It's hard when you know someone your whole life and they pass away. It's hard when people pass away in general.

In April 2024, 10 days after my birthday, my dear friend Kyle Dulik had his father pass away. We have known each other since we were born, we were practically baptized together. Dan Dulik was the type of person that when you meet them, they just give you a good feeling. He was that guy that everyone loved.

Coach Dulik had a great impact on my childhood. I fell in love with basketball because he made the game so exciting and he taught me how to compete. Every time I shoot a floater I will think of him.

As Kobe Bryant once said in his late years, "the most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great at whatever they want to do." This is exactly what Mr. Dulik did, he just helped others, whether he realized it or not.

My Uncle's brother-in-law, Uncle Jim Flowers, had a brother pass away from cancer, Ed Flowers. I never knew him but Uncle Jim is one of the funniest and happiest guys I know so I know that we lost a real one.

A lot of you may hear these stories and have no personal relation to them at all. However, society works in a cyclical fashion, if you help save childhood cancer now, later in your life your child may be saved from the efforts you made in addition to all of the other children in the world. If you have made it this far, I hope that all of you have a fantastic, cancer-free future!