To the One Fighting:

We do not understand what it is like to be on your end and, frankly, we hope we will never have to. All we know how to do is smother you with attention, prayers, and support. We try to be as strong as possible for you, hoping it will help the slightest bit, but really, we are all a bunch of babies when you aren't looking. Just the thought of not being able to do anything to make it all go away makes us feel completely helpless, so we throw our time and effort into food, funds, and faith. We'll do anything we can to make life a little bit easier. That doesn't mean I don't ball my eyes out every time something gets posted on your Ron Strong Facebook page or cry because I can’t help when I’m two hours away and nowhere close to being a doctor.

Growing up with my dad deployed a lot with the Navy was hard, but you made it a lot easier. Whether you were playing hockey with my brother and knocking out one of his baby teeth or letting me become a little Padawan with a Yoda light saber running around the house made you the coolest uncle ever. They aren't kidding when they say, "It takes a village to raise a kid." My village happened to be a really great one because of you. Then, you made that village even greater when you added your perfect wife... and let me be a flower girl at your wedding. It was no big deal, but I was convinced I was a crucial part of the wedding throwing those flowers everywhere #GloryDays. Every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter you've always been right there with the entire family and your three cute-as-can-be kids playing kickball on the farm until the ball ended up deflated and over the fence. Plus, you were always throwing jokes at my brother, which made you even cooler in my eyes.

Cancer is a bitch. It's not fair. It tries to take down the best of the best for no reason. It tries to destroy everything you have spent your life building up. This time, it's messing with the wrong person. When we say Ron Strong, we mean it. You are exactly that: Strong. You are so incredibly loved, and even in these uncharted waters, you have managed to bring our entire family closer together than ever. In a time when we want to do things for you, you have done so much for us. Sometimes it takes a bump, or--in this case--what feels like a mountain, in the road to unite people to make it over that mountain together, and you have done just that. You've led the Jacksonville Beach Fire Department for 15 years and supported the entire community every step of the way. You have inspired countless people and changed the lives of so many. Now, it's our turn to support you, our turn to be the strong ones. It's our turn to keep you going when it gets hard.

You would think 13 years of Catholic school would have me set in stone with this whole faith thing, but sometimes I stray a little too far from my pew on Sunday. Then, something like this reminds me just how precious each one of my family members is and what's really important. When I got the news of your diagnosis, I hit my knees praying, and I’ll be in the same spot until the day you’ve kicked cancer’s ass like I know you will. The path ahead is long, the water’s rough, but your battle is all of ours, too. #RonStrong

Love,

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