YMCA Celebration

Jon and I have worked at the South Pasadena YMCA since 2006 (with a few brief hiatuses)! The YMCA has been more than a place of employment, it has been a place where we truly built community. It is a place where members rally together for morning runs, road races, hikes, classes, family fitness, camps, etc.

Two years ago, I started teaching a 5:30 am interval class. It was a new class and quickly developed a cult following (smile). After a few months, one of my faithful students shared with me that our class was giving him more than a workout. This class "community" was part of his healing--he had lost his 10 year-old son less than two years prior to a neuroblastoma. An integral part of coming out of his depression was stepping into this fitness class. Months later, a group of us from the 5:30 am class accompanied he and his wife at a St. Baldrick's pediatric fundraiser. We watched him hold a picture of his son, Abhay, in his hand as his head was shaved...

Words fail to communicate the tenderness in this experience...


Because the YMCA is a place of generosity and love, our friends and fellow instructors organized a week-long fundraiser to celebrate the end of Jon's cancer treatment. Hundreds of people bought shirts proclaiming "Dephouse Love" and wore them to fitness classes in Jon's honor. It was beyond humbling....

 This week we mulled over the notes, cards, and anonymous well-wishes and were overwhelmed with gratitude.  Friends we have known for years and strangers we have never met extended their hands in support...

The hardest part for Jon is integrating his old "life" with the fact he has/had cancer. There is no "evidence of disease", but he has to live with the treatment effects and the pending quarterly scans..It isn't something he can neatly tie in a box and "move on from"...

Jon is planning to use the funds from the YMCA fundraiser to ride 500 miles with the Pablove foundation this fall. http://www.pablove.org/pablove-across-america/

This cycling event raises money for pediatric cancer research and family support. This ride will be a chance for Jon to integrate his love of endurance sports with his cancer reality. We are are both open-handed to the ways in which Jon's story/life may serve other kids and families....and we are so grateful to our YMCA family for making this ride possible...

And a very heartfelt thank-you to our dear friend, Michelle Speers, for organizing the event....a lot of hands made it happen, but it was Michelle's heart that brought it together...love....love....