Medical Update & Mike Nosco Memorial Bike Ride

Finding fun in Houston

A few weeks ago Lora, Wilson and I headed to Houston, Texas to visit MD Anderson Cancer Center, which is at the forefront of colorectal cancer treatments and trials. While we were there, I got my scan results and did testing to get on their list for any upcoming trials that may be a good fit for me. There are a wide variety of trials opening up and a lot of them are focused on targeting a specific mutation or creating personalized treatments for a person's specific tumor. So that's great to hear! The scan results showed that after only four rounds of chemo, we've been able to keep the cancer from progressing (nothing new) and they don't seem to be getting larger. Although one always hopes that the spots will miraculously disappear and you'll be deemed NED (No Evidence Of Disease), that's a tall order. After my failed immunotherapy over the summer and the crazy progression we'd seen, I'm happy that we've been able to hit the pause button and I'm hopeful that if I continue on the chemo, we'll eventually see some of the tumors shrink. The current plan is to soldier through a few more months of chemo and scan again to see where we're at before attempting to jump on any trials. It's a plan that I'm happy with. I've been able to mitigate the side effects to a point where I know exactly when I'll feel bad and plan accordingly. We make sure that when the clouds lift, we're ready to get back out there and have fun, eat, travel, work, bike, play, etc. Last week I got off chemo and headed to Denver to speak at a Colontown event about Mountain In The Hallway and my adventure up the Grand Teton. From there I hopped a flight to Las Vegas to see Social Distortion (my favorite band!), with two of my best friends. Thank you Dave for lining up an epic experience and Tracy for making the last minute trip!

Giant Bicycles hooked Lora and I up with some new whips!

In other news, I've been chosen to be one of the seven beneficiaries of the 10th Annual Mike Nosco Memorial Bike Ride taking place this Saturday, November 3rd! I was originally planning on taking part in the full monty, which is about 90 miles and 9k of vertical climbing through the three major canyons east of Malibu. But after a few months of training, I've decided to ride with Lora and do the 48 mile option with 3,713ft of elevation gain. I'm currently into my fifth round of chemo and although I've been training pretty hard and I'm feeling good, I think it's best to enjoy myself and not get crushed before going back into treatments next week.

The Nosco isn't a race. So it's one huge peloton for 90miles.

The entire Mike Nosco crew couldn't be nicer, more generous and welcoming. Thanks to Jack Nosco, Tom Kattus, and everyone else at the Foundation, Kris Gross for encouraging us to apply, and Sean O'Brien and Giant for getting wheels under us for the ride and beyond! I'm really excited to meet everyone and roll down the most beautiful stretch of coastline with my sweetheart right there next to me! 

If you can't join the ride, but you'd like to still support, you can also donate through the donate link in the upper right corner of my website. Any donation through here goes directly to me and is fully tax deductible since they are a 501c3.