Kansas City Disc Golf

Caution – flying plastic!

Advanced Prostate Cancer, Charity Disc Golf, David Emerson, FLHW, Kansas City Disc Golf, Prostate Cancer Foundation -


This evening, twenty four hours later, I still find myself exhausted! However, without a doubt, it was worth every minute, every step, every throw!

Yesterday we held the 2nd Annual FLHW Disc Golf Tournament. Though the weather started off a little cool and breezy, by mid-day, the winds subsided, the clouds passed, and the sky was a clear blue with a warm sun shining down on us. The day ended up being absolutely perfect.

We had 78 disc golfers and were privileged to play on a private course, located on an unbelievable piece of property here in southern Johnson County, Kansas. The owner is a wonderful and extremely generous man to whom Mary and I owe much gratitude.

I’ll provide more details and many, many more pictures in a few days. We are very pleased that we raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000. All of which will be donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) to support the research needed to develop improved treatments and a cure for advanced Prostate Cancer.

Mary and I would personally like to thank each of the Board members who generously dedicated their time to making this event a success, all of the sponsors, volunteers and players that shared in our mission for a cure. God bless all of you!

Fwd: There will be tears.

Charity Disc Golf, David Emerson, Kansas City Disc Golf -

I have been in Orlando all week, away from Mary and Brad.

During this time and as I mentioned in my last entry, we lost a dear friend.

I haven’t really had the opportunity to reflect and let the memories flow or to take a minute to be, if nothing else, sad.

I sense that tonight, after Brad is asleep there will be tears.
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Tomorrow will be crazy busy as Mary and I prepare for Saturday’s second annual FLHW disc golf tournament. At this point I would guess we will end up with close to 100 disc golfers. The weather is supposed to be ideal, the anticipation is unbearable at times. I look forward to the day and once again having the opportunity to promote the need for early detection and support of the research to find a cure for PC.

Pictures and a full update in a few days.

Disc Golf Overload

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, Kansas City Disc Golf -

Friday it was 70 degrees, so Gary and I skipped out of work at 3 in order to enjoy the weather and get in a quick round of disc golf.

We decided to play a course in Olathe, KS that we don’t go to very often. In the past I found the trees tended to be in the way, misplaced is a better description.

It seems in the past year they’ve done a lot of trimming, I really like the course now. Could be the trimming, or the fact I really took it to Gary. Sorry G, but I’ve only beat you a few times, and to take you by eight strokes was pretty darn cool!

Saturday it was warm again but windy. We decided to play at Wyandotte County Park as a warm up for a tournament on Sunday. There were nine of us and because the course is so long, we broke into three groups. I thought I shot horribly, but the wind was unkind to everyone and I was only beaten by three strokes, by Joe of course!

So Sunday rolls around and in additional to losing an hour of sleep, we lost any semblance of good weather. When we arrived at 8:30 the wind was howling at a steady 20mph with gusts over 30. In addition, the temperature was 45, at the most. It was a LONG day and in the end, I finished 5th out of 11 players in my division. It was fun and I met a few new players that promised to play in our FLHW Disc Golf Tournament on May 9th.

Monday I woke up a little stiff, but by this morning I was back to normal.

After all that, I just checked the forecast and it looks like the weekend is looking up!!!

I live for the weekend…..

Advanced Prostate Cancer, David Emerson, Kansas City Disc Golf, Memorial day, triumph -

Yes, an old Triumph send from the 1970’s…I dare include the lyrics!

In about 15 minutes I will depart for the Memorial Day weekend. I have to pause and thank
My dad, brother-in-law Rich, Bill B., Kirk M., Tattoo Steve and all those that served this country. Without your service and defense of simple freedoms like the freedom of speech – blogs like mine would not exist. I am grateful for your service and sacrifice.

Four rounds in just over three days, that is what lies ahead. 5:00pm today some of us are playing in the local disc golf league at Wyandotte County Park. A long course but with the hole-in-one fund sitting at $2,000 I’ll take a shot at a $1,000 (you have to split the pot with the club). Tomorrow is the usual, except Brad will be playing with us. Sunday and Monday we are playing as well.

I’ll need to come back to work to get some rest!

I have to get as much in while I can, not knowing what to expect post 6-9-08…..I’m not worried though, I’m going to tolerate chemo like a warrior!

Peace be with you all – and those of you stateside….Happy and safe Memorial Day!

Chopsticks

Big and Rich, Cardinals, chemotherapy, disc golf, i, Kansas City Disc Golf, PCa -

Mary, Brad and I watched the movie “Big” on Friday night. I must have seen this movie fifty times. I still love it every time. The scene that takes place in the FAO Schwarz toy story is one of my favorite parts of the movie. I’m not sure why? Perhaps it’s Robert Loggia acting like a little kid with Tom Hanks as they play ‘Chopsticks’ on the big piano.

