In May 2006 I was 42 years old, never been sick, and had been married for less than a year when the diagnosis came:  I had a Stage IV Hodgkins Lymphoma.  We had a few weeks to come to termS with the diagnosis, which meant preparing for the worse (making sure that our affairs were in order) and the best (banking sperm as the chemo treatment was likely to leave me sterile and we wanted a child).  After five months of a chemotherapy called BEACOP at Stanford, I was declared cancer free and that statement has held true ever since. Cancer was not something new to the family, my father went through Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma 20 years ago and a younger brother through Leukemia 10 years ago.  I saw both of them go through a brutal treatment which, while successful at beating the disease, left them with deep scars.  By comparison my treatment was a walk in the park, no doubt, the result of the massive progress yielded by the research funded by the Leukemia and Lymphoma society.  As I was going through chemo I met Paul and Judy whom introduced me to past honorees as well as the IronTeam. I had always been fascinated by extreme endurance events and promised myself that as soon as I was healed I would start training for an IronMan.  Fast forward to today … I have been lucky enough to stay cancer free, complete my first IronMan (Arizona in April 2008) and to top it all off Kerry and I have been blessed with a miracle baby, Colin is now 5 months and the joy of our lives. Words cannot describe the gratitude we both feel for what has been done by the many participants who contributed to raising money for Team In Training, almost a billion dollars since the program’s inception! Because actions speak louder than words, and with the blessing of my very patient wife, I signed up for the 2009 season with the selfish goal of completing another IronMan. There I will have the honor to repay what has been given to us and the desire to help the many that are/will go through a similar experience. Thank you, Christophe