#540 Rob Gooze Is Da Man!

Here's to my rock star of a husband!

Since it is Thanksgiving week it seems entirely appropriate to declare my immense gratitude to my  husband who will be receiving the Husband of the Year award in our house.  Warning--it is a bit of a sappy blog but acknowledgement is due to the brilliant go getter and supporter that he is.

Of course he will be embarrassed by this post but I don't care because when it comes to picking a husband, I won the lottery a gazillion times over.  He has shown time after time how you continue to love a person despite obstacles that no one sees when they start out on this adventure of life and marriage.

  After my first diagnosis, instead of panicking and running to the hills,  I saw my beloved husband step up and figure out how we were going to get through a difficult year of chemotherapy, surgeries and radiation.  He insisted on going to every treatment, asking questions and making sure I had everything I needed when I would come home exhausted from the ordeal of the day.  Completing that hell of a year strengthened an already solid relationship and made us appreciate each other and every day more than ever.

One of the many talents of Rob Gooze

That was almost six years ago and now this... this hellish ride of a terminal diagnosis that, when given the news, sent us into each other's arms with fear searing through our bodies. Instead of backing out of our partnership and deciding this was not what he signed up for thirty-nine years ago, this incredible man has dug in for the long haul and has been standing beside me with his fists up taking on cancer as if his life also depended on it... and maybe it does.  He wants me hanging around for a long long time and he proves it with his ferocious tenacity of demanding answers and getting money into the hands of the researchers who can save my life.

By using his skills as a negotiator, logistics guru, schmoozer and all around "get things done" kind of guy, he has helped raise a ton of money (currently we have raised almost $600,000 in three years) and awareness for MBC.  Want a meeting with Paul Ryan?  Check, he arranged it.  Need interviews on television stations to spread the word?  Check, he did it.  Newspapers, magazine articles, you name it broadcasting the word about this disease-- he managed to make it happen. Design a webpage when it is not his expertise--no problem, got it done--www.onewomanmanylakes.org. One day he decided a brochure should be available to others so he convinced some marketing experts to advise him on how to do it and... Voila!  it resulted in a creative and impressive handout to get people involved.

Right now he thinks he is doing this for me--to keep me from succumbing to this wretched disease-- but I look at the bigger picture and see he is making a difference so not one more person has to hear those life changing words of, "You have a terminal disease".  That's the kind of guy he is and that's why I love him more each day and am so thankful we are riding in the same buggy together. As we approach the holiday of giving thanks I publicly and loudly send my gratitude to this super hero of mine for not only standing by his woman but whipping up the best omelets...EVER.    Love, love, love this man of mine.

To continue this love fest, please consider a donation to UW Carbone Cancer Center, and we can all be grateful for a Happy Thanksgiving.

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