I was born 23 years ago to what would turn out to be two of the best parents ever in what was then, and still is today, one of the best places on Earth. Being raised in Austin I was exposed to about as much horizon broadening experiences as one could ask for in Texas. I moved to New York City after high school and had an amazing time there for what seemed longer than the four months I actually stayed. Being a 17 year old in Manhattan, living alone in a massive city where I had no family or friends, was my first little taste of life outside my corner of Austin. When I came back to start at UT the following year, I knew my return was only a visit. Since then I�ve clocked a lot of travel miles, from Iceland to New Zealand, and a have become enamoured with so many places I�d have to live a lot longer than I expect to truly appreciate them all. After I graduate I�m hoping to find my way back to the South Pacific, maybe for grad school, maybe just to be there.

My grandfather endured a long fight with liver cancer. He passed away when I was about 10, old enough to remember him, but unfortunately the bulk of my memories have to be supplemented by my family. I remember how the cancer took such a toll on Opa physically, to the point where my father was going up to Dallas every weekend to help him do everyday things. The real impact on me was to witness the effect my grandfathers illness had on my father. That was a peripheral effect of cancer I hadn�t considered, the pain and suffering that seemed to spread viscerally from my grandfather to my father.

Now I see a similar situation with several of my families oldest friends. What really scares me about cancer, and compels me to do something to end it, is what I have seen with my own eyes. The effect that cancer has on families and communities, the way the pain and sorrow spreads out until everyone who cares about a person stricken with cancer are afflicted themselves, is perhaps one of the most tragic and moving consequences of cancer. I hope that I can do something through this ride to give strength, compassion, empathy, love, and hope to those people whose lives have been affected by cancer.