The Bennett Cancer Center’s Annual Hope in Motion Cancer walk is an amazing, fun way to honor your loved ones whose lives were affected by cancer while also giving back to the community. Hundreds of people come out each year to bike, run, or walk for a great cause. Among these hundreds of people is my family.

In 2010, I lost my Grandpa – better known as ‘Poppy’ to my family – to prostate cancer. When he was diagnosed with stage four cancer in 2000, the doctors warned us that his cancer was aggressive. This news came as a shock to my family. My Poppy was the rock of our family, the glue; he was our go-to man for advice, and a father figure to his 12 grandchildren. He was a Marine who fought for his country as well as his family. His sense of humor filled the air of my Nina and Poppy’s house with the sound of his grandchildren laughing, which always made me feel at home.

My Poppy eventually lost his hair from chemotherapy and lost a lot of weight. He looked exhausted. It was scary to all of us to see him like that. Once the cancer spread to his bones and chemo and radiation weren’t working, the doctors suggested a new trial drug called Dexamethasone in 2008. This drug was our miracle. It gave my family two more years with the strongest man we know. This medicine gave us our last family vacation to Cape May with him, which will always be one of my favorite memories. He was even able to make it into the wavy waters and have enough strength to play with us in the water one last time. This medicine gave us one last Easter with him, when he felt well enough to get out of bed, go downstairs, and sit outside with his family for hours laughing and talking. Though there were also many bad days, these are the times I’ll remember the most.

My family has participated in the walk for five years now in honor of my Poppy, and in hope that all the other families get the extra time we did with our loved one. To everyone who participated in the Bennett Cancer Hope in Motion walk, my family thanks you for raising money that helped my Poppy live for ten years after he was diagnosed. With stage four aggressive prostate cancer, no one expected my Poppy to have a good quality of life for his last years, but he did because of the advancements in medicine only made possible by events like this walk. To everyone who doesn’t participate, please do; you never know what it could mean to someone and their family.