Cancer is a terrible, terrible thing. And it seems that there aren’t many people who can say that this horrible disease hasn’t affected them in some way.
In the fall of 2007, our family felt a direct blow from cancer. My brother-in-law Jimmie May was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Jimmie died December 21, 2007. In the spring of 2008, my oldest brother Bubba was diagnosed with lung cancer. Bubba passed away July 26, 2008.
I had been involved with a local nonprofit group, RIDEYELLOW.org, and had seen the power of numbers. But what could I personally do to help bring awareness of this epidemic of cancer to our community? Bubba was an avid golfer, sometimes playing 27 or 36 holes of golf in a day. And several days in a row if he could get away with it! So it only made sense to me that our event involve golfing. We would go to the golf course to be nearest to Bubba, to share Bubba’s love of golf!
With the help of many wonderful friends and family, we hosted our first Golfing WITH Bubba event in June 2009. In the 6 short weeks we had to pull this together, our family rose to the challenge! We hosted 83 golfers and donated $6,500 to RIDEYELLOW.org!! To date we have donated over $16,000 to RIDEYELLOW!
So here we are – planning what has turned out to be an annual event. As our RIDEYELLOW friends say, “Cancer doesn’t take a break and neither can we!”
March 2011 – No, cancer does not take a break. In March 2011, our mother, Marian Presley, was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away in September 2011. Golfing WITH Bubba now has an even more special meaning for our family. In honor of mom, all future GWB golf tournaments will be held the Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend.
