Win Susan!

Fat Cyclist is one of the more entertaining cycling-centric blogs around. Over the past few years, Elden (a.k.a. Mr Fatty) has recorded many of his victories and losses, cycling and otherwise. I've read his blog off and on for a while, but I've only recently become a "regular".

While catching-up on his blog entries, I read the terrible news about his wife. Susan has been fighting breast cancer for a few years, and it recently took a turn for the worse. Much worse. The cancer has metastasized throughout her body, including her brain.

A growing number of cycling blogs are displaying the Fat Cyclist pink jersey shown above, trying to generate as much support as possible for Elden, Susan & family. To that end, their friend Kenny has established the "Elden Nelsen Family Fund" to accept donations to provide support during this difficult (and expensive) struggle. Please donate if you can -- every dollar helps.

Why do I care? I've never met Elden, although we do have mutual friends. He's a former Microsoft employee, and I've been there long enough to be 2 degrees of separation from just about everyone. Helping another person in need just seems like the human thing to do.

Besides, I've seen how cancer can disrupt a family:

• My father beat Hodgkin's Disease twice before suffering a fatal heart attack.
• My father's brother died from acute leukemia.
• My mother has chronic leukemia and multiple myeloma.
• My mother's father died from leukemia.
  
• All of my mother's 9 brothers and sisters had some form of cancer; many died from it. (There's a lot of melanoma in my mom's family, mostly because they grew up picking cotton in the central Texas sun.)

In addition to these blood relations, my brother's long-term girlfriend Sara is a breast cancer survivor, as is her mother. Her brother is a kidney cancer survivor.

No, I don't know exactly what Elden (and especially Susan) are going through, but I think I can appreciate a tiny percentage of what their children are experiencing. That's why I want to help.