On another note, here is yet another example of the irony of what I am going through. As I’ve mentioned my PSA continues to climb and on June 9th I will begin Chemotherapy as part of a clinical trial. So what does one do when facing events like this? How about play disc golf three days in a row!

On Friday I played nine holes and qualified (along with my friend Gary) to represent our company in the ‘Kansas City Corporate Challenge’. The event, is like a corporate Olympics and lasts for several weeks. The men’s disc golf event is next Sunday morning.

Saturday, most of the usual gang played and I got a little lesson from young Joe….I added about fifty feet to my average drive! The rest of my game needs a tune up but my drives are looking good!

Even after 5 hours working in the yard yesterday, I played again today with Pete, Joe and Steve. We played at a course I haven’t played at since last summer. This course is longer and harder than our usual course but I shot really good on the front nine but two bad holes on the back cost me a good round.

So after that lead in, one that was probably much too long, I recant – after what I am going through with Prostate Cancer, I can’t believe I played three days straight AND worked in the yard yesterday? Is this crazy or what? No fatigue, no pain…..no worries!!

And now we reach the point where I wax philosophical…..
We are on the 10th hole yesterday, Steve and I started discussing this one particularly loud sound bird. After locating a stunningly beautiful male Cardinal we further discussed the fact that unlike most birds, the male Cardinal is the more colorful bird.

Big deal right? Then yesterday afternoon, I take a break from mowing the grass and I’m sitting on the back steps and I hear the same song. No sooner do I find the Cardinal when up flies his mate. They sit there for a minute or two and off they fly together.

I wish there was more, but that’s the story, just a moment of time from a beautiful spring weekend.

Two, two, two posts in One!

chemotherapy, disc golf, FLHW, Kansas City Disc Golf, Nilandron -

First and foremost, here is a treatment update. After researching the proposed clinical trial, Mary and I decided it is worth the potential upside and we are going to participate in the trial. I spoke further with Dr. V only to discover I have to be off Nilandron for at least six weeks. I will stop taking it on Sunday, which will make my first treatment date Monday, June 9th. Treatments will continue once every three weeks for up to twelve treatments (or thirty six weeks). If I am able to stay on schedule, dependent on blood counts maintaining normal range, I will have my final treatment on January 26, 2009 [the day before my 46 birthday!!]

This is going to be a long six weeks leading up to a long nine months. Like everything else we have faced over the past three years, nothing moves fast. The first week of June I’ll have a port surgically implanted and will also have follow-up CT and bone scans. Yippee, more radioactive fluid!!!

The anticipated side effects are somewhat standard for chemotherapy; hair loss, neuropathy, loss of appetite, weight gain (from the steroids), fatigue 4-5 days after treatment, nausea and a few more.
None of this concerns me if the outcome is positive. I have my faith, your love, and the hope God instilled in us all. I truly believe we can win this battle before moving on to the next stage.

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The next update is in regards to the FLHW Disc Golf Tournament. On the upper left side of this page you will find a picture slide show like the one that I created for the Fall ’07 golf tournament. The day was fantastic and thanks to everyone, we were able to raise approximately $2,200 dollars for advanced prostate cancer research.

I especially owe thanks to my friend Gary who crafted this idea and acted as Tournament Director. I also would be remiss if I left out the FLHW Board and my dear friend Pete for his on-going support of FLHW.

At this point, our focus turns to our 4th Annual Golf Tournament to be held Friday, September 26th at Ironhorse Golf Course. We still have a few details to work out. The formal announcement will be coming out in the next week or so…..

Another Successful FLHW Event

Charity Disc Golf, disc golf, FLHW, Kansas City Disc Golf, kcfdc.org, PCF, Prostate Cancer Foundation -

Yesterday we held the first annual FLHW Disc Golf Tournament.
Pictured on the left are the winners, Dave and Arturo who shot 38 in the first round and 39 in the second for a total score of -31!

The picture on the right is of Arturo’s winning putt during the closest to the pin contest.
Click on it and in the enlarged version you can see the disc about to land in the chains.

The day started out blustery and in the mid 40’s, but by the afternoon round we were in short sleeves and the temperatures climbed well into the 60’s.

26 teams participated and helped us raise approximately $2,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Again, the kindness of strangers as well as friends and family leaves me somewhat speechless. I owe a big thank you to Pete, Gary, the FLHW Board, the volunteers and everyone who participated in the event.