My closest childhood friend, Yale Griffin, died of osteogenic sarcoma. My mother was the first to suspect the hard mass growing in his calf was not a soccer injury as he had been told by his pediatrician. He was diagnosed in 6th grade and started treatment in the Fall, just as I started football practice. Seven years later, with his life just returning to normal as a college freshman, the cancer recurred in his lung. He died 5 years later during my first year of medical school.

Now I have 3 children of my own. Remembering what Yale and his mom went through and reading the stories of these Rally Kids, it's hard to even begin to contemplate their experiences.

I will be running in honor of Laura, another kid fighting osteosarcoma. You can find her story and those of the other Rally Kids here: http://rallyfoundation.org/index.php/kids/rallykids/3#kid-324

For those of you motivated by darker persuasions, know that your donation will contribute to forcing me to run more than 200 miles over the next 3 months in hopes of making it 13.5 miles in Disneyland September 12th. Those who know me, know this is an unnatural phenomenon.

Rally Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is dedicated to raising funds to support childhood cancer research which is under-funded up to $30 million a year.