Jim's Cornermen in the Relay for Life

If you've read Kate's blog, you know of "The Magnificent Six" — Jim and five of his closest friends: David, Joel, Keith, Mark and Scott. These were the guys Jim wanted to see one last time before he died. That was a huge acknowledgment of their friendship, as Jim really didn't want anyone except immediate family to visit him. I don't think it was that he was embarrassed, just that he knew he looked like he was dying and he didn't want people to remember him that way. Plus, from what I've read, when you're dying, you become very internally focused and it takes a lot of energy, which you don't have, to attend to the people around you.

Last year, before Jim's physical strength wanned, one of the Magnificent Six - Mark Kelly (shown in the front row of the photo next to Jim) - organized a Relay for Life team to show his support of Jim and his battle with colon cancer. Jim thought it was great and checked the Web site several times a day to check out how his team was doing. Every time the two of us spoke, he'd update me with the fundraising progress of the Jim's Cornermen team. There was hope that he and Kate could make the trip to the Relay, but his cancer's progression made that trip not possible. However, he loved seeing the pictures of the kids at the Relay wearing their sandwich boards with his picture on them!

Mark and his wife Terri are once again organizing a Jim's Cornermen team to participate in the Relay for Life - raising money for cancer research, so that someday no one has to fear this disease that affects too many lives each day. I've copied Mark and Terri's letter below. If you are planning on giving to cancer research this year, won't you please choose to support Mark & Terri in memory of my brother Jim? It would mean a lot. Thank you.

Dear Friends,

Last year we formed Jim's Cornermen, a Relay for Life Team, in support of our friend, Jim Marventano, and his fight against cancer. The team helped us to feel like we were helping Jim in some small way. Aside from raising over $2500 for the American Cancer Society, we did help Jim. He loved our efforts and it made him so happy to see another name added to the "honor roll" on our website. He even caught the competitive spirit of the Relay, monitoring our progress in the top 3 and calling us with suggestions for reaching our goal even faster.

This year, we honor Jim with our team, Jim's Cornermen, to show him that we're still in his corner.

So, this week, as we mark six months since we said goodbye to our friend, please consider joining our team or making a donation to remember this great man.

You can make a donation or join the team by visiting our personal page at http://main.acsevents.org/goto/mark_kelly

Thank you in advance,

Mark & Terri Kelly