September 2015

Earlier this month I found myself distraught over the various stories of how cancer has taken the life of little kids, denying them of their childhood and from living life in general. As a father of 5, it was very emotional. My biggest fear as a father is to have one of my kids diagnosed with a terminal illness, or with a disease that will affect the rest of their lives. I would hate feeling helpless and not being able to do anything to prevent it or cure it, etc… I hate just the thought of it.

When I found myself in that situation, I promised I would figure out a way to get involved and raise childhood cancer awareness…. Although, after some research, the only thing I will be able to do to help the local All Children’s Hospital is to donate some time and toys for the kids in their facility, I have yet to find a method to raise awareness. So, I’ve decided that this is my method. My blog. Sharing my blog post with my Facebook friends in hopes that I can inspire others to help the cause and raise awareness and funds to fight cancer and to fight how the cancer research dollars are being allocated.

This is the story that got me holding back tears as I read through it: http://www.upworthy.com/a-grieving-phoenix-mom-received-the-tribute-of-a-lifetime-from-taylor-swift?c=reccon3 The story of Ronan. A 4 year old that lost his battle to cancer. How f..ed up is that?! A happy little boy was deprived of his childhood. His mom was deprived of his childhood. Devastating. Unfair.

His mom, in all her bravery, decided to share their story via their blog:http://rockstarronan.com/ In her blog, she shares the ups and the downs; she shares the story of how/when they find out and their fight against f..ing cancer. Reading her blog is a lesson to all of us on what things should matter in life.

Because of their blog and their open and honest story, Taylor Swift got wind of it. Being the amazing person she is, she began following it. And after learning about Ronan going to heaven after losing his battle to cancer, she wrote Ronan a song (https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ronan-single/id560227510) and asked Ronan’s mom if she could perform it live in the SU2C concert in 2012. After being granted permission, she also shared with Maya (Ronan’s mom) that her blog had inspired the song and that she would like to add Maya as a Co-Author of the song; even the profits of the song will go to help the Ronan Thompson Foundation! You can take a listen here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2OF1S3iSI That was the first and only time Taylor would perform that song live until this past August when, during her 1989 tour in Glendale, AZ (Maya and Ronan’s hometown), she invited Maya and her family to come out. With Maya’s permission, she performed Ronan live for the second time ever. Here is her emotional performance from that night! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0sFiK6XeaA

Now you can understand how vulnerable I felt that day reading and digging more into the story. I could not stop thinking about Maya and Ronan. I could not stop empathizing with her and putting myself in her shoes and feeling my heart so heavy the more I read about it. I could not stop thinking about my kids; thinking about how helpless I am. How helpless we are when it comes down to cancer prevention, treatment, etc. How f..ing scary it is and how little I’ve done to raise awareness about it. So, here is the beginning of my contribution – sharing the story. And also, my promise to my kids that I will do my best to become an advocate for Childhood Cancer awareness. It’s the least I can do. I’d love it if you join me in this battle.

If you want to help, here are 5 ways:

Donate or volunteer to St Jude: https://shop.stjude.org/GiftCatalog/donation.do?cID=14262&pID=24671
Donate or volunteer to All Children’s: https://www.allkids.org/foundation/get-involved/volunteer-in-the-hospital
Donate or hold a stand from Alex’s Lemonade Stand: http://www.alexslemonade.org/
Download Ronan: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ronan-single/id560227510
Share this story.

God bless you Ronan and Maya. God bless every kid and every parent that is or has battled with cancer. God bless every cancer patient, cancer survivors and their families. God, please bless and protect my kids, my family and friends.

Childhood Cancer: You suck!

“I remember your bare feet down the hallway, I love you to the moon and back” – Ronan, Taylor Swift.

Childhood Cancer Facts:

Childhood cancer research is vastly and consistently underfunded.
Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 15 in the U.S.
One in 285 children in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer by the time they are 20 years old.
Every year, an estimated 250,000+ new cases of cancer affect children under the age of 20 worldwide.
Two-thirds of childhood cancer patients will have long lasting chronic conditions from treatment.
Childhood cancer occurs regularly, randomly and spares no ethnic group, socioeconomic class, or geographic region. In the United States, the incidence of cancer among adolescents and young adults is increasing at a greater rate than any other age group, except those over 65 years.
Childhood cancer is not just one disease. It is made up of a dozen types and countless subtypes.

