Red's Daily Dish

Video Blog.mov

2011-01-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.mygazines.com/issue/22473/62

2011-01-11T19:39:00.001-07:00

http://www.mygazines.com/issue/22473/62

Avenue Calgary did a story on me for there Jan.2011 Life Section. Check it out, it talks about my book, young adult cancer and what I am doing today.

Darren

Coach Red 1.mov

2010-09-07T13:24:00.000-06:00

Cancer Memory

2009-09-16T19:36:00.000-06:00

How come so many of us can’t find the humor when life throws us a curve ball? We all know that it’s not always going to be fastballs and we have to be able to re-adjust and learn how to hit a curve ball! Why is it, when telling others your own curve ball story that they can’t react to it in a positive way? Case in point, it was late summer 2004, I was in month 13 of my 24-month treatment protocol for acute lymphocytic leukemia. My blood counts were rising to the point where it wasn’t a huge risk to be able to interact with the general population without fear of catching a bug. I was grocery shopping and loving the fact that I felt NORMAL!! While waiting in line at the check out, I struck up a conversation with the lady in front of me. She was a well dressed woman in her mid- fifties and we started our chit chat session with the infamous ground breaker – “ so how about this crazy weather.” On this particular day, the rain had FINALLY stopped after being drenched for the better part of 4 days straight. Many homes had flooding in their basements and I asked her if she was a lucky one or an unlucky one. She replied that her house was fine and I said we were unscathed as well. We shared some idle chitchat about the rain and then it was time for the million-dollar question, “ so what do you do for a living?” Then she asked right after this, “are you on a day off today?” I quickly replied back, “no, not on a day off”. Being the gentleman that I am, I said to her, “what do I do … well, ladies first.” She said that she has always been a housewife and loves being a grandmother/babysitter to her daughter and son-in law’s two girls while they’re embarking on their own careers!! I said good for you, I know my parents can’t get enough of their grand kids and they have thirteen of them, and three quarters of these kids ARE CRAZY I joked as we both laughed!! Then she asked me the 50 million dollar question, SO WHAT DO YOU DO? I told her that my background is in sales but recently I switched careers and went to work in the oil patch as a well tester. Then she asked if I was on days off, to which I replied, “ Well, it’s more like I’m taking some time off.” Then she said, “Oh, good for you, are you thinking about going to school?” Then I thought for a second and said to her, “ no, I’m actually just past my first year of two for treatments for cancer, I have acute leukemia.” WELL, you should have seen the look on her face!! This lady, who just a short five minutes ago we were having a fantastic conversation, turned her back to me very quickly and she looked like she just saw a GHOST!! For a second I was kind of taken back and thought – WHOAH, what just happened here? Prior to this encounter, I was feeling SO PROUD of myself for being able to be well enough to co-mingle with all of the NORMAL FOLK and then BAM, this happens. What did I do? Where did I go wrong? Why did she do that? Did I forget to brush my teeth? Maybe I should buy some gum!! What a freaking beotch!! These were just a few of the thoughts that quickly raced through my mind. For the next two minutes in line, which felt like hours, there was this awkward quietness between this lady and myself. It was as if she had tunnel vision and could only look straight a head of her!! After she went through the checkout, she couldn’t grab her bags fast enough and all she could say to me, in passing and very quickly was, “ YOU POOR POOR MAN, GOD BLESS YOU,” and like a ghost, she vanished!! I’m known for my sense of humor and, sometimes – much to my wife’s dismay, I can go a little over the top with it. I stood there, half cursing and half laughing, scratching my bald head and thinking, “what the hell just happened here?” I got my groceries, got into my car and did a mental re-hash of this past experience and I laughed my ass off the entire distance of the trip back home!! That wasn’t the first time I’d experienced peoples ignorance in regards to cancer and it certainly won’t be the last!!

Which brings me to my point. How can someone who hasn't been through cancer,whether personally or through a loved one, really know what it is we have been through? Here is the answer to that question - JUST ASK SKIPPY!!! For he most part, we don't mind talking about our experience so rather than walking out of our lives - stick around and stay for the ride. Do yo know how many times I had friends, the ones that cared to stick around, call me later in my treatments and apologize as to why they haven't called/emailed or whatever sooner? Quite a few and their reason as to why they didn't do so was because they didn't know what to say!My response to them was - " you could start with HELLO - and then throw in - YOU'LL DO ANYTHING FOR SOME TIME OFF WON'T YOU". This was a nice ice breaker for them and it showed that yes - I have cancer, but I'm still the same dude you knew pre- cancer. So, if you ever want to know what it's like to go through the shock of hearing those dreaded 3 words, and not, " HERE'S YOUR SON" a little humor, I couldn't resist, YOU HAVE CANCER and the treatments that went with those words - just ask people, just ask!

