Tim Caring For Carcinoid

Swim and Bike

2009-03-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

It's a lot different than swimming in Chris Pierce's lake. The water is murky and there are a ton of waves. Also, there are tons of unknown bodies thrashing around me. Towards the end of the swim I am racing beside someone who turns out to be John Romash. I dash out of the water and race to get on my bike. Thankfully I don't have to take off a wet suit. I throw on my shorts and shoes but before getting on my bike I tear open an instant energy packet. I hop on the bike with the most disgusting taste in my mouth. The bike ride goes on and on. It felt longer than the 20 miles.

June 1, 2008

2009-03-25T07:05:00.001-07:00

Patrick emerges from the water. All I can think is that guy's a champ. He's beaten nearly every dude in his age group on the swim. There's no way I'm going to catch him.

June 1, 2008 Waiting to begin

2009-03-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

I nurvously wait in my swimsuit and with my goggles and my swimcap on my head. I'm waiting to begin with the open group. Other groups have already begun.

June 1, 2008 (Arrive at the naval base)

2009-03-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

We arrive at the naval base. It's kind of intimidating. We see guys with supper high tech bikes some are carrying helmets shaped like something from outer space.

June 1, 2008 (EARLY MORNING THE DAY OF THE RACE)

2009-03-25T06:59:00.001-07:00

It’s early morning. I went to bed really late last night. I'm kind of nervous. Nicole, a friend of my sister Anna, woke up really early and got to our house by 5 am!! She's coming to the triathlon to support us and help out with the race!!

May 31, 2008 (The day before the race)

2009-03-25T06:57:00.000-07:00

The race is tomorrow. Ben is the only one of us who has ever done a triathlon. My Dad, Jesse, and Scott have been training together for months. My personal goal is to not go out too hard on the swim and do a really solid bike. My Dad bought me a speedometer so I can see how fast I'm going. My goal is to hold around 18 miles per hour. Today we all headed up to Running Etc and bought some shorts.

May 28, 2008

2009-03-25T06:56:00.001-07:00

Everyone is home. I can feel the energy in the air. Lots of friends and family are checking out the web page and donating. People are going for runs, swimming, biking. This is great!

May 27, 2008

2009-03-25T06:52:00.000-07:00

I normally don't get to spend my birthday with my entire family let alone with loads of friends and relatives. Everyone is home and we had an amazing birthday dinner. There's over 20 people here. I think the table had all of its leaves in.

May 25, 2008

2009-03-25T06:51:00.000-07:00

Naomi and Jesse wanted to go for a bike ride 20 miles long through the country. I went. They had to stop a few times for me to catch up. The greatest moment was drafting off of Jesse. The worst moment was Naomi speeding past us.

May 22, 2008

2009-03-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

The trees are tall. The trees are green. I'm running on my street again. Exams are over. The race will soon begin.

April 2008

2008-04-25T08:38:00.002-07:00

University is a kind of crazy culture. By crazy, I don’t mean the parties, at least, not right now. We’re in paper and exam time and it is absolute lunacy! I haven’t had or haven’t made time to swim or run. I am planning on transferring all my academic energies towards my training when school finally shuts down. However, I’m not worried that I will not do my best in the triathlon. And I am not falsely confidant.The younger ones run fast and Jesse and Stephen think I’m not serious but what they don’t know is I live far from school and have been riding my bike like a mad man all winter long. (Every driver in Halifax can attest to this) I also do inclined pushups resting my feet on the sink and my hands on the bathtub.

April 2008

2008-04-25T08:38:00.001-07:00

As a middle child in a family of ten there is a sense in which you are wedged between it all; you look up, you look down and there are brothers and sisters at both ends. I remember the first time when Stephen left home to go to university. I cried. I remember leaving home to go to Spain and leaving Joe. I cried then too. Since then I haven’t been at home nearly as much I should yet there is a bond of blood and soul that keeps me bound even in the haziness of time. It is this bond that gives us clarity as we train ourselves entirely to find a cure for carcinoid. What does this mean? There will be a triathlon. We along with our friends will overcome the distance that separates us. One by one, we will finish a few of the many laps in the big race to help so many like my mother survive.

Your happiness Still Penetrates the Sky (Halifax, March 2008)

2008-04-25T08:34:00.001-07:00

So many days,
months now
that the sky has been
covered,
covered in gray.
The snow falls
and I think of you.
I think of the drifts that it
would make,
and how wind
made a white vortex,
swirling over
its surface.
when I was a boy,
when I was a baby,
then in that
house in P.E.I
where the snow
would make drifts
up against its sides,
and you we’re always happy,
so many months of gray, and you we’re always happy.

Mother of the Flock (Fall 2007)

2008-01-30T07:20:00.000-08:00

Oh, mother of the flock,
how tender is thy love,
weary am I
and bury my face in thy
gentle feathers,
asleep I
fly,
And
Awake,
only to find
rays of golden
sunlight
revealing the horizon
Mother of the flock,
thou art my guardian,
tender, gentle, and strong heart
..............grace............ soaring
............soothing......... pulling me
...............my.................. upward
..............youth................ onward
......................to that horizon
......................of golden sunlight

Barcelona in June (2007)

2008-01-30T07:19:00.001-08:00

I’m on the edge of a city sitting in the sand thinking about her. How she calls herself Mummy to Joseph. He the youngest, thirteen, and she holds on in that word which binds up all the diapers, all the pains, sleepless nights, worries, meals, bills, soothers, an infinity of everything she is. And all I want is to call her Mummy to hold on to her as long as I can. It’s all I want.

Eurovillas Spain (2007)

2008-01-30T07:15:00.000-08:00

It’s the evening of May 27. I’m in the salón, my only salón in Spain. It is here in this house where I spent my first 6 months immersed in a culture and a language that I came to know and now three years later, Michael and I are celebrating, our birthday with my Spanish family. We have finished la comida, the table has been cleared, I’m sitting on la sofá, and my móvil rings; I say ¿Hola? And then there is a voice singing, that same voice that sang to me, “rain drops on roses, whiskers on kittens, these are my favorite things” as I lay a child listening. Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday to you....

Blog 1

2007-04-04T18:35:00.001-07:00

I´m on my bed in my apartment in Madrid. I can hear car engines humming, horns beeping, and people bustling through the street. There´s no sign of life slowing down out there. But in my room, in my head, and in my heart, I feel a sadness because my mom has a terminal sickness. Since her diagnosis with Carcinoid cancer I think about her more. I think about; what she´s accomplished, how she´s done such a fantastic job raising ten kids. People always ask me; ¨How does she do it?¨ My response is always Ï don´t know, I don´t know how she does it.¨The load and the grace with which she carries it seems inhumanly possible. She helps with homework, pays the bills (of which are many), she cooks, she cleans, she manages a medical practice, she gardens...She is an encourager, an optimist, a never-fading smile, the comforter in all your times of sadness, the beauty which cannot be conquered.