WHY I'M DOING IT
Each day in February I'm hitting the water for SurFebruary and raising funds for cancer research at Chris O'Brien Lifehouse.
The water is where I connected most with my dad. We always jump off the pier together. He showed me how to dive under the waves and watch them glide over us from below. He taught me how to slow my heart beat and stay under for longer and longer on one breath. He showed me how to anchor myself on the ocean floor and achieve a different kind of peace that couldn’t be found on the surface. He showed me how to mask my presence in the water so I could get a closer look at the dragon flies flittering about the surface. He gave me an appreciation for the animals that swam around us. Especially the sting rays. We would often sit under the water to observe them gliding by. At one point in one of our swims we were surrounded by them. He taught me to respect their home - I always look 10 meters around my jumping zone off the pier! My dad surfed with my uncle and their friends when they were my age. He always talked about going for a long day of surfing, eating a meat pie and skulling down milk whilst lying on the beach, often getting sunburnt and freckly. It instilled in him a love for the water that I believe he passed down to me, along with my freckles. He would always insist we drive along the beach so he could look out at the waves, checking the swell. That’s where I look for him now.
I commit to this month for my dad. He passed away last September after a long battle with an aggressive brain cancer. He was a warrior. He had fight and resilience in his blood. He outlasted the cancer’s prognosis by 2 extra years. He was strong and, we believed, cancer-free at the beginning of 2023, but the cancer grew rapidly within a few weeks, taking over his functioning before we even comprehended what was happening. That’s why this research is so important. If the biomarkers were available to my dad he may have been able to live a normal life for that much longer. We could have had more time to enjoy him in his full strength and capability.
I’m taking on this challenge to connect with my dad, and to help others get a little more time with their loved ones. Any amount counts.
Thank you, I really appreciate your support.
See you in the water!
