Relay for Life

Just before Christmas last year, a very good friend of mine, Ron Wilcox, was lost to cancer after a long struggle. He was my photo professor during my undergrad and helped me to appreciate not only the art of photography, but also the importance of going the extra mile to make something as good and high quality as it could possibly be. We became good friends and stayed in constant contact after I graduated. We also became Netflix buddies: we would often go to each other's houses to watch obscure movies or old classics. His sense of humor was what I'll remember him for most, though. There wasn't a pun he didn't know, and he was lightning-quick with them.

After a long spring and summer in chemo treatments, and finally surgery, everything seemed to have gone perfectly. Ron was gaining his strength, in great spirits, and looking forward to all the activities that he was hoping to be doing before the cancer hit, including making a grand trip of Asia, where he had made many friends in the Peace Corps years ago. Then a few weeks before Christmas his cancer returned and it spread more quickly than anyone could anticipate. When he called me a week before he died I didn't realize how bad it was, that he was actually going through his entire list of friends, spending hours upon hours on the phone because he knew the end was coming. The next thing I knew he was gone.

I say all this to finally say something not very eloquent but damned true: cancer sucks. I hate it. I want to destroy it before it gets to anyone else I hold dear (I just learned that one of my aunts has cancer now too). I've done Relay for Life for the past few years, but now it holds extra meaning. If you wish to donate to the cause, please go to the following link. Thanks.

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/kevingray

And, here's a link to some of Ron's work. "Me and my RC" will always be a classic to me. :)

Ron Wilcox