He's Real

In June 2006, the Rich family participated in the NSMC Cancer Walk. Before the walk, my sister Kelli wanted to have some team shirts made up, but we didn't know what slogan to use. Some of Dennis' initial suggestions were "Refuse to Lose", or "Get Up and Live Again", or "Got Hope?". Then Dennis said he had one more idea that really meant something to him, but probably wouldn't make sense to anyone else. He liked the slogan "Daddy's Real". When Kelli asked Dennis what that meant, he went on to explain:

After my 5th round of chemo, I was home recovering and feeling pretty rotten. The kids were in NH with their grandmother. When the kids finally came home, Elise came running into the living room and found me on my recliner. As always, she jumped up onto my lap and hugged me. Then, out of nowhere, she started touching my face with both hands, moving them up and down feeling my cheeks.
Then she just said to me, "Daddy, are you real?" It crushed me. It only took a second and I knew exactly what she meant. She's just so young and she was seeing so little of me during treatments that she honestly started to wonder if she really had a Daddy or if it was something she imagined.

After that email, it was decided "He's Real" was the best slogan because it meant something to everyone who was living their life and fighting cancer at the same time.

Dennis fought so hard for his girls. He loved them so much. They were his inspiration every day.