Dearest ones, I am taking a break from my usual line of thought and am going to talk with you for today about something else of importance. Let me just briefly bring you all up to speed about my journey as some of you are new readers and need a little background.

This is my story in short: In 2011 I was diagnosed with colon cancer. I was operated on at Swedish Hospital, Seattle to remove the tumor, a short section of my large intestine and associated lymph nodes. That was basically successful although some cancer evidence was found in those nodes. Therefore I started on chemotherapy to minimize the possibility of spreading and that lasted for six months and was brutal.

Then there was some good news as I had a year off but a periodic scan revealed that the cancer had spread to my liver and lungs. That upped my stage two cancer to stage four. So that started chemo treatments for a solid year which remarkably I was able to deal with better. Part of the reason that I was able to do so is that my Oncologist replaced one of the standard drugs in the cocktail with a newer one that seemed a better fit.

But also I started a new exercise program, which involved walking, with my other doc at Swedish who is a Psychologist and uses exercise as medicine. So this is where it starts to get interesting as this melded with my new fascination with the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain. No coincidences, right?

My walking program with the help of my doc evolved into my own “backyard Camino” as I set up a trail around our ten acre property and began walking. I thought about it as a thing in itself but soon doc talked about it as training for Spain and the real thing. As time went by and I got stronger and walked further by the week and some windfall money came in (no coincidences, right?) and I got the OK from my Oncologist to take a month off, and I went! Events conspired and it became a reality.

Somewhere along the line the idea came to the surface to try and document the trip as a way of showing how good treatment and good rehabilitation in combination can let a cancer victim go way beyond what is thought of as possible. So yes, all of that happened as a three person film crew accompanied me and captured the journey from start to finish.

So, here we are all up to date as I just got back several days ago. Ever since the idea occurred for the movie this has been a shoestring operation with a lot of faith thrown in. How do we get this message out to those that could really use it? The message? “You are a lot bigger than your cancer and you can do a lot more than you thought was possible by getting good help and getting out there and pushing the envelope.”

And this is where you come in. I am asking for your help to get some more money raised. A Kickstarter account has been started by my team to get the project to and through the next level which is editing. This is the link: http://kck.st/1zULpa9 . Or go to the website and search for “Phil’s Camino”. If you can contribute some small or heck large amount please do. Or if you thought about it maybe someone you know that would be interested in this topic would be willing to contribute. We are getting down to the bitter end of the campaign now and need some more help. Prayers are good too, always.

So, check it out and see what you can do. Thanks again for all the love and support that you have given me personally in the past. Couldn’t have done it without you, as they say. Love, Phil.