CHILHOOD CANCER AWARENESS INFOGRAPHIC

SOURCE: http://www.alexslemonade.org/childhood-cancer-facts

Looking back, I consider I’ve been lucky throughout my career. I’ve worked at great companies with great accounts, had great teammates and had some great leaders/mentors. However, for the past 2.5 years, the agency I work with is just perfect for my family and me. Yes, of course there are tough days and crazy busy days, but those are few and far between and the fun and awesome moments outweigh the not-so-good ones by far! To sum it up, here are 3 reasons why I am thankful for my job and why I LOVE working where I do.

I get to be myself and do what I love

For those that know me, you know I am a pretty energetic person, in a good mood 98% of the time and probably a pain to deal with at times… At my previous agency, although I was able to be myself around my co-workers, there was this “corporate” feel to it and “playful” behaviors were frowned upon by some of the upper management team. I felt like I needed to watch what I said or did at times and did not feel I had a voice… Booooring… 🙂

At my current agency, that has never been an issue. My boss/owner of the agency embraces people’s personalities and has built an awesome team that allows everyone to be him/herself, while still working as a solid unit. In my experience, when people are free to be who they are and do not have to put up a façade, they work better, more freely, they enjoy being there and feel accepted, which in return yields efficiency and overall happiness.

Besides being able to be me, I get to do what I love- what I’ve wanted to do since I was in high school! I get to work in a fun and creative Ad Agency with awesome clients in so many different verticals! No day is the same, every client, every campaign presents a new, fun challenge and I never stop learning! I learn from my peers, from our clients, from new situations, and experiences and of course from data! 🙂 . Professionally, I could not ask for more.

My boss is a woman and a mother.

You have no idea what a difference this makes. I think of myself as a very involved father. My family means the world to me and I want to be a part of my kids’ daily lives as much as I can; I would never forgive myself if in 20 years I look back and wish I would have been more present. Nope. I refuse to let that happen and my boss not only knows it, but also shares my same beliefs and is sooo supportive of anything family.

In this era we hear claims of work/life balance and how employees need to support women in the workplace to allow them to spend more time with their kids. Not only that, but to be OK with it and not see their time with their families as a “weakness” or a “lack of commitment” to their jobs that could prevent them from professional advancement.

Although I am a strong believer that all of the above should apply to men as well (that’s a whole other post), I don’t have to worry about ANY of it because my boss is a woman AND she is a mother. She gets it! She practices it! She is very involved in her child’s life and has a very strong family foundation. So, at previous jobs when asking for time-off to go be part of my kids’ activities, or even Dr.’s appointments, although they rarely denied my requests, you could tell they did not like it and I had to do these things with a guilty feeling about it…. And that feeling sucked! Now? She is 100% supportive and in return she knows that I will work my butt off to meet any deadlines, deliverables and expectations. It has to be a give and take where every party benefits and wins from it.

So, to my above point, it probably would be awesome if more women were in top positions in Corporate America to build better workplaces, or we can hope that the new generation of involved fathers (which I know all my friends with kids share my beliefs) start taking over the big honcho roles because we get it. We love family/work balance and a happy working environment.

We have a team that believes in well being

As a team, we workout together at the local YMCA 2-4 times a week. We support and promote healthy eating habits, diet together, juice at the office, etc. We have a great support group that makes it so much easier to stay in shape and try to eat clean. We’ve all had days we don’t feel like going to the gym, but the team pushes us to go and once we are done with the workout we are so grateful we did it. It takes a village and we have a fun, healthy village.

For the above reasons and truthfully many others, I don’t take it for granted and I am thankful for my job! I hope everyone feels the same about theirs.

Happy Labor Day from our Happy Number 7!

Archives for September 2015

DEAR CHILDHOOD CANCER: YOU SUCK!

3 Reasons why this labor day, I am thankful for my job.