#EmilyLivesOn Man of the Year Campaign for the LLS

On November 18, 2013 our lives changed forever.  You see it all the time in Facebook and television but you never in a million years imagine your child would be going through it.  You never imagine your family would be the one posting those pictures and asking for prayers.  My mother battled breast cancer and won a couple years earlier.  My fiancé, a two-time survivor.  Those were horrible experiences for them and for me but those are much more acceptable than having to see a child go through the battle with Cancer.  Emily (#EmilyLivesOn) is my stepdaughter.  Emily is a beautiful soul who has gone through this life changing experience.   On that day I was working late as most good Realtors do!  Coincidently a friend of mine was working at Baptist West Kendall Hospital when Betty took Emily in for back pain and a dry couch.  After the x-ray my friend immediately called me and asked me to head right to the hospital.  When I arrived I found Emily in the room with a worried look on her face and Betty sitting on the floor at the nurses station in tears.  The nurse showed me the x-ray and even to the untrained eye I could see there was a mass between her lung and heart.  I could almost hear my heart break and feel the millions of thoughts go through my head.  We wont fill you with the history of the last 15 months.  All I can say is that I have seen both my daughter and fiancé go through one of the hardest times of their lives.  And I feel blessed to have been there to support them.  Emily had a wonderful doctor who made the process as smooth as possible.  Dr. Doured Daghistani and his wife are some of the most amazing people we have ever met in our lives.  And we were blessed to have them care for Emily the way they did but in the end it was Cancer who took our Emily away. In September 2014, Emily underwent a stem cell transplant.  29 consecutive days locked up in the hospital.  Betty never leaving her side.  As much as I visited, I could never know what Emily or Betty went through and what they continue to go through. Following that the mass got bigger and never responded to the transplant.  It was a lot of in and out of the hospital and finally it was 3 straight months in the hospital until Emily passed on February 27th, 2015.  She passed surrounded by a lot of family and a lot of love.  Her mass had an attendance of over 1,200 people from all over.  Her FaceBook following reached people all over the country and other countries as they wore blue for Emily and chanted #EmilyLivesOn - we could not have asked for a stronger follwoing.  She was an amazing spirit and it showed with all the people that were affected by her death.  Today we keep her name alive by giving back.  By being strong for her.  By creating #EmilyLivesOn we have kept the following alive so we can do great things for others.  That is our goal.  So shout it out!!  Emily Lives On