On Thu Sep 27 10:13 , 'Michael Rathe' sent:
Scott,
Well, I was just looking around on your site a little bit and thought I would share a little story with you and how No Bad Days has affected my
family. About 2 ½ years ago my dad, Ken Rathe, was diagnosed with AML, Acute Mixed Lineage Leukemia, it is basically the worst of the worst.
He went through tons of chemotherapy, 3 bone marrow transplants and countless trips to the hospital. The past two years were extremely
tough on him, but he lived them to the fullest, he was able to work, come see both my brother and I play sports in South Carolina, he lives in San
Diego, unfortunately he passed away on August 15th, 2007. For him to live two years with this shows how strong he was, that is more than the
average person lives with this disease. My dad had the best attitude and was so strong through this whole terrible sickness. Well, my younger
brother, Addy, was home from school in South Carolina, and I believe it was one of my dad's first stays in the hospital. It was one of Addy's last
days home to visit and one of his friends invited him out on his boat, I think it was on the Bay in San Diego. Addy really didn't want to go
because he didn't want to leave Dad, but my dad insisted that he go and enjoy himself. So he went and stumbled across one of your "No Bad
Days" stickers on a boat, so he took the picture I attached to this email. Well, my dad loved the picture and the idea of "No Bad Days." So he got
tons of these photos made up and took them wherever he went, he always had them in whichever hospital room, or hotel room as he called
them. He also had several around his computer desk, which is where he worked a lot, he was a photographer and did most of his work on his
computer, his website is www.mysportpix.com if you wanna check out his stuff. He truly believed in No Bad Days, although things got pretty
bad, he always believed in it. He would give out the photos to his Nurses, Doctors or basically anyone that he could. And he was a talker so he
loved to share the story. He was the epitome of "No Bad Days." Well, the story gets better, so after my dad passed my family decided to have a
celebration of life. We had it at our home and I told everyone that no black was to be worn and very casual, just like he would have wanted it.
So, my mom and I were sitting at his desk trying to decide on several things for the celebration. We wanted to give something to people to
remember dad, but we couldn't think of what. My mom picks up a photo envelope, the type you get when you order prints, and inside of it was
one piece of paper showing the order form and a thumbnail picture of my brothers, No Bad Days photo. My mom says, "Oh this would be nice to
give out," then she looks at the date of the order and it was August 15, 2005. That was the date he passed away only two years prior. Although
we are not huge believers in "signs," it was kinda hard to not see this one. So we got about 200 of the pictures made up and gave them out to
everyone that came to the celebration. My mom actually went back to the hospital to see some of the nurses and thank them for everything and
several of them had the No Bad Days picture on their desks. My Dad touched many different people throughout his life, and I believe that this
photo and the idea of "No Bad Days," truly helped him fight and stay strong throughout his battle with cancer. No Bad Days has also help my
family get through this very difficult time in our lives. I thought you might like this story and I want to thank you for "No Bad Days."
Take Care and No Bad Days,
Mike Rathe
