Vince's Journey

Now that the Olympics are over I'll try to be a little more consistent with my blogging. Given that they only occur every 4 years I try to take in as much of the competition as possible. The Vancouver games were very enjoyable but it was too bad the US hockey team couldn't pull off the gold medal win. At the same time, it probably meant a lot more to Canada to have their team win given they were the hosts; can you imagine how miserable they would have been had the Americans won - especially given the fact that the US tied the game with only 24 seconds left to play Nevertheless, the two US/Canada hockey games were among the best I've ever seen and both the Americans and Canada should be proud of how well they performed in the games.

It looks like Aaron is adding his top 50 movies to the blogsite - #'s 50 - 41 can be seen in the message to my previous blog from last week. Good start, Headly, and I'm looking forward to the rest of your list. Also nice to see you included Dog Day Afternoon and you're right; Sal's line about going to Wyoming was classic.

Today was the kick-off to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Man and Woman of the Year campaign. I've been involved with this event since 2003 and it looks like we have a wonderful slate of candidates for this year's event. We also have a very amazing young lady serving as our Girl of the Year. She's only 9 years old, is literally in the final week of her treatment for leukemia and she got up tonight and spoke like shes been attending Dale Carnegie classes since she was an infant. I've never seen a 9 year-old speak with such poise and command; truly an impressive young lady. Back when the LLS was founded about 60 years ago, children receiving a similar diagnosis basically had a life expectancy of less than a year; today we're able to cure close to 80% of these kids. That's the progress we've been able to make - but we're still not where we need to be. So if someone asks you to make a contribution to support the LLS (perhaps me, for instance) I hope you'll open your heart and (your purse or wallet) and help us put an end to all blood-related cancers. I assure you it will be one of the best investments you'll ever make.

Finally, I received some sad news this morning. Joe Dillhoff III, a donor from Xavier who I've had the pleasure to get to know over the past 11 years, passed away yesterday following a battle with bile duct cancer. I always enjoyed my visits with Joe and over the years he became more than just a Xavier donor, he was a friend. Joe was only a couple years older than I am and was very supportive of me when I was being treated for lymphoma. He was very upfront about his situation and despite the odds he was facing, always kept his sense of humor. Please keep Joe and his family - especially his wife Connie and their two children, Katie and Joey, as well as his parents (Big Joe and Phil) in your thoughts and prayers. Rest in peace, Joe, you will certainly be missed.