Please take the time to read this personal story below and donating to the chapter's efforts to raise money for The V Foundation by clicking here.
Delta Chi Brothers-
Earlier this week I noticed a message to the alumni about the undergraduate chapter’s participation in various activities throughout the month of November to raise money for cancer research. Each year around this time, we watch videos of Jimmy V., Craig Sager, and Stuart Scott (to name a few) and listen to their iconic speeches about their journey with cancer. These hallmark speeches of perseverance and gratitude so eloquently describe the need for cancer research.
While lacking in eloquence, my intention with this email is to make the need for cancer research more personal and relevant to those of us who current live in, have previously lived in, or cherish the idea of Unit D (or Diemer) in Warrensburg.
Many of you have loved ones who are impacted by cancer. In fact, the statistics prove that some of you are likely battling it right now. I have been actively battling colorectal cancer now for more than three years, though my doctor’s believe it actually started growing in my body at age 18 or 19 - around the time I was initiated into Delta Chi. Since my diagnosis in September 2014, I have been through 50 treatments of chemotherapy, 30 treatments of radiation, have had at least eight surgeries that I can remember, and am now being treated at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Yet, despite all of these interventions and brilliant minds working on my case at Mayo, cancer continues to grow in my body at a rapid pace. My cancer is now at stage four and – like my health - the treatment options available to me are rapidly deteriorating.
To be blunt, this is not acceptable. We need better research. We need better treatments. We need your support.
To the alums reading this message – thank you. Thank you in advance for supporting the undergraduates in their pursuit of raising money for The V Foundation. If you have the means to do so, consider meeting the undergraduate’s challenge for No Shave November. I will.
To the actives reading this message – thank you. Keep growing your beards, camping on the university lawn, or whatever you feel is necessary to support cancer research organizations like The V Foundation. It is significant, regardless of how much money you raise or do not raise. Money aside, I can tell you it means a LOT to my wife, my three daughters, and me that you are taking the word philanthropy seriously and putting it into action. Your collective efforts are yet another reminder to me that our brotherhood lasts far beyond graduation.
To everyone - the best way to fight cancer is to educate yourself about its various forms and symptoms, and more importantly to understand that early detection will save your life. Listen to your body. Would I be in the situation I am in right now had I listened to my body and not dismissed the blood in my stool to bad Chinese food? Maybe. Who knows? Regardless, one thing is for sure, doing nothing about it did not help my situation then, nor is it helping my situation now. Instead, my hope is that it might help yours.
I.T.B.,
Mike Loehring
Central Missouri ‘03
