Fight Colorectal Cancer

If you are shocked to be reading this, just imagine how we feel! Layne is a seemingly healthy and fit 45 year old runner, yoga enthusiast, teacher, husband, father of twins...and soon we'll add "cancer survivor" to that list!

"What happened?" you ask. Well, after some ongoing issues (I'll spare you the symptoms...), Layne went in for a colonoscopy last Thursday. We were both joking around in the waiting room and recovery room (I'm sure you wouldn't be surprised there were lots of inappropriate butt jokes), because we thought maybe he had developed some digestive issues (think Celiac or Crohn's) in his old age, but nothing life-threatening. So I'm sure you can imagine we sobered up pretty quickly when the doctor very somberly explained to us that Layne has a large mass that he was pretty certain was a malignant tumor (and he was unfortunately correct).This past week has been a roller coaster of emotions (lots of laughing and our fair share of crying) as we have been navigating doctor's appointments, more tests and scans, insurance procedures, and how to tell our family and friends.

We won't say we "never thought this could happen", because we both know cancer is a non-discriminating disease that attacks the young and the old, the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor... But while we knew it could happen, we just never expected it actually would happen.

Layne is adamant that he doesn't want anyone's pity (because he is CERTAIN he's going to beat this thing!), but we would both welcome and appreciate your prayers and positive thinking right now! We'd also appreciate your humor to help keep our spirits up and our thinking positive! They say "Laughter is the best medicine" after all!

With that being said, Layne and I both feel better when we are DOING SOMETHING productive... So while we are waiting for the latest results, we thought it'd be fun to make a funny tshirt (because for some reason there aren't a lot of funny cancer tshirts!) that he can wear to doctor's appointments and treatments, use to spread awareness about colorectal cancer, and that our friends and family can wear to show their support!

When doing a booster campaign, you typically set the price point higher than the cost of the shirts in order to raise money. But since we aren't really trying to raise money for ourselves (just rallying support for #TeamLayne and raising awareness for colorectal cancer), I left the price point at what was suggested for the minimum order of shirts (which we’ve now far exceeded!). Please know that the extra money raised through these orders will go into an account for Layne’s treatment (we’ve been warned sometimes there’ll be unexpected medical costs that insurance won’t cover!). Then, whatever is leftover after he is CURED, we will pay forward through a donation to a colorectal cancer research/advocacy organization!

So, if you would like to be on #TeamLayne, please order your uniform now. Then when you get your shirt, please take a picture of yourself in it, post it on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Reddit/etc, and tag it #TeamLayne #FightCRC.

NOTE: If you live in Bloomington, or are willing to drive here, you can choose to pick the shirt up through me and save the $5 shipping fee.

(Oh, and I left the shirt generic as #FightCRC with no #TeamLayne so that you can share with anyone else you know who has had their own battle with colorectal cancer and maybe they can start their own #Team___ #FightCRC campaign!)

Thanks everyone for all of your awesome support! I hope to see a lot of blue pretty soon!!