Through Me, DesignAShirt Is Supporting Cancer Awareness

Disclaimer: I have been compensated with shirts, donated by DesignAShirt, in exchange for my post. All opinions are 100% my own.

In June of 2013, I participated in a local 5K, sponsored by Live Like Liz. It’s an organization committed to promoting Ovarian Cancer awareness and education about the disease. When I decided to run in the 5K I originally planned on running the race in this shirt my sister had made up in 2009, when I flew to Texas to surprise my dad, whom I hadn’t seen since 2000.

I then came up with an idea for a different shirt. I took to Facebook and asked my friends to send me names of friends and/or family who had had cancer and beat it, passed away, or who were currently battling cancer. I wound up with over 70 names on my shirt! Admittedly, the “design” was crude: handwritten names, written with a permanent marker on a plain white T-Shirt. My daughter Abbey took over writing the names, as my hand-writing is nothing to be desired!

Race day came, and I wore the shirt. I felt an overwhelming sense of pride. I felt I was running every step in honor of those who had this horrible disease. I was proud of myself!

I haven’t participated in the 5K in the past Five years, due to work commitments and just plain being out of shape. I started a weight-loss/healthy habits program in November 2017 (Optavia) and have lost 30 pounds! The loss of weight has given me more energy and again a sense of purpose to run the Liz 5K this year. Along with weight training, I’m currently running 3+ miles at least 3 times per week in preparation for the race, which is in June.

I once again decided to call out to my friends and family to once again create a shirt for the race. A friend suggested reaching out to online shirt companies, in hopes that a company would be willing to work with me in creating a shirt for me, my wife, daughter, grand-kids, and daughter-in-law (my cheer section). I submitted many requests to various companies, and I received an email from DesignAShirt, stating that they would be more than happy to donate to my cause! I was beyond excited!

Here is my beautiful daughter, Abbey, in her custom DesignAShirt creation:

Samantha from DesignAShirt has been so easy to work with! She suggested that I come up with the process of the design, and encouraged me to be a part of the creative process, instead of just giving them all the details and have them do it really impressed me. She has sent me suggestions for my review and approval. This was the initial creation I came up with.

After some in-depth thinking, I decided to change the color of the shirt, the font, and added the hashtag #Maddystrong to the shirt for a friend of mine and my wife. Her daughter just had surgery recently on her thyroid, when it was discovered that she had thyroid cancer. Thirteen years old, and got cancer! 

After a small issue with the emailed list of names to DesignAShirt that knocked off most of the names off the shirt, they corrected the shirt to include all of the names I had sent them. AT NO COST!

My beautiful wife, Becky!

All in all, I’ve really loved working with DesignAShirt. Their attention to my wants and correcting a mistake that was really no fault of anyone tells me that they’re committed to their customers through their amazing customer service.

I will be writing another post on race day, June 2nd. Stay tuned for that!

The survivors, the ones we lost, and the fighters….

William E. Willis (DAD)  Gene Barton  Jackie Rinker  Shane Folsom  Patricia Visser  William Alexander  Judy Roemer  Art Maxwell  Marjorie Smith  Devon Shaw  Margaret Dean  Don Dean Donald M. Dean Garry Sammons  Julie Love  Michael Loftin  Maddy Brouwere  Chuck Lockwood  Anita Lockwood  Savannah Oneal  Jan Turner  Becky Walker  Lance Pomeroy  Pauline Pomeroy  Adam Diaz  Bill Elliott Sr.  Bill Elliott Jr.  Gayla Coulter  Ralph Lentz  Pamela Burris  Elaine Shell  Ashley Shell  Peter Thomas  Harold Mills  DJ Mills  Francis Mason  Geneva Herpeche  Joseph Stock  Millie Stock  John Soja Peter Thomas Keven Goodell Angie Covert Bobby McCall Johnnie Drake Vivian Rogers  Donna Hendrix  Kimberly Reed  Maria Zapata  Sandy Torres  Susie Smith  John Bishop  Michelle Fontenot  Malcolm Lloyd Parrish  Walter Campbell  Michelle Strausbaugh  Kenneth Huston  Dorothy Cornell  Dawn Fuller  Priscilla Clark  Lois Cornell  Shelva Wardynski  Billie Jones  Chase Szczepanski  Laura Pate  Burr Woodruff   Uncle Lee Ryan  Betty Ryan  Rozella Wilson  Marion Perry  Hayden Corke  Sheila Jessiman  Linda Cotterill