Why Now? A little girl, a thinkBIGGER idea, and a heart attack
Reason #1: A little girl
Reason #1: A Little Girl
At three years of age, our daughter Lindsey was blindsided by systemic onset juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. This wasn't something that snuck up on her. Rather, it came on like a firestorm. Overnight, Lindsey developed swollen joints all over her body to the point of being unable to walk. A week after it started, we "celebrated" Christmas, watching Lindsey ride her new bike with training wheels all of about 50 feet before the pain became too much for her, and she had to come back inside and go to bed. The pain was so intense at times, we couldn't touch her, much less change her out of her jammies.
The wonderful doctors at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford made a quick diagnosis and started Lindsey on medications to reduce the swelling and bring down her fevers. For awhile, Lindsey was on six prescription medications at once, and was a frequent patient at the clinic for blood tests, exams, and treatments.
It took about three years before Lindsey was able to get off all prescription meds for the first time. Since that time, she has been much, much better. Recent medical advances, especially with new biologic drugs, have made an incredible difference for those with juvenile arthritis. Still, there is no cure - something we are reminded of every time Lindsey flares anew. As I write this, Lindsey has had to go back on Prednisone and Methotrexate for the first time since about 2006. Her pain of late has been worse than at any time in her memory.
In the five times I have cycled in the Arthritis Foundation's California Coast Classic, I have helped our Links for Life team raise over $160,000 for research and programs to help kids like Lindsey with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Although there are other reasons l'm cycling the entire west coast this year, Lindsey remains, and will always remain, reason #1.
The wonderful doctors at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford made a quick diagnosis and started Lindsey on medications to reduce the swelling and bring down her fevers. For awhile, Lindsey was on six prescription medications at once, and was a frequent patient at the clinic for blood tests, exams, and treatments.
It took about three years before Lindsey was able to get off all prescription meds for the first time. Since that time, she has been much, much better. Recent medical advances, especially with new biologic drugs, have made an incredible difference for those with juvenile arthritis. Still, there is no cure - something we are reminded of every time Lindsey flares anew. As I write this, Lindsey has had to go back on Prednisone and Methotrexate for the first time since about 2006. Her pain of late has been worse than at any time in her memory.
In the five times I have cycled in the Arthritis Foundation's California Coast Classic, I have helped our Links for Life team raise over $160,000 for research and programs to help kids like Lindsey with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Although there are other reasons l'm cycling the entire west coast this year, Lindsey remains, and will always remain, reason #1.
Reason #2: A thinkBIGGER Idea
Each of the last several years, our company has had a theme for the year. It's always something simple but it's also something people can easily identify with and think about throughout the course of the year. For 2013, our theme is thinkBIGGER. The idea is that we all tend to get stale with our thinking and how we do business. Meanwhile, the world around us is changing incredibly fast. It's not that we have to give up our old ways to grow, but we need to constantly think bigger and better in order to "sharpen the saw" to meet and exceed the growing needs of our customers.
For me, I wanted to have a thinkBIGGER goal for business as well as a personal thinkBIGGER goal. I came up with my business goal early on and have been working on it ever since. I struggled more to come up with a personal goal after dismissing several ideas as being too small. I thought about losing 20 pounds (always a good idea) but since I have done that a few times before, it didn't qualify. I still lost that 20 pounds, but I didn't allow such a small goal to fulfill such a lofty requirement.
While on our Colliers company trip to the Big Island of Hawaii this past March, I decided to research an idea that had floated to the surface of my thinking a couple of times, only to be dismissed as too hard physically and impossible practically. That idea was to bicycle from Canada to Mexico. With proper training, I thought I might be able to handle it physically. The challenge was going to be how I could possibly justify the time off work.
As I did my homework on this improbable adventure, laying by the pool with my wife, it hit me that THIS was definitely a thinkBIGGER idea that truly resonated with me. The roadblock was going to be work. I figured that I would need at least 20 days off and as I told Kelley at the time, I just couldn't imagine doing that. As much as I liked the thinkBIGGER idea, I told Kelley that the probability was no more than about 20%. By that evening, everything changed, thanks to Reason #3.
For me, I wanted to have a thinkBIGGER goal for business as well as a personal thinkBIGGER goal. I came up with my business goal early on and have been working on it ever since. I struggled more to come up with a personal goal after dismissing several ideas as being too small. I thought about losing 20 pounds (always a good idea) but since I have done that a few times before, it didn't qualify. I still lost that 20 pounds, but I didn't allow such a small goal to fulfill such a lofty requirement.
