I always find it difficult to communicate in few words the abundance of both good times and bad that have shaped me into the man that I continue to become on this pilgrimage we call life. To suffer through the typical introduction of a college student... I am a Junior at the University of Texas double majoring in Religious Studies and Classical Civilizations and although I was born in Fort Worth, Texas, my parents left The States for Eastern Europe to work as missionaries when I was still young allowing me the privilege of growing up in Romania, Germany, and Hungary. I love football (soccer for all you confused people), cycling, playing the piano, reading and learning languages.

To move past the "meet you at an event once" introduction... The cancer that my grandmother and indeed our entire family endured for years up until the point she passed on from this troubled world profoundly shaped my life. I was left with a shattered optimism, a shaken faith, and a deep sense of despair. The loving God in whom I had believed so strongly all of my life was suddenly a cruel, uncompassionate being, if he even existed at all. My days were met with an unconquerable sense of futility as I had lost all hope in tomorrow. It was in this slough of despond that Help found me. I know that there are countless lives out there whose hope, love, and joy are being devoured by cancer as mine once was. I know there are many who are crying out at night asking, "Why me?" and ten times as many dying inside daily watching someone they love in pain and feeling utterly helpless not being able to assuage their loved one's anguish. Every man and woman who encounters this illness will no doubt suffer this grief, even anger, but none need think themselves alone. I will cross any desert, climb any mountain, and trek any distance to bring them the hope that joy does come in the morning.