Blood cancer is a disease that can hit any one of any age from any background. As KPRC2 and Eric Braate work to raise awareness and funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, a number of generous donors have come forward.  Today we thank Mike and Francine Riley who donated $10,000 to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in honor of Arthur “Artie” McFerrin who died in August at the age of 74 from leukemia.  McFerrin was a member of Texas A&M’s Class of ’65 and went on to be a well-known contributor to his beloved alma mater.  The McFerrin family’s financial support has helped with the construction of A&M’s athletic facilities and continues to benefit the campus to this day.  

For more on McFerrin’s legacy, please visit:  http://bit.ly/2z61hLL

Race week is here.  The training is over.  Now it's time to perform.  A 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike and a 26.2 mile run.

As I write this, my flight from Houston to Hawaii is just hours away.  I am on my way to compete in the IRONMAN World Championship Triathlon to honor the people shown here.  All have felt the blow of blood cancer.  Some survived.  Some did not.  Some are still in the fight for their lives.  And they are just a tiny fraction of the thousands and thousands of people in the U.S. devastated by these diseases each year.

I am competing in this IRONMAN, one of the most grueling endurance events on the planet, to raise awareness about blood cancers and to raise as much money possible to help fund research to find a cure.  I hope you will find it in your heart to join me in this effort.

This journey has been life-changing for me.  I have heard so many stories.  I have seen the physical and emotional toll blood cancer can take.  I have watched parents weep for their lost child.  I have listened to the sorrow in a person's voice, remembering a parent gone too soon.  I have sensed a mother's uncertainty, not knowing the outcome of her child's battle.  Hoping for the best but fearing the worst.  I have felt the gravity in my friend's voice as he expressed hope that the dollars raised in this campaign will lead to an eventual cure for his lymphoma, saving his life.

As I cover a total of 140.6 miles on October 14th, I will hold all of these people close to my heart.  I will ponder all the others that I have not met.  They are heroes in my mind.  They are stronger than I could ever imagine to be.

And, when I cross the finish line, I will do so to honor their strength, perseverence and grace.  Each and every one of them has shown me, in their own way, what it means to be an exceptional human being.  In doing so, they have helped to make me a better person.  And for that, I am eternally grateful.

Go Team!

The IRONMAN World Championship Triathlon in Kona, Hawaii, is only 33 days away.  My sights are laser-focused more than ever on crossing the finish line to honor those who's lives have been devastated by  blood cancer.  I do it for those who have died, those who are still fighting for their life, and those who have survived.  But now, I add my city and the rest of the Texas Gulf Coast to the list.

Needless to say, areas from Beaumont to Corpus Christi have been through a nightmare in the past three weeks.  Hurricane Harvey dealt us an unprecedented blow.  A blow that will linger in our hearts and minds forever.  My heart breaks for the individuals and families who lost everything in the flood waters.  It will take months, if not years, to recover from Harvey's ravages.

But we will recover.  We are strong.  We are resilient.  And we are united.

I am awed by the immediate and overwhelming swell of support not only from our friends and neighbors in Texas, but from every corner of our nation and beyond.  The unity in the wake of Harvey has been nothing short of spectacular.

Our focus as a community will continue to be on storm recovery.  Rightfully so.  But I cannot let my commitment to supporting blood cancer research end because of it.  In the wake of Harvey there are still leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma patients fighting for their lives.  Doctors will diagnose new cases today, tomorrow and the next day.  Work still needs to be done to end it.

Therefore, I will continue to tell stories.  I will continue to raise awareness.  I will continue to take donations for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to fund research to find a cure.  To all of you who have already donated, THANK YOU!  If you haven't donated, I would be truly honored to have your support in this campaign.

Harvey is an example of life throwing us a wicked curve ball.  Many of life's curve balls are out of our control.  But we can control how we react to them.  That said, I choose to forge ahead.  I choose to reach beyond Harvey's setback and cross the finish line in 33 days.  I have only one change of plan.  I will cross the finish line not just to honor those impacted by blood cancer.  I will also cross the finish line to honor my entire community.  To show the world that Houston may have been knocked down, but it will never be knocked out.

We are HOUSTON STRONG!

We're well under two months until the IRONMAN World Championship Triathlon in Kona, Hawaii.  It's approaching FAST and the sprint to the finish is on!

This journey has, undoubtedly, been the hardest thing I've ever done.  Training to complete a 2.4 mile swim in the open Pacific Ocean followed by a 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run through the searing lava fields of Hawaii's Big Island is tough enough.  Add to that a $140,600 fundraising campaign to support research to end blood cancers. . . plus a full-time job.  It makes my head spin.

Thankfully, I have people like Abdul Foster and the staff at Nine Innovations to keep me on track to cross the finish line strong.  Abdul and his team are fitness experts, at the top of their game.  They know how to prepare people to achieve and exceed their goals, whatever they may be.  They believe in the cause we are fighting for and are as committed as I am to make this journey a crushing success.

They are no strangers to success, either.  Take Abdul's little brother, Arian.  All-Star NFL player and Houston Texans legend.  Trained by Abdul to be better than the very best.  And he is just one example of the string of successes coming out of Nine Innovations.

Abdul and his team are managing my strength training to complement my endurance work. I feel the difference they're making in my training.  I'm stronger than I've ever been and I will be ready to race in Kona.

Now, I know I'm no Arian Foster.  I never will be.  But I must be the very best I can be to complete my goal.  To cross the finish line.  There is no other option.  My journey is too important to fall short.  Lives depend on it.  The lives of people threatened by blood cancers.  People I have met through the course of this journey.  People who don't deserve their fate.

Nine Innovations will help me get across the finish line in Kona.  I need YOU to help me cross the finish line of our fundraiser.  $140,600 is no small goal.  It's aggressive.  It's ambitious.  But we can make it.  Please take a moment to donate and help end the ravages of blood cancer.  I would be humbled and honored to have your support!

The IRONMAN World Championship Triathlon is just two months away.  I just completed my qualifying Half IRONMAN triathlon in Benton Harbor, Michigan, so I'm cleared to compete in Kona, Hawaii, on October 14th!  A 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run.  All for a great cause.

We at KPRC are teaming up with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training program to raise $140,600 for cancer research and patient financial aid.  And it's all focused around IRONMAN Kona.

The training is brutal.  Time-consuming, painful, exhausting.  But in the course of my campaign I have met families that have been truly devastated by blood cancer.  The devastation makes the pain I will endure for the next couple of months laughable.

One example:  The Lejeune family.  Amy and Boyce Lejeune lost their daughter, Paige, to leukemia in October.  After years of battling for their daughter's life, devoting every ounce of their energy to getting her better, they ran out of treatment options and Paige did not survive.  Now Amy, Boyce and their son, Jeremy, have to figure out how to live life without a part of themselves.  A task that continues to be a daily struggle. 

It's families like the Lejeunes that motivate me in this campaign.  There are countless stories like theirs.  Researchers are working tirelessly to make cancer deaths like Paige's a thing of the past, but we need your help to make sure the needed research keeps getting funded.  Please consider joining the fight by making a tax-deductable donation to our campaign to help save lives.  I would be truly honored by your generosity and your belief in our mission.