It's time to put aside my arguably unhealthy obsession with Boston sports and acoustic 50 Cent covers to talk about something much more important. I received an e-mail from my dear friend Kyle Eudailey yesterday, and upon reading it, I thought it important to share it with anyone taking the time to read this blog:
'PJ and the Nefarious Brain Tumor'
So I don't mean to send this email as a downer or even as a legit fund raising call, but I thought I would pass this along to you guys to maybe pass along to anyone you know who may be interested in supporting something truly worthwhile. As many of you know and a lot of you don't, one of my best friends from Medical School, PJ Lukac, had an incredible shock this winter, after several weeks of some very odd symptoms like being unable to understand certain words, hearing indescribable music, and brief seizures (which I can fully explain to you guys if any of you are interested), he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The most unfortunate part is that PJ was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of brain cancer (Stage IV GBM). The rarity of this in a healthy 23 year old is beyond what I can even describe to you guys in an email. The crazy shit is that PJs symptoms developed in the middle of our Neuropathology course while we were in the middle of learning about all of the horrible neurological defects that can present. Since December he has had the tumor removed and successfully tolerated radiation and his first round of chemo. PJ is in fact doing extremely well, as just a couple of weeks ago he made his first trip back to Columbia since he took leave. The even better news is that his first MRI since his treatment was negative which is truly incredible, that being said he is not out of the woods yet seeing as he has an MRI every 7 weeks to check for the return of his tumor for the next year or so.
The reason that I am writing everyone is that PJ and his family have done something incredible over the last couple of weeks. PJ has created a team of over 85 runners to partake in the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) 5K run this Saturday in Chicago (Pj's hometown) which I am participating in with several of my classmates. All I am really asking with this email is to forward this along to anyone who might be interested in helping, maybe if you or your family has every know someone with brain cancer or even cancer, let them know because I feel like this is a truly unique thing. While the money goes to support the research, the even more amazing thing is that this race has lifted PJ's spirits about everything. I also send this to you guys because PJ has been since the start of school one of my best boys and because of that I am doing everything I can to help him out, just like I would for any of you guys. I want to say again, I don't write this as a downer, it has actually been a real lesson in what is important in life, and that is friends and family. PJ is a great kid and people have rallied behind him because of that. He also happens to be as stubborn as you can be. PJ despite continuing chemo treatment still maintains he is going to kick my ass in the 5K and has been training non-stop, he plans to start neuroscience research at Northwestern this month, and he is determined, nay, will be back at school this fall to follow his recent decision to become a Neuro-oncologist.... aka badass. Did I also mention that our team, Team Peej is by far and away the biggest fundraiser by far for this event. Check out the link below for a pretty sweet article on him in the Chicago Tribune, actually you don't have to read it but please click on it to look at his picture..... he looks like such a badass.... I wish the caption read "Fuck you tumor."
Chicago Tribune Article
If you know anybody who would like to donate to the cause, here is PJ's link below:
RunPJRun
Also here is my page for the race... not quite as cool:
Kyle's Page
All the best,
-Kyle "I hope to be the love-child of Prefontaine and Jackie Joyner Kersee this weekend" Eudailey
There's nothing more to be said. Thank you Kyle for passing this along, and good luck to your entire team this weekend. Wish I could be there in person on Saturday.
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