Riding for Roses

Spencer was in at the oncologist today with our Discovery Network entourage to tape some of it. Unfortunately, his complete blood count was not everything we hoped. His absolute neutrophil count is 300 which qualifies as severe neutropenia, and means he is at high risk for a bacterial infection. We are going to go ahead and have him attend the first day of Tour Watch but we’ll have to keep him home at least until July 8 and maybe another week. In order to attend the Tour Watch, we have anti-bacterial precautions in place

Today is my second day with a crew from the Discovery Network filming a show about Lance Armstrong fans that will air (in September is the current plan) on the Travel Channel. They first got hooked up with me through this blog and I’ve gotten them in touch with Tour Watch 2005 to do some shooting there. Come join us at Central Market North any time during the day from July 2-24 (rest days July 11, 18) to view the Tour de France, podcast, relax, read books about cycling, and learn about the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Founded in 2001 by two child life specialists with pilot funding from the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Austin-based Wonders and Worries provides an array of therapeutic activities geared toward children, youth and families coping with chronic or life-threatening illnesses. They offer counseling, therapy sessions for children who have parents with cancer, training classes in child parent relationships (filial therapy is the official clinical name for the technique), and other services.

Sometimes odd things come from blogging. Two serendipitous contacts due to my blog have somewhat snowballed. The first, which I have mentioned before, is the Tour Watch 2005 Tour de France viewing event at Central Market. It will include large screen viewing of the Tour, interviews with local cycling fans, interviews with people at the Tour, opportunities to create your own podcast, cancer surivor information, fundraising for Spencer’s Ride for the Roses, and other stuff to be announced. The second is stranger and yet related. The Discovery Channel is sending a filming crew to Austin and they want to follow me around for a couple of days and film “typical” activities.

Today was one of those awesome breaks from routine that make life a lot easier. I volunteer at the Lance Armstrong Foundation and today was another picnic for the LAF staff and volunteers.

K-EYE news anchor Allison Smith came out to Central Market on Thursday to do a story on the Tour Watch 2005 Tour de France viewing event. The story airs on K-EYE Sunday Morning News at 10 AM June 26.

My five year old son, Spencer, conned me into agreeing to help him raise $25,000 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation by riding 40 miles in the Ride for the Roses this Fall. It turns out the ride weekend is October 21-23, 2005, and October 22 will be Spencer’s one year anniversary of his diagnosis with [...]

Austin is getting ready for the Tour de France. Tour Watch 2005 is at Central Market every riding day during the Tour de France from 8 AM to 9 PM. It will include Tour watching, interviews with local folks, remote feeds from France, podcasting, 24 Hour Fitness excitement, Trek drink tastings, and a Lance Armstrong Foundation table.

As of right now, Spencer has $3,656.13 and we need to reach $3,750 in fundraising by 6 AM tomorrow. That puts him halfway to the low goal of $7,500. Please help today by making a small donation to support cancer survivors and help Spencer reach his goal of raising $25,000 before he celebrates his one year cancer diagnosis anniversary.

We had a National Cancer Survivors Day celebration this afternoon at Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church. Thanks to more volunteers than I can name, it came off beautifully. We had basic summer picnic food with salads, potato salad, cole slaw, hot dogs (and tofu substitutes for the vegetarians), and several desserts. We had face painting, [...]