[Music]
hey guys welcome back to my truck I am
currently on my way out to the country
to start another long hard uh training
ride as I prepare for pelonia I want to
take a moment to talk to you about why
it is that I'm riding in pelonia because
to be completely honest with you I
haven't always had a good reason or I
didn't always always know what my reason
was for doing this ride uh for those of
you that need a a refresher pelonia is a
very large uh fundraiser in central Ohio
to raise funds for the James Cancer
Research Center at the Ohio State
University uh where tens of thousands of
riders will get together and ride
courses of 25 50 76 and 101 miles uh
through Central Ohio basically from
Columbus up to Northeast of Columbus to
uh gambir Ohio uh small town up there
um when you think about pelonia and what
it actually is we talk about raising
money for cancer research um I don't
think people quite understand what it is
that you're doing and why you're raising
that money and that's the that's
honestly the situation that I was in
last year or the perspective that I had
last year uh last year when I rode
pelonia I want to be completely honest
with you I I was riding for almost
purely uh selfish reasons uh the reason
I was riding in pelonia last year is
because I wanted to prove to myself that
I was capable of doing it I wanted to uh
set out set a goal uh get my bike out
get my bike all fixed up get training
and prove to myself and prove to the
world that back then at the age of 43
years old I could still just get on a
bike and go for a 100m ride and I could
I could do all the things necessary
to um to train for that get myself in
shape for it and kind of show everybody
look if I can do it then you can do it
too uh and by the way we were raising
money for charity um and I was very
proud of my efforts I think we raised
about $33,000 last year it was a a very
good showing but it wasn't until very
recently that I actually realized why it
is that I'm riding why why is it
important to go out and do these rides
and all these trainings put yourself
through the amount of in that I'm
putting myself through to not only uh
complete the course but kind of complete
the course with an honorable time
because that's really my goal here um
and then I was scrolling through my
Instagram the other day and I saw a post
by one of my my old high school
classmates um and her name is Haley and
I want to talk to you about Haley for a
minute here uh Haley hey guys I
apologize but I need to interrupt the
video real quick for a correction uh
this video was really difficult for me
to record um it's a very emotional
experience I've got a lot of things
going through my head and while all of
those things were going through my head
the wrong pronunciation of hi's name is
the thing that got stuck in my head um I
sent this video to hie for approval
prior to posting it online and she
reminded me that her name is not Haley
but it's hiy like Sally so from this
point on every time you hear me say
Haley like Haley's comment remember it's
actually hie like Hal Berry now back to
the video
leave for a minute here uh Haley was a
good friend of mine growing up we went
to uh Church functions together family
functions together we went to school
together all the way through high school
I graduated a couple years ahead of her
um she ended up joining the Army just
like I joined the army later on in her
career she just chose to become um a
commissioned officer in the Army she now
heard holds a captain's Commission in
the Army uh couple months ago I saw a
post by her that really kind of struck
me down to the core and I want to talk
to you about that post right now and I
think what I'm going to do is I'm going
to read it off camera so that you can
hear it clearly but it was the the post
that she made where she announced the
world that she unfortunately has been
diagnosed with
cancer in the blink of an eye your
entire life can
change 3 weeks ago I was planning a huge
life change I sold my home and was about
to re relocate to Fort Liberty North
Carolina to pursue my career as an
active Army duty
officer a week later I was diagnosed
with stage 4 cancer I'm still processing
everything but my family has been
wonderful as we start to navigate this
uphill battle I didn't realize my gym
training personal challenges and gains
would be put to this test but now I know
what was motivating me to become the
healthiest strongest version of myself
self my daily gains gym post will be
replaced with a different kind of
progress update as I take on the
greatest test of my strength Body Mind
and Spirit if you're the praying type
please do so for me Annabelle and the
rest of my
family also
cancer so my friend Haley over the years
I've been friends with her forever and I
follow her on Facebook and Instagram
and she started a thing a couple years
ago where unfortunately she had put on a
little bit of weight and was determined
to lose that weight get back in the
shape that she'd always been because the
Haley that I know was always uh slender
and athletic she ran uh 10 Mile runs
half marathons and and all of that sort
of thing that was the Haley I knew and
that was the Haley that she knew as well
she started posting these uh daay D
daily gains train uh posts where you
know she was uh showing that she was
making gains that she was losing weight
she was getting back to where she was
she was feeling good and then
unfortunately one day she was diagnosed
with cancer and her daily gains trains
post I took a different tone and I saw a
post from her the other day that really
struck me and this is kind of really
where I'm getting at uh today it was one
of her her posts as she's talking about
her cancer treatment and I want to put
the picture up here um this is a post
where I mean it dawned on me that she
had cancer that she has a long road
ahead of her that she's going through
something very difficult very
challenging um I can't imagine I
absolutely cannot
imagine the amount of uh stress and fear
that she's dealing with on a daily basis
and the amount of Courage that it
takes to to make these posts and to
continue to continue to get up every day
um be a mom to her daughter and do all
of the things that she has to do and
when I was reading this post I saw she
mentioned her her team with James and
that's when it really dawned on me that
the money that I'm raising when I ride
in pelonia the the purpose for all this
isn't just this like uh Anonymous raise
money for cancer research or to fight
cancer or as everybody says cancer
um the reason that I'm writing in
pelonia and that I'm trying to raise
money is for my friend Haley um she's
not just an anonymous face an anonymous
person out there a uh a nameless
faceless Cancer Victim uh this is my
friend
Haley um somebody I've known for the
majority of my life uh a good friend of
mine a good Soul a
patriot and a mom
when I'm riding in pelaton and
I'm using this as a fundraiser to send
money to the James Cancer Research
Center what we're actually doing is
we're spending some of our money to help
her treatment and not just her treatment
but help her be more comfortable in her
treatment and make
this this incredibly difficult disease
to fight
um we're we're doing everything we can
to make it as easier on her as possible
to make her as comfortable as we as
possible while she goes through this
process to give her the absolute highest
percentage chance of success um so
when now when I'm riding for pelonia
when I'm out here training and I'm going
through this suffering
um when I get to the hardest parts I'm
going to remember my friend
Haley and everything that she's going
through and how this very small thing
that I'm doing is very incon
insignificant compared to the struggles
and challenges she's facing on a daily
basis uh
so that's why I'm writing a pelonia this
year I just ask
everybody everybody that's watching this
video um if you can please go to pelonia
go to just go on Google type in
pelonia uh type in first responder up in
the search bar I think I have a little
animation to show you this uh first
responder up in the search bar you'll be
brought to my team uh you can donate to
me if you've already if my donation site
is already full please donate to one of
my teammates um help me and my friends
as we have our mission to raise money to
help people like
[Music]
Haley thank you for your
support I'll talk to you later
[Music]