Sometime around October 1, 2008 my family will assist me in launching a specially engineered canoe that is designed for severely handicapped individuals. In which, over a period of several months, I will attempt to safely navigate through the ten states bordering the Mississippi River from St. Cloud, Minnesota, to New Orleans, Louisiana, with hopes of also making it to Pilottown, Louisiana, where my wife and her family completely lost their home during Hurricane Katrina.
To acquiesce to a couple doctors' very strong demands, my spouse and family will be following me down river roads and highways in the back country in their attempt to stay as close as possible to me. This is a neccessity due to the risk of needing emergency medical evaluation due to my still active cancer and to assist with the several complications that have arrisen in my daily life. They will be carrying extra oxygen bottles, medical equipment and supplies, and food and water. Also along for the trip will be Rocky, our family dog who (against doctor's wishes) has spent alot of time around me, bringing great joy and love to my troubled home. Due to our own experiments, we have been able to assure that some of my meidcal problems, including a fungus that cannot be medically stopped, was not caused by Rocky.
Even though myself nor my family are not attempting some egotistical setting of a record. We have not been able to find out if there has been an individual with active cancer to canoe the Mississippi River.
One of the reasons that we are starting out the canoe trip in St. Cloud, Minnesota is due to the number of damns farther north on the MIssissippi River that would require portage. This would be an impossible feat due to my medical condition. There is a very great possibility that due to my health and the disabilities that i am affected with that i might not be able to accomplish this goal. All I know is that if im going to die from Multiple Myeloma cancer, I will not be laying in a hospital bed nor langushing in a hospice bed feeling sorry for myself.