10 years...goes by so fast

Ten years ago today, I received the worst news of my life.

I was a 22 year old senior at Notre Dame and at a beach party on Lake Michigan with friends. It was "Senior Week"; the one full week of free time allotted to seniors after final exams (when all the underclassmen go home) and before graduation. It's supposed to be the best time of your life. There are many scheduled events, parties, etc. You just finished four years at a very competitive university amongst some of the best and brightest of your peers and are ready to step out into the world and make your mark.

Over Thanksgiving weekend 1998, I found out that my father was diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer. Each on their own is terminal. He was given six months to live. The family was in shock. The rock of our foundation was shaken. How do you react to news like that? If you are me, you don't believe it and you stay focused to finish strong. If you are my dad, it takes away everything you spent your life living for: family, friends, a home, a career, being a grandparent, retirement.

I still don't speak much about that day - the 12th of May, 1999 - the day my father lost his battle with cancer. It was four days before I was to graduate. All my own plans and dreams were washed away in an instant. I had everything I worked so hard to get, yet I lost so much.