As time goes on, I’ve come to realize that my family and friends comprise a pretty special group of people. With very few exceptions, people have gone above and beyond to try to do something to help me, or to let me know that I have their love and support, and that I’m in their thoughts.

I get choked up thinking about it, to be honest. I think I’ve shed more tears from that then anything actually directly related to the cancer. I’ve probably mentioned that before, but whatever, there it is again.

However, some people have asked to do things in my honor, and honestly, it’s kind of overwhelming. For one thing, my friend’s Jason and Maya both ran the NYC Triathlon that I was supposed to complete, and did so with me on their minds. Maya even let me borrow her completion medal, saying “Give it back when you get yours in 2013”.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t really thinking about helping them help out their respective charities at the time. I mean, I could use cancer as an excuse, but it was really just carelessness.

To rectify that, a friend of mine, Britany, is running the 2012 Boston Half Marathon for the Dana Farber foundation, and in particular, me.

That’s a really weird thing to write.

Brit’s on the right. Some astute observers may notice that the wonderful lady on the left is the one who kick started the swab campaign. I have awesome friends 🙂

I’d like to highlight her efforts because I’m selfish, and I want her cause to do well, because my name is on it.

Also because it’s a great cause, and it can benefit a lot of people, some of whom won’t even be named Tony.

So if you have any time on your hands, or room in your budget, for a charitable donation, please consider giving it in honor of Brit, through her link, here:

Every dollar counts

Here she is, on a mountain, being active and junk. 13.1 miles ain’t no thang!

Brit is a great lady, who has, aside from making this pledge, been there for me to bitch and moan to, and she’s done it without complaint. I really want her to succeed in everything she attempts, but in particular, I think I can help a little with this one.

Before this happened, I don’t think I had donated much money to charities. I did, here and there, but mainly what I did for charity was work with local dog shelters. Since getting diagnosed, and seeing some of my medical bills (post about that in the works), I’ve realized that the scale of money for cancer research is absolutely insane. No one person is ever going to be able to make a dent in this thing, but in the aggregate, if we each give a few dollars when and where we can, hopefully we can make some progress and maybe even get rid of cancer, once and for all.

As always, thanks for reading, whether or not you decided to donate. Lastly, let’s give a nice big EFF CANCER, just ’cause we can.