Til Next Time.

Darren

Cancer Survivor Book

2009-09-11T12:51:00.000-06:00

Hooray Treatments Are Over! NOW WHAT?

2009-09-01T11:08:00.000-06:00

GOLF ITCH

2008-02-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had one of this hard to get at itches? You know the ones,they strategically place themselves in an area of your body that are neither reachable by hand or foot.You find an object to satisfy the itch, whether it's a wall or some obscure looking kitchen utensil that you swear to God was made for that very reason!!
I have an itch and this one can only be satisfied by a round of golf!!! I love living in Southwestern Alberta for one simple reason. While the rest of us Canadians are digging out the snowbanks or wearing their parkas because of bone chilling temps, we are loving our chinook powered climate and REELING in excitement because OUR SNOW IS ALL GONE - NA NA NA NA NA NA!!!! I liken the weather in Lethbridge to Vancouver MINUS the rain. For many golf enthusiasts living in my neck of the woods the desire to go away for a winter golf vacation isn't a high priority as say for someone in my home province of Saskatchewan. Fact is, we have one Par 3 course that only closes on Christmas Eve & Day. I've been to the driving range twice already and CAN'T wait to hit the links in the next couple weeks. To add to my excitement is my brand new driver, a Nike Sasquatch Sumo Squared!! This monster has a head the size of a small childs, man you could literally pick up a kid by his ankles and swing him like a club - this thing is MASSIVE!! The only problem I'll have now is finding courses long enough for my tee shots, maybe I should look at playing on AIRPORT RUNWAYS!! I'm kidding, but if you couldn't feel the excitement in my words here you better check your pulse.I played my first round last year around the middle of March and it looks like it will be the same again this year. I love calling back home after my first round and usually ask them if they had fun shovelling snow , and oh yeah, by the way, I shot 83 today!!! My golf buddy Ray and I will be hitting the range a little more often in the weeks to come and I'll take a picture of us on the first tee, with big 'ol grins on our faces! I liken myself to a bear, I go into hibernation mode for the winter and once the temps consistently hit +5 or better, I wake up my clubs and look forward to March.
My itch is being satisfied right now by Tiger Woods golf on my playstation and will be quickly relieved by the opening of our courses in the next few weeks!! Two more sleeps until March.

I look FOREward to showing my pics!!

Darren

Life's Too Short!!

2008-02-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

I'm going to do that one day!! If I had the money, I'd TOTALLY buy that!! We should have lunch soon!! I'll see you the next time I'm around!! How many times have we been guilty of saying that? I know that I'm guilty of that at least once a week. Great intentions + no actions = STATUS QUO. It's like a safety meeting - nobody moves- nobody gets hurt!!I remind myself everyday what it is that I want to accomplish with my life and I'm NOW finally starting to take action and, even though they're baby steps, I'm stepping off of the procrastination bus!!I'm not sure if you're familiar with a great gal Kriss Carr,she's a fellow cancer survivor who has an incurable cancer and made a documentary and wrote a book called Crazy Sexy Cancer. She has a great quote on the homepage of her website and it says - Why, when we are challenged to survive, do we give ourselves permission to truly live? Isn't that so true? How many times have you talked to a survivor of an illness,serious accident,crazy addiction etc., have you heard them say - "dude, you gotta take the time to stop and smell the roses" or "slow down and enjoy the view". I'm 100% guilty of that as well. When I was going through my treatments for leukemia and was SO BLESSED to be at the golf course and actually GOLFING- I shot like 60 in nine holes and I said "I don't care, it's a beautiful day, the sun is shining and look how beautiful this course is with it's nature filled back drop. B.S. - I shot 60 - are you kidding me!! Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful to be alive and to be able to continue on with my great passion for the game of golf, my point is WHY do we have to have something terrible like cancer to make us re-adjust our sails? Life is too short and it was a serious wake up call for me back in August 2003 when I was kicked in the nuts and told " YOU HAVE CANCER" - I was only 34 years old for pete sake!! We get so wrapped up in all of lifes other B.S. that we forget to keep living and do the things we're passionate about. You receive daily reminders about why we should start chasing after our aspirations and yet we keep jumping back on that big fat procrastination bus with the destination heading to NOWHERES LAND!!! My biggest wake up call came in the form of a cancer diagnosis and STILL needed other reminders to get me the hell off of that bus. The final kick in the ass came today, and this wasn't just a kick, it was a full pledge flying kung fu Mo Fo kick square in the middle of my ass and I'm totally off of that bus full of like hasbians!! A very good friend of mine and my older brother's BEST FRIEND, passed away today at the age of 47, 47, are you fricking kidding me!! Leaving behind his wife and son & daughter in law.His name is Marcel Cancade and we affectionately called him Cito. He died from complications during heart surgery and has left a huge hole in all of our hearts - GOD BLESS YOU CITO!!! WHY,WHY and WHY do we have to have something so incredibly shitty like this to happen to keep giving us remimders - screw reminders, wake up calls, as to why we need to stop thinking about it, and like Nike says - JUST DO IT!! I have, for the first time, graciously accepted the position of CEO of this great company called MYSELF and I won't stop until I have reached the upper echelons of my life and the sky is the limit as per how far that will take me!!

