Encouraging Youth To Believe They Can Succeed Against All Odds!

Training to run a marathon can in many respects be compared to training to run the race of life. In applying THE WAY I SEE IT belief above, I am training for a marathon to provide youth with encouragement to run their race of life with the finish line being the attainment of their dreams in spite of the circumstances or challenges they may face!

My motivation for doing this began on October 19, 2011, just a few short months ago, when I was admitted to the hospital with a sudden gastrointestinal (GI) bleed. Over the next 10 days, I would go through countless tests and I would be transfused with 16 pints of blood due to blood loss. For most of those days, the doctors would not let me eat or drink so that I might be prepped for any further tests they might want to do at any given moment, which resulted in an unwanted weight loss of 8 pounds. My hemoglobin level was at one point 6. Normal for a man my age is 14-15. Hemoglobin’s main function is to carry blood through the body, so when it is extremely low, as it was for me, just trying to get out of my bed and to a bathroom was a superhuman task!

For most of those 10 days, I had to remain bedridden, which caused a downward spiral in my conditioning. All of this had a depressing effect on me mentally as the unknowns of the future became darker and gloomier. The capstone came on day 5 when a surgeon walked in my room and informed us that the only option was “exploratory” surgery since no tests were conclusive as to what was going on inside me and they could not simply keep pumping blood into me.

After receiving the surgery recommendation, I decided to be transported to another hospital for a second opinion. And for whatever reason, once I got at the new hospital, my GI tract simply decided to stop bleeding. At that point, all the doctors could do was wait and monitor my hemoglobin levels. If they stabilized, they would consider letting me return home and go through additional tests that could only be performed on an out-patient basis. By day 8, my hemoglobin levels continued to stabilize, so it appeared I would be able to return home on day 9.

Unfortunately, due to being confined to a bed for so long, I did had swelling in my feet. So before letting me go, they did an ultrasound of my legs and found 4 blood clots below my knees. To say the least I was mentally devastated. Most people with blood clots are given blood thinners. But due to the fact that I had a GI bleed, that was not an option. So out of the fear of one of those clots releasing and going to my lungs, heart or brain, which could result in sudden death, the doctors recommended that a temporary vena cava filter be placed in a primary vein below the heart and lungs, so that if one of the clots should release, the filter would catch it. That procedure was completed on day 8 of my hospital stay. On day10 (October 29, 2011), the doctors let me go home.

Since returning home, I have had additional out-patient tests, but all have been negative in terms of any signs of GI bleeding and the clots are slowly dissolving. As soon as possible, I began working back into an exercise routine, which was a slow and arduous process as my hemoglobin and iron levels were still on the low side and would take time to build back up to normal levels.

When I first started back running in early November 2011, I could barely run/walk a mile. Clearly, those 10 days in the hospital represented some extreme circumstances I had to face and work through. I could not have done that without the support and prayers of others.

There are many children today who find themselves in circumstances that are far more extreme than those I faced. Children in the desperate grip of poverty, in foster care, or who are affected by the incarceration of a parent are in far more dangerous circumstances than those I found myself in. Like the support and encouragement I received, these youth need the same support and encouragement if they are to overcome the difficult circumstances they find themselves in. That is what organizations like Mass Mentoring Partnership do and why I am raising money on their behalf.

Please provide your contribution TODAY, so that I may reach my goal for this important cause, and hopefully in the process, encourage youth to run the race of life with the finish line being the attainment of their dreams and goals in spite of the circumstances or challenges they may face!