example Keven Counihan. Kevin lost part of his right foot in an accident with a lawnmower. 15 years later, he was in a near-fatal car accident that caused extensive knee, arm, hip, chest, and shoulder damage. Despite all this, and after years of rehabilitation, Kevin focused on running again and set his sights on the marathon distance. In the 7 years since he started marathon running again, Kevin has finished 99 marathons, and hopes to complete his 100th at this years Boston marathon! Pretty amazing Id say. Check out this recent article and Video about Kevin.

Then there’s Kelly Luckett, another awesome athlete. This is her 6th consecutive Boston marathon. She’s also done 21 Ultrathons (50ks) and over 80 shorter races. Kelly came in at 3rd place in this division in lasts years race. Way to go Kelly!

Can’t forget this guy. He is absolutely amazing to watch. Richard Whitehead is a congenital double amputee from the UK and quite a celebrity there. He has broken several world’s records, including the 2009 Rome marathon. I was there when he became the first amputee athlete in history, to break the 3 hour mark in a marathon. Absolutely incredible!

Last but certainly not least, there’s my good friend, Mike Mc Bride, who climbs skyscrapers for fun. Mike will pull an 80lb oxygen cart behind him for 26.2 miles. The fact that he does what he does, given his type of lung disease, still blows me away. He may not be lightning fast, but he has more fortitude and guts than most healthy people half his age. Check out this recent article in the Boston Globe

So, how does it feel to stand next to these phenomenal athletes at the starting line in Hopkinton, Massachusetts? IT FEELS INCREDIBLE !!

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/in-good-company/feed/ 8 http://breathinstephen.com/boston-crew-2/ http://breathinstephen.com/boston-crew-2/#comments Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:45:39 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=11996

You might be surprised by how many people it takes to get 2 severely lung challenged athletes and an 80 lb oxygen cart across the finish line of the world’s most prestigious foot race.

Introducing the crew !

Our spotters……………………………………Lizzy and Chuck

Not only I am privileged to participate again in this incredible race with my good friend Mike Mc Bride, but this year we have the pleasure of having Lizzy along for the ride. Liz will be Mikes official course guide and will also be helping me out by carrying some of my medications and other supplies. Also on the course with us again will be Chuck, our wonderful spotter from last year. Chuck will tail us on the course on his bicycle to make sure we don’t get trampled by the other runners or slowed down by over-zealous spectators as we pass by. We’re very lucky to get him again.

Our support team………………………..Tom………………………….Brett…………………………….Peter

Tom and Brett from Caire Medical along with Peter from Apria Health Care will be providing us with transportation to the starting line, and will also be providing logistical support for Mikes Oxygen equipment along course. Mike’s tanks have to be switched out about every 6 miles along the course. His crew stays in constant radio contact with our spotter Chuck, so that they know exactly when and where on the course to do the change outs. They can switch out all of his tanks in less than a minute. It’s pretty amazing to watch.

Without the help of these wonderful people , it would be really difficult to pull this thing off. Thanks Guys (and Gals)! We really appreciate it.

(PS…Sorry, got my Toms and Rons mixed up earlier.)

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/boston-crew-2/feed/ 2 http://breathinstephen.com/farewell-jim/ http://breathinstephen.com/farewell-jim/#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:08:13 +0000 Stephen http://breathinstephen.com/?p=11504

I just want to take a few moments to honor the life of a good, kind person. His name is Jim Cady. The husband, father and best friend of one of my racewalking buddies, Vickie. Jim was a very kind, soft spoken, but courageous person.

An avid skier, Jim wasn’t a racewalker himself, but he would often come to San Francisco to cheer the rest of us on during our races. Jim also treated me to my first Giants Baseball game.

Surrounded by his family who absolutely adored him, Jim passed away on Feb 19th from an extremely rare form of lung cancer.

Jim was about my age, and though he had been battling his disease for years with weekly chemotherapy treatments, you never heard him complain about it. I was continually amazed by his perseverance, and somehow always figured that he would out live me.

Till we meet again Jim, addio amico mio!

[Jim, his wife Vickie, Me, Brandon and Rachel at the 2006 San Francisco Marathon]

]]> http://breathinstephen.com/farewell-jim/feed/ 7