While on our Colliers company trip to the Big Island of Hawaii this past March, I decided to research an idea that had floated to the surface of my thinking a couple of times, only to be dismissed as too hard physically and impossible practically. That idea was to bicycle from Canada to Mexico. With proper training, I thought I might be able to handle it physically. The challenge was going to be how I could possibly justify the time off work.
As I did my homework on this improbable adventure, laying by the pool with my wife, it hit me that THIS was definitely a thinkBIGGER idea that truly resonated with me. The roadblock was going to be work. I figured that I would need at least 20 days off and as I told Kelley at the time, I just couldn't imagine doing that. As much as I liked the thinkBIGGER idea, I told Kelley that the probability was no more than about 20%. By that evening, everything changed, thanks to Reason #3.
Reason #3: A Heart Attack
On that same day in Hawaii when I first considered that cycling from Canada to Mexico could be my thinkBIGGER goal, I had a heart attack. Literally, we left the pool after my "20% possibility" remark, and Kelley went to the spa for a massage, and I went to the hotel health club to ride the stationary bike. When I started my 45-minute workout, I felt chest pain that I chalked-up as mild angina - something I had experienced before that I knew I "needed to do something about as soon as [insert excuse here]." This time it was different. When I had experienced angina pain before, it almost always went away within the first 5-10 minutes of exercising. On this occasion I had chest pain the entire 45 minutes I was on the bike, and it continued thereafter.
The purpose of BikeTheCoast13 is not to highlight my heart attack, so if that's something you want to learn more about, perhaps another time. There is certainly a story about ignoring a year's worth of warning signs, our decision to go to the hospital (or maybe dinner instead), fearing I might die during the hour-plus drive to get there, and getting medi-vac'd from the Big Island to the cardiac center on Maui. For now, let's just say things sure could have turned out a lot worse.
By the time I was flown to Maui, my chest pain had eased thanks to blood thinners, nitrogycerin and a clot-buster drug that I was given at Kona Community Hospital. My cardiologist on Maui, the phenomenal Dr. Colin Lee, told me I had 98% blockage in an artery near the base of my heart. The size of the artery in question was not optimal for a stent, so he performed a succesful angioplasty and after 3 days in the hospital, I was released.
Back on the mainland, I returned to work without missing a single day. For the time being, I elected to keep my experience largely to myself and my immediate family. Meanwhile, excuses why I might choose not to cycle from Canada to Mexico became secondary to the stark reality that I might not even have a choice. I was referred to a local cardiologist, Dr. Michael Nagel, who ran all sorts of tests and performed a variety of exams. He was not willing to render any opinion responsive to my questions about cycling from Canada to Mexico until after the testing was complete and he could assess how my new medications were working. The day finally came for Dr. Nagel to make an assessment and I thought he was going to straddle the fence and "recommend" against it. I told Kelley if that was the case, I would do (or not do) whatever she wanted. When Dr. Nagel instead gave me clearance, I knew then and there that BikeTheCoast13 was going to be my thinkBIGGER goal.
The purpose of BikeTheCoast13 is not to highlight my heart attack, so if that's something you want to learn more about, perhaps another time. There is certainly a story about ignoring a year's worth of warning signs, our decision to go to the hospital (or maybe dinner instead), fearing I might die during the hour-plus drive to get there, and getting medi-vac'd from the Big Island to the cardiac center on Maui. For now, let's just say things sure could have turned out a lot worse.
By the time I was flown to Maui, my chest pain had eased thanks to blood thinners, nitrogycerin and a clot-buster drug that I was given at Kona Community Hospital. My cardiologist on Maui, the phenomenal Dr. Colin Lee, told me I had 98% blockage in an artery near the base of my heart. The size of the artery in question was not optimal for a stent, so he performed a succesful angioplasty and after 3 days in the hospital, I was released.
Back on the mainland, I returned to work without missing a single day. For the time being, I elected to keep my experience largely to myself and my immediate family. Meanwhile, excuses why I might choose not to cycle from Canada to Mexico became secondary to the stark reality that I might not even have a choice. I was referred to a local cardiologist, Dr. Michael Nagel, who ran all sorts of tests and performed a variety of exams. He was not willing to render any opinion responsive to my questions about cycling from Canada to Mexico until after the testing was complete and he could assess how my new medications were working. The day finally came for Dr. Nagel to make an assessment and I thought he was going to straddle the fence and "recommend" against it. I told Kelley if that was the case, I would do (or not do) whatever she wanted. When Dr. Nagel instead gave me clearance, I knew then and there that BikeTheCoast13 was going to be my thinkBIGGER goal.
