Ripple
November 17, 2015 § 11 Comments
“It’s a testament to Mark,” he said.
It was, because Mark is a good man. And it wasn’t, because it happened thanks to a cadre of friends sitting down on the bench and taking up a long heavy oar.
It is easy to fall into the black hole of bad news. Once you fall in, following each twist and turn of the catastrophe of the day, it is hard to climb out. Bad news surrounds us.
Good news, like good love, is hard to find. The minute something good or happy rolls across your desk, questions set in. No one questions that Person A is greedy, Person B is insane, or that Person C is a sociopath, but everyone questions Person D who did the good thing. What the hell were HIS real motives?
I can’t help it, and you probably can’t, either. Sometimes, however, people do good things and it’s as simple as that.
This past Sunday over three hundred people gathered in Dana Point to raise money and seek a bone marrow donor match for Mark Scott. They didn’t show up by magic. They showed up because Dave Worthington, Tommy Nelson, Lauren Ames, and Russ Ames put together an informal committee to get the word out about Mark’s plight.
Knocking on doors, working the phones, banging away at the keyboards, The Committee put their money where their love was, and who could say no to that?
Many of the people didn’t know Mark and had never heard of him. But they were compelled by the love and devotion of his friends to show up and be a part of something bigger than themselves, which happens to be the definition of community, and not coincidentally of humanity.
Some of the people hugging and crying were pretty gruff folks in their day jobs, and that’s part of the good news, too. But the biggest news, of course, is old news, the news that when one person decides to make the cause of another his own, he becomes a small stone tossed into a gigantic, perfectly calm sea. He sends forth ripples and they touch everyone and everything in their path.
I think someone once wrote a song about that.
END
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Cycling in the South Bay 
I think I have been registered as a Blood Marrow donor for 10 years now, and I guess it is evidence of just how hard it is to find a match that I have never been contacted once, or even given a ‘oh you were so close!’. The key to hits in BM donors is to have a lot of donors, so here is the link
https://bethematch.org/support-the-cause/donate-bone-marrow/join-the-marrow-registry/
Thanks!
It was a great event! If only we could bottle the vibe of the day!
… and make people drink it who think they have it tough …
Seth, #TeamMarkScott thanks YOU for your positive oscillations which reach virtually/digitally throughout the alcoves and shores of the blog pond, and beyond. A bunch of folks whom I spoke with at the Wanky Award’s participated in The Ride and/or the gofundme site.
Note of clarification, the Five Person “Road Ahead “Committee also includes Ryan Miller, the calm force behind the Ladera Ranch Grand Prix and The Great Park Series.
November 15 was an Unforgettable Day for our brother Mark, an Unbeatable Guy. He is a fountainhead of Hope. Mark road in the support vehicle as a swelling sea of nearly 300 riders surged by shouting his name. Today I am looking at photos of Mark with his surgical mask and rubber gloves, providing some roadside assistance for two riders who punctured. The mask, worn to minimize exposure to toxins proved ineffective in shielding his grateful smile. Those images are SO Mark. His impulse is to share, to help, to heal. He’s built that way.
Too many volunteers and sponsors to list here, but I’d be remiss if I did not give a shout out to Team’s Amgem, Surf City, Simple Green, Labor, Jax, Monster Media, Audi, Laguna Cyclery, and Bike Religion….to Sponsors GQ-6, Shimano, Tac-X, YAS, Nordstroms, Coffee Grinder, Krisp Juice, Cheesecake Factory, Tosi, Southwest Airlines and more. Also to the Game Day volunteers who woke up 4:30 a.m. and brought “A” Games: Vicki, Kim, JP, Hector, Matt Hall, Michael Lanzon, and to my beloved muse, Tina Athena (the flowers were a nice touch).
Finally we want to thank the biggest Caregiver in Mark’s life… She is a Saint, and a Rock: Gloria “Prada” Casarez (Mark’s supportive Lady).
Great to see my old Big Orange Teammates Michael and Veronica Hotten, Doug Peterson (total whale on gofundme.com/markscott….plus he bought $200.00 in raffle tickets all proceeds to Mark!).
OH, and The Ride went Without Incident. WOO-HOOT!!
Next we want to organize a “Swab” party to collect DNA samples for Mark and other blood cancer patients. In the meantime, here’s how to get involved:
According to http://www.deletebloodcancer.org:
Bone marrow donation is a 1-2 hour surgical procedure performed under anesthesia, so no pain is experienced during the donation. Marrow cells are collected from the back of your pelvic bone using a syringe.
Also, Mark Scott is registered via (please browse/sign-up):
https://www.facebook.com/BeTheMatch/
http://www.bethematch.org/
If you have questions, please contact 1 (800) MARROW-2 (1-800-627-7692).
Shine Like it Does, Down to The Marrow,
Worthy10@aol.com
Thank you Dave for bringing together so many people. Your passion and commitment and love of life are amazing. Thanks for including me.
Nice work Seth. Love the poetic finish and it’s peaceful and powerful imagery.
Thank, Rog!
Sweet! A wonderful tribute after a weekend that saw the best in us, helping our friend Mark, and the worst in us, the massacre in Paris. Thanks for saying it so well. We stand in solidarity for Mark’s health.
Pollo
Thank you Pollo, retired merchant ship Captain of the sea who through pot Luck we shared a Team Car in stage races in Mexico and bonded and now we are Todos Familia Simpatico y Tranquillo. You are a good bird. Much Love. Halcon
Thank you and all who helped make it happen.