We all have passions and desires that are ALWAYS burning inside of us, don't wait for the perfect moment or the proper time, because we don't truly know how much time we have!! Live your life to the fullest today, and go to bed rested so you have energy to do the same thing again tomorrow!!

Until tomorrow,

Darren

Cancer, me, noway!!

2005-12-16T11:54:00.000-07:00

Cancer, me, no way!!

August 5/2003, D-Day.That was the day I was officially diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia and the day that I totally thought my life was over. I remember the 2 doctors took my wife and I into the "QUIET ROOM", and it was there that they gave us the final diagnosis.When they said the words Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia or ALL which is the shorter most common term for it, it was like my soul left my body and took a seat beside me for what seemed like forever,but was probably only a couple seconds, and I remember breaking the two main words down like, okay -acute, that doesn't sound real good and then leukemia, s##t I'm DEAD!!!! Obviously, the latter never happened!! If you go back a little as 10 years ago, whenever you heard the phrase cancer or so and so has cancer, you automatically assumed their dead, right!!! Cancer was such a taboo topic back then, but unfortunately because of the huge increase in cancer diagnosis in the past 2-5 years, it isn't such a forbidden topic anymore and I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing!!When the doctors went over the treatment protocol with us they told us to prepare to put at least one year of my working life on hold, probably more like 2 but we could decide after the first year as to how I am doing. They said I will be on a 2 year chemo and brain radiation protocol and that we are going to get started A.S.A.P., and where in this time frame am I allowed to breathe??? That was exactly what happened, I was assigned a room on the cancer unit and then was whisked away for a dayfull of MRI"S ,cat scans, x-ray, and down to nuclear medicine to have a central line put into my chest,2 or 3 different heart things to see if I was well enough to handle high doses of chemotherapy, and then back to my room for blood work and then chemo, not bad for day one of finding out you have leukemia!!! and how was your day!!!!!Looking back on the past 2 years now I have total respect for each and every cancer patient, survivor and those strong brave souls who didn't survive this monster!! Living with cancer was hard,at times painful, draining on all emotions and capabilities and very draining on our finances, and as strange as this may sound to you, it was the second best thing that ever happened to me(my wife is the first best thing). Cancer has shaped me into the person that I always wanted to be but was afraid to come out the shell all the way and be this person. I have no fear and there is nothing I can't /won't do if I set my mind to it. I have a fire in my belly, and its not from radiation lol, that will never burn out.I have come to figure out what it is I am supposed to be doing with my time on this beautiful place we call earth and I embrace everyday and smile so dam much that my jaw hurts all the time!!!So don't have pity on someone you may know who has or had cancer, we have enough days on our own when we feel this way(once and a while), rather give them a big smile or heck give them a hug and tell them that they are an inspiration to you on how the human spirit should be.Remember, CANCER IS NOT A DEATH SENTENCE!!! and for me I live by these words;I MAY HAVE HAD CANCER, BUT IT NEVER HAD ME!!

TAKE CARE,

RED