The Tiffany Foundation Ballers against Breast Cancer

There is an organization that holds a special place in my heart. It is named after a beautiful woman who lost her life in 2006 at the age of 36, after a 5 year battle with Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC). If you've never read about IBC, I encourage you to take a couple of minutes to do so now (just click the pink link). IBC is an extremely deadly form of breast cancer, primarily because people do not know enough about it, so it often goes undiagnosed until it is too late. This is because symptoms of IBC are nothing like those of "the usual" breast cancer. Tiffany didn't know she had it and neither did the doctors until it was beyond curable. She was diagnosed at age 31. Young people get this type of breast cancer, too. By reading and gaining just a little knowledge about this type of breast cancer, you could save a life. Just saying.....

I would also encourage you to click on this link: The Tiffany Foundation and read about what an an incredible person Tiffany was and the full life she led until she no longer could. You will be amazed! It is an honor for me to even be associated with this Foundation, let alone having gotten to know Tiffany's family as I have had the pleasure to do over the past 2 years. 2 years ago, just a few months after my diagnosis, they held the first Tiffany Foundation Fundraiser and on that evening, gifted Dustin and I a vacation. We took that vacation to Maui this past March and like I said when I spoke at the event this year, that vacation was our restart button. I had completed treatment and was starting to feel like life was getting back to normal. It was just what we needed and I will forever be indebted to Tiffany's family for allowing us the opportunity to do something we probably wouldn't have been able to do, otherwise.

Below are two of my favorite pictures from that vacation. I wrote Tiffany's name is the sand on Wailea Beach outside of our resort and a black sand beach in Hana.





Tiffany was with me that entire trip and you could feel her presence everywhere a the third annual Tiffany Foundation Ballers against Breast Cancer. It's a great event, complete with food and drink, live music and both a live and silent auction that raises thousands for the foundation!

Tiffany's family (Husband - Ron, Brother - Ryan, Sister in law - Cory, Dad - Rowan and Mom - Paula)


They asked me to speak again this year and I was honored.


I presented Tiffany's parents with a picture frame of the two sand pictures from above.

Then, last years recipient (Julie), spoke. She is finishing up her treatments right before Christmas, just like I did last year. She's my girl!


And she introduced Mary Jo, this years recipient. Mary Jo is such a warm-hearted individual and I was so happy to get to know her. She has been fighting this disease for 17 years. WOW! She has an entire wing named after her at a local hospital because of her amazing contributions over the years. She accepted her award and announced that she is donating it to the hospital to develop a mentor program in which women who are newly diagnosed with Breast Cancer can be paired up with someone who has been there, themselves. It sounds like a great idea...something that would have been nice to have available to me when I was diagnosed.

Beth, Carolyn, me and Jen enjoying the evening.

Tiffany's favorite song was The River by Garth Brooks. The first year of the event, they played the song from a CD. Partway through, the song skipped. I guess it had never done this before. We all said it Tiffany trying to tell us how pleased she was with what we were doing in her honor. Last year and this year, they hired an incredible local musician to play at the event. Last year, he learned The River in 15 minutes, just by listening to it.

This year he played it for us twice. I don't know why, but it's such a special moment for me. I sway and sing to the song as if no one is there, reflecting on how fortunate I am to physically be standing there.

I didn't know Tiffany, but from what I do know of her, these lyrics seem to sum up how she lived her life. It would be a better world if we all lived as she did. Here are the lyrics:

Garth Brooks - The River

You know a dream is like a river
Ever changing as it flows
And the dreamer's just the vessel
That must follow where it goes
Trying to learn from what's behind you
And never knowing what's in store
Makes each day a constant battle
Just to stay between the shores.

(chorus)
And I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I'll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry.

Too many times we stand aside
And let the waters slip away
'Til what we put off 'til tomorrow
Has now become today
So don't you sit upon the shoreline
And say you're satisfied
Choose to chance the rapids
And dare to dance the tide.

And I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I'll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry.

And there's bound to be rough waters
And I know I'll take some falls
But with the good Lord as my captain
I can make it through them all.

Yes I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I'll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry.

Yes, I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
'Til the river runs dry