My name is Ethan David, and this is why I'm inspired to ride the 175-mile Scenic Shore in Wisconsin on July 25-26.
In April 2012, my wife and daughter flew from NYC to Michigan to visit my mom and dad. Their birthdays are four days apart, and the perfect gift was a visit from us so they could introduce their granddaughter to their home, their friends, and their neighborhood for the very first time. What we anticipated would be an exciting weekend of fun family events was immediately cut short. Instead of heading “home” from the airport, we headed to the emergency room. Something about my dad just wasn’t right, and that something was cancer. It turns out the bout he had with lymphoma a couple of years before wasn't over. His margins weren't clear, and it metastasized to his brain.
That weekend became unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. For the next six years, my dad’s doctors and specialists did a brilliant job of treatment. They couldn’t cure him, but they improved his condition dramatically and then succeeded at keeping him stable, stable enough so that he and my mom could move their life out of the only state they ever lived in so that they could be closer to us. Shortly after my dad was diagnosed, I took up a parallel initiative to begin competing in endurance athletics. I wanted to fight for something I wasn’t sure I could achieve. I wanted to experience the pain that it would take to get through some days. I wanted to turn my life upside down and make a daily commitment to crossing a finish line that can only be reached by not quitting. By doing what I do, I wanted my dad to know that I was running with him and that I wouldn’t stop.
Even though my dad is gone now, his story isn't over. I'm still pushing myself "a little farther, a little faster" and look for him coming down the chute of every finish line.
Ethan David
Family member and advocate
