This blog has been established for those of you who love and care about my brother, Dennis M. Rich. Dennis battled sarcoma for over two years. His strength and courage is truly inspiring. This is a piece of his story.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Inspiration
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
The Relay for Life in June 2006 was such a great experience. In less than 2 months "Team Rich Construction" raised over $10,000 and more importantly had a huge amount of Dennis fans walking the track at Wakefield HighSchool for 24 hours straight. Dennis was overwhelmed with all the love and support he recieved that night. I will never forget the fun we had barbecueing with all his friends and family and the crazy talent show at midnight- all the guys put on construction hats (a few were in indian headdresses) as they danced infront of the judges to the YMCA- I figured it went well with the team name Rich Construction.. you know construction workers... confession- ( me and Jodi missed the Relay for life meeting that instructed us that our team was to present a "cancer related" theme at midnight madness!) We realized it as we were lining up with the other teams and Dennis noticed the team infront of us was all dressed in togas and they were carrying tiki torches. In typical Dennis fashion he started chatting up with the team and asked them "whats your talent" They turned to us and said "we are pretending to be the cast from surviver and we are voting cancer off the island. I think at that point Jimmy and Donald jumped out of line with us and declined to dance! Dennis in his joking way kept razing me saying " nice mess you got us into Janie, I guess you missed that meeting!" All along he knew that he was going to make this embarrassing situation work for us. He was giving choreography lessons to his guys in line. So there was Dennis looking as handsome as ever as the team leader dancing like crazy leading his crew. He got all his guys going wild and they wowed the crowd. He was SO excited when the WHS football team that was there crashed in because they wanted in on the fun. He boasted all night about how all the "young" guys joined them. The judges were talking about it all night and ofcourse our team got "Best Dance" the next day at the award ceremony. I did later find out that it was a new category added that year given our situation. He loved that night, we had such a huge turnout. He loved seeing his mother and father, mother and father inlaw, sisters and husbands, cousins and friends all there pitching in. He was so proud watching his mom and dad taking turns walking the track in his honor. When it was his turn to take his victory lap he carried both Alana and Elise on his shoulders the whole way while his #1 supporter Jodi carried baby Mia. I still get chills remembering how we all stood as a group screaming and cheering as we watched Dennis, Jodi and the girls pass us. There wasn't a dry eye in our crowd. What an incredible family. I hope that we all can come together again like Jimmy suggested and raise a ton of money for cancer research. In Dennis' honor I say we all dance the to the YMCA again!!
I miss you Dennis! Katie has a song playing about wanting to go home and I wish you could. Maybe you are home and we will all be home with you someday. Mary
We all had such a great time at the Relay for life in July 2006 with so many family members and friends. Dennis and I really thought we had his cancer beat. Then to find out it would return in October of 2006.Dennis's over 2 year battle with cancer was amazing to witness. Dennis never felt sorry for himself. Instead he stay positive and fought harder, more than anyone I know.Through the last 2 years of cancer, it took so much from Dennis and me and the girls. A few things it did not take was Dennis's mental strength, love for life, and love for his family and friends. Even in his passing I still feel all of those things. I will not let cancer take those things away from me and my family. I feel like they were lessons that Dennis left for me to live by.It was his gift to me and the girls. Nothing could ever be strong enough to take that away.So you see in my eyes Dennis never lost his battle with cancer. They never got his spirit, mental strength, love for family and friends, and his love for life. The girls and I love you and miss you so much. Love Jodi
3 comments:
The Relay for Life in June 2006 was such a great experience. In less than 2 months "Team Rich Construction" raised over $10,000 and more importantly had a huge amount of Dennis fans walking the track at Wakefield HighSchool for 24 hours straight. Dennis was overwhelmed with all the love and support he recieved that night. I will never forget the fun we had barbecueing with all his friends and family and the crazy talent show at midnight- all the guys put on construction hats (a few were in indian headdresses) as they danced infront of the judges to the YMCA- I figured it went well with the team name Rich Construction.. you know construction workers... confession- ( me and Jodi missed the Relay for life meeting that instructed us that our team was to present a "cancer related" theme at midnight madness!) We realized it as we were lining up with the other teams and Dennis noticed the team infront of us was all dressed in togas and they were carrying tiki torches. In typical Dennis fashion he started chatting up with the team and asked them "whats your talent" They turned to us and said "we are pretending to be the cast from surviver and we are voting cancer off the island. I think at that point Jimmy and Donald jumped out of line with us and declined to dance! Dennis in his joking way kept razing me saying " nice mess you got us into Janie, I guess you missed that meeting!" All along he knew that he was going to make this embarrassing situation work for us. He was giving choreography lessons to his guys in line. So there was Dennis looking as handsome as ever as the team leader dancing like crazy leading his crew. He got all his guys going wild and they wowed the crowd. He was SO excited when the WHS football team that was there crashed in because they wanted in on the fun. He boasted all night about how all the "young" guys joined them. The judges were talking about it all night and ofcourse our team got "Best Dance" the next day at the award ceremony. I did later find out that it was a new category added that year given our situation. He loved that night, we had such a huge turnout. He loved seeing his mother and father, mother and father inlaw, sisters and husbands, cousins and friends all there pitching in. He was so proud watching his mom and dad taking turns walking the track in his honor. When it was his turn to take his victory lap he carried both Alana and Elise on his shoulders the whole way while his #1 supporter Jodi carried baby Mia. I still get chills remembering how we all stood as a group screaming and cheering as we watched Dennis, Jodi and the girls pass us. There wasn't a dry eye in our crowd. What an incredible family. I hope that we all can come together again like Jimmy suggested and raise a ton of money for cancer research. In Dennis' honor I say we all dance the to the YMCA again!!
I miss you Dennis! Katie has a song playing about wanting to go home and I wish you could. Maybe you are home and we will all be home with you someday.
Mary
We all had such a great time at the Relay for life in July 2006 with so many family members and friends. Dennis and I really thought we had his cancer beat. Then to find out it would return in October of 2006.Dennis's over 2 year battle with cancer was amazing to witness. Dennis never felt sorry for himself. Instead he stay positive and fought harder, more than anyone I know.Through the last 2 years of cancer, it took so much from Dennis and me and the girls. A few things it did not take was Dennis's mental strength, love for life, and love for his family and friends. Even in his passing I still feel all of those things. I will not let cancer take those things away from me and my family. I feel like they were lessons that Dennis left for me to live by.It was his gift to me and the girls. Nothing could ever be strong enough to take that away.So you see in my eyes Dennis never lost his battle with cancer. They never got his spirit, mental strength, love for family and friends, and his love for life. The girls and I love you and miss you so much. Love Jodi
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