Memory Laps to Fight Back
Friday, June 5, 2009
By: Christine McCourt

I Relay for the memory of my beloved husband; if anyone I love ever again is diagnosed with cancer, I will know I've been doing everything I can to help the fight.

I relay in loving memory of Jon McCourt, aka Jimmy Coole. Diagnosed in June 2005 with terminal esophageal cancer which had already metastasized to his brain and his bones. Jon's only goal was to watch his second child be born. Despite his rapidly declining health, he greeted our daughter Elizabeth as she was born in October, and he passed away a short 3 weeks later.

Losing Jon to cancer was devastating for all his family and friends. His loss has left a void in our lives and our hearts which can never be filled, and a sadness which can never be forgotten. Our love for Jon burns on as we keep the light of his memory alive by participating in the Relay For Life to support world-class cancer research with the anticipation that a day will come when nobody will have to suffer the pain of this hideous disease, that nobody will ever again lose a precious loved one to cancer.

In the past three years at Relay For Life, Team Jimmy Coole members have raised more than $145,000, we hope to continue the momentum at Relay 2010. While I wish I had no reason to be involved in this fabulous fundraiser, I have met many amazingly inspirational people along the way who continue to instill hope and determination within me on my on quest to fight back against cancer.

I Relay for Jon, I Relay for Hope.