Mustaches in May - Supporting ACCRF
Tax deductible
My life changed forever on May 21st, 2014. Here is the story behind the 'stache.
October 2008 - I was a sophomore in high school. One day, my Mom and Dad sat both me and my sister down to talk about something. This wasnt necessarily anything out of the ordinary, we are very open with each other so I was just assuming it was another time to talk about something I had done wrong - I was a pretty big turd in high school. In reality, they sat us down to talk about my father's health and to tell us that he had been diagnosed with cancer. Talk about a complete 180! At the time, things werent too concerning. ACC (Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma) is known to be a slow developing disease & doctors were not too concerned of the rate of growth and things of that nature. I was initially very scared, but then like any kid, I felt comfort in hearing my parents tell me everything will be ok.
January 2009 - My fathers had his Parotid Gland removed. His ACC started in the Parotid Gland (the gland in your face that creates saliva). This is common among ACC patients as the disease is typically grouped with other oral cancers. To put things into perspective, only about 1,200 people per year are diagnosed with ACC - there are well over 1,000,000 people per year diagnosed with cancer every year. There is not much research or treatment options available as there is quite honestly not enough cases to study.
March 2012 - After he had the Parotid removed things naturally took their course & slowly the cancer started to metastasize to other places. This is when my Mom and Dad had another sit down meeting with my sister and I. This one was very different from the first meeting in 2008 as he and the doctors knew things were not looking up. Spots had moved to his lungs & they decided to have those removed later in the year in August.
October 2013 - Slowly and steadily you could see his health declining, but the man never lost his sense of humor or his outlook on life - I try to take that with me. He was getting ready to try a clinical trial to help support the ACC research. As mentioned before, there arent many cases of ACC diagnosed each year, so he wanted to do his part and help with that. One of the things he had to do to get approved for the trial was get a full body CT Scan. This was not a problem until the results came back. They identified a large tumor in the frontal lobe of his brain that required surgery immediately. This was out of the ordinary as he did not show any symptoms of a brain tumor. As you can imagine, he kept his gameface on and did not show any negativity. After the surgery, he had a large bandage on his head that he called his "cereal bowl". He also had a hole in his head/skull that he called his blowhole. Im telling you folks, he was an absolute goon.
May 21st, 2014 - My father passed away on this day. I remember the morning we got the phone call like it was yesterday. I decided to sleep with my Mom that night as it was the first and only night she stayed at home - every other night was spent at hospice with my Dad. We were woken up very early around 4 am by my dog Rusty (who my Dad & I picked out when we moved to Germantown). He started whining uncontrollably and would not stop until we hugged and consoled him like a baby. A few hours later, we got the call. It was a family decision, Mark included, to send him to hospice. We were able to spend a lot of time with him there and he was at peace and not in pain. There were many things that happened during his 7 day stay in hospice that I will never forget. I was able to ask him many questions such as "What is true happiness?". In typical Mark fashion, he compared happiness to pizza. He said "Each slice represents an aspect or priority in your life. When you fill your pizza box with quality slices, you reach true happiness". One supernatural thing that happened was when his brother, Kerry, was on the way to Memphis to come see him. My Dad explained to us that he was in a deep sleep could see a bright light. He felt a force pulling him up & he was holding the hand of an angel. The angel told him to wait until his brother got here to say good bye before he left. He woke up and my mom was holding his hand. From that point on, he called her his angel. He is definitely her angel now.
So why the mustache...When he was a young buck back in his early- mid 20's, the man used to rock some pretty serious lip luggage. I dont know if it was a joke, but knowing him, it was. When he passed, I tried to think of ways to give back to ACCOI (Organization)/ACCRF (Research Fund). I was going through old pictures saw his stache & I knew what had to be done from there. See below & try to keep the laughs down:
This will be the last year for Mustaches in May so I am asking that we raise $4,000 to make our 3 year fundraising total to hit $10,000! The money raised will go towards the Research Foundation that supports this rare disease.
Thank you all for your support now & in the past. It has meant the world to my family & I.
So now...I mustache you a question...What will you do today to help change the world?
