This is NOT Goodbye

In my last post I stated that it would be my last but I have a few more things to say and decided to make this my last post on this blog. I have been inspired over the past few weeks with the effort of Lance Armstrong in the Tour De France. I just finished his book "Lance Armstrong, Its not about the bike" and went through a wave of emotion as I read about his battle with cancer and his courageous return to cycling. The work his foundation is doing for cancer and cancer awareness is incredible and wanted to acknowledge the inspiration it has given me to continue my journey through endurance sports for my cause. I am unable to compete in a triathlon for the remainder of this year due to my elbow injury but I am training for a duathlon and a 10k race by end of 09', and will be training for 2 half-marathons in the 1st qtr of 2010. You can follow my weekly training on my blog or follow me on twitter for my personal/training updates as well. I continue to race for all those affected by cancer, especially prostate cancer and all the families affected by this disease. I also race to create awareness for proactive prostate cancer screening beginning at age 40. If you are 40 years old you should receive a DRE (Digital Rectal Exam) as part of your annual physical, its 10 seconds that could save your life.

Thanks again for all your support, and if you just found out that you have prostate cancer, I hope this information brings you comfort. I pray that God will bless you and your family through this journey. Please feel free to email me with any questions or just to tell me your story. I want to bless you in anyway that I can.

Don't forget to look to the left side of the blog and scroll down and follow me on Twitter.

God Bless You ALL, LIVESTRONG, Life is Good!

This is not goodbye,
Darren Ritch
Who do you race for?

"Its Been a Year to Remember"

On June 30th I celebrated (yes celebrated) the 1 year anniversary of my surgery to remove prostate cancer from my body. As you have read its been a crazy ride and I thank God for the best possible outcome. I am a new man as a result of this experience. I won't say its been a total cake walk, its mentally tough to hear the words that you have cancer and having major surgery was not easy and I am still dealing with some of side effects. I continue to pray for healing and have faith that it will happen. Its still better than having cancer in my body. In the years to come I will continue my work in creating awareness for the disease and continue racing for the cause.

I want to thank everyone for their support and tell everyone who reads this blog for the first time to "Keep the Faith". This will be my last post on this blog, I am so thankful I did the blog and hope it helped some folks along the way and hope it continues to help others as they search for answers. I will continue to answer emails that come to me from the blog and enjoy hearing from others.

May God Bless You all!
Darren Ritch
Prostate Cancer Survivor and advocate