Surviving cancer four times isn’t something I would wish upon anyone, but they say what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.

In 1998, at the age of 42, I was told the words that every person fears "you have cancer" colon cancer and it had spread to my lympnoiods. I didn’t ask, “why me God"? I didn’t plan my funeral or even write my will. In fact, it wasn’t a matter of “if” I was going to beat the disease that had taken both my parents only three years earlier; it was merely a matter of “when”. I spent the next six years in the fight of my life, surgery, radiation and multiple chemotherapy treatments. Through it all, I never lost hope. You see, in addition to my faith in God, I was very aware of the medical strides being made daily in the diagnosis and treatment of this once considered death sentence and I was going to be one of the success stories. After a long battle, I am proud to say I have been cancer free for over six years. The journey here has been full of struggles and losses but more importantly it is a story of strength and triumphs. So often we hear of only the tragedies associated with this disease, but thanks to organizations like the Lance Armstrong Foundation, more people like myself are surviving to tell their stories. One of the things that kept me going during my battle was my dream of living my passion again. Since my early twenties I had competed in several forms of motor sports. If it had wheels I wanted to race it and eventually found myself off-road racing in the deserts of Baja where man and machine are put to the ultimate test. But as my chemo treatments continued, the physical toll on my body prohibited the ability required to race for lengths of up to 30 hours through some of the toughest terrain on earth. For five years, surgery after surgery and chemo after chemo the disease returned to test me. But as the battle continued, the dream of someday getting back in the race car and racing in the deserts of Baja California kept me going. In 2004 I made my come back to racing. With the help of my friends and family, my dreams were realized by receiving the Toyota Milestone Award for finishing every mile in the SCORE Desert Series, a prestigious award only achieved by hand full of the thousands competing in the sport. With that accomplishment achieved, I turned my focus back to my career. For the last five years as part of the University of California Irvine Design & Construction team, we have just opened the doors of the newly constructed New University Hospital. It was a labor of love to be able to be part of the team providing the community with a state of the art hospital which will provide health care to thousands suffering from the same disease that nearly took my life. But the passion to race again calls, and for 2009 I have decided to race for something much more important than trophies or plaques to hang on a wall. This year I am excited to announce that I will be competing in several off-road events to raise as much money as possible for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. This great foundation and the Live Strong credo exemplify my personal message of hope and strength and with the help of my friends and family I hope to exceed my goal of $5,000. Please join us in supporting this effort by giving as much as possible so we will find a cure for a disease that touches so many of our lives.