October 2008 - I was a sophomore in high school. One day, my Mom and Dad sat both me and my sister down to talk about something. This wasnt necessarily anything out of the ordinary, we are very open with each other so I was just assuming it was another time to talk about something I had done wrong - I was a pretty big turd in high school. In reality, they sat us down to talk about my father's health and to tell us that he had been diagnosed with cancer. Talk about a complete 180! At the time, things werent too concerning. ACC (Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma) is known to be a slow developing disease & doctors were not too concerned of the rate of growth and things of that nature. I was initially very scared, but then like any kid, I felt comfort in hearing my parents tell me everything will be ok.
January 2009 - My fathers had his Parotid Gland removed. His ACC started in the Parotid Gland (the gland in your face that creates saliva). This is common among ACC patients as the disease is typically grouped with other oral cancers. To put things into perspective, only about 1,200 people per year are diagnosed with ACC - there are well over 1,000,000 people per year diagnosed with cancer every year. There is not much research or treatment options available as there is quite honestly not enough cases to study.
March 2012 - After he had the Parotid removed things naturally took their course & slowly the cancer started to metastasize to other places. This is when my Mom and Dad had another sit down meeting with my sister and I. This one was very different from the first meeting in 2008 as he and the doctors knew things were not looking up. Spots had moved to his lungs & they decided to have those removed later in the year in August.
October 2013 - Slowly and steadily you could see his health declining, but the man never lost his sense of humor or his outlook on life - I try to take that with me. He was getting ready to try a clinical trial to help support the ACC research. As mentioned before, there arent many cases of ACC diagnosed each year, so he wanted to do his part and help with that. One of the things he had to do to get approved for the trial was get a full body CT Scan. This was not a problem until the results came back. They identified a large tumor in the frontal lobe of his brain that required surgery immediately. This was out of the ordinary as he did not show any symptoms of a brain tumor. As you can imagine, he kept his gameface on and did not show any negativity. After the surgery, he had a large bandage on his head that he called his "cereal bowl". He also had a hole in his head/skull that he called his blowhole. Im telling you folks, he was an absolute goon.
May 21st, 2014 - My father passed away on this day. I remember the morning we got the phone call like it was yesterday. I decided to sleep with my Mom that night as it was the first and only night she stayed at home - every other night was spent at hospice with my Dad. We were woken up very early around 4 am by my dog Rusty (who my Dad & I picked out when we moved to Germantown). He started whining uncontrollably and would not stop until we hugged and consoled him like a baby. A few hours later, we got the call. It was a family decision, Mark included, to send him to hospice. We were able to spend a lot of time with him there and he was at peace and not in pain. There were many things that happened during his 7 day stay in hospice that I will never forget. I was able to ask him many questions such as "What is true happiness?". In typical Mark fashion, he compared happiness to pizza. He said "Each slice represents an aspect or priority in your life. When you fill your pizza box with quality slices, you reach true happiness". One supernatural thing that happened was when his brother, Kerry, was on the way to Memphis to come see him. My Dad explained to us that he was in a deep sleep could see a bright light. He felt a force pulling him up & he was holding the hand of an angel. The angel told him to wait until his brother got here to say good bye before he left. He woke up and my mom was holding his hand. From that point on, he called her his angel. He is definitely her angel now.
So why the mustache...When he was a young buck back in his early- mid 20's, the man used to rock some pretty serious lip luggage. I dont know if it was a joke, but knowing him, it was. When he passed, I tried to think of ways to give back to ACCOI (Organization)/ACCRF (Research Fund). I was going through old pictures saw his stache & I knew what had to be done from there. See below & try to keep the laughs down:
This will be the last year for Mustaches in May so I am asking that we raise $4,000 to make our 3 year fundraising total to hit $10,000! The money raised will go towards the Research Foundation that supports this rare disease.
Thank you all for your support now & in the past. It has meant the world to my family & I.
So now...I mustache you a question...What will you do today to help change the world?
Organizer
Robbie Marsico
Organizer
Germantown, TN
The Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation
Beneficiary