What a great family

By the title of this post, you probably assume I'm speaking about my family. While they are so special, I'm speaking about another great family. It starts with this great man named Jon. He came from a fairly modest background, growing up in Blackfoot, Idaho to a School Teacher. I won't chronicle his entire career but he became a very successful business man and he and his wife Karen established the Huntsman Cancer Institute in 1995.

I attended a dinner, silent auction, and survivor's dance last night at the Grand America in Salt Lake City. It was such a neat event. I knew that they did a lot of good work but I wasn't aware of the influence they had on cancer research as a whole. I've often heard that one of the problems with cancer research is that the companies don't want to see a cure because they make so much money from the chemo drugs. I know that is not the case with the Huntsman Cancer Institute. We heard from Karen Huntsman at the event last night. I was so impressed. She talked about our Heavenly Father and what he wants for his children. We were introduced to a young survivor that had to have her leg amputated. She was so full of life and was very happy.

After the dinner, there was a survivor's dance. They gave all of the survivors a nice pin. Michelle and I were able to dance together to an Elvis classic. I'm so glad I have her! We attended the event with several people from E*TRADE. I also brought my parents and Seth and Julie. At one point, they asked who was a survivor of cancer. I was so impressed that there were so many people there that were survivors. I have to thank my E*TRADE team as well. I was told that they cheered when we raised our hands.

I loved what Karen Huntsman said at one point in the night. She said (and I'm paraphrasing) that those individuals that have survived cancer have changed for the good and the world is a better place because of them. It reminded me of a quote that I recently read. It says, "I won't let cancer define me but I will allow it to refine me". What a great quote. When I think of refining, I think of gold and purity. That little girl was pure gold. I hope I can become like that and never forget what I've gone through.

For now, I am just so grateful to the Huntsmans and the wonderful advancements in cancer treatment that they have supported. I also know of many other philanthropic efforts of the Huntsmans and I hope that we can all be like them. We may not have the resources that they do, but we can all do our part.