Buy Atayne for a good cause

Disclaimer: I have no formal affiliation with Atayne Sportwear and receive no compensation for any promotion I make on their behalf, big or small. Also, I did not know Jeremy Litchfield, Chief Pacesetter of the company, before a random email related to him passed by my desk at L.L.Bean. I am just a consumer who happens to run and who is always looking to do right by his planet.

Having said that, let the endorsements begin. In Atayne's recent newsletter (sent out Friday - sign up for it if you haven't), there was a little story on my family's battle with cancer and how it put us where we are today. When Jeremy asked me if it was okay to add a little on us, I agreed with the caveat that it would be more than just a "guy survives cancer, has a family, and now runs stupid distances". I wanted to make sure people knew that cancer can easily strike young, pretty healthy people who think they are invincible and immune to life threatening illnesses because "they never get sick". My story was just like that. I had a family practitioner who hardly knew how to use his stethoscope and seemed to be more preoccupied with getting me out of his office so he could hit the links. His incompetence and my indifference nearly cost me my life. So never take your health nor "little" ailments lightly. Be your own advocate. LiveStrong.

So I appreciate Jeremy writing up my story and hopefully it will help one person do good for his or her health. At the very least the story will help some young people who have no business fighting cancer - Jeremy has committed 10% of all purchases made using the code LiveStrongMaine. See the excerpt from the newsletter below. This is the perfect, earth-friendly gift to give to your loved ones who run or who don't run but really like cool, green stuff. Heck, buy them two so they will always have a shirt to wear while waiting for the other to line dry!

"In honor of Stephen’s remarkable story, Atayne will donate 10% of all online sales to the Maine Children's Cancer Program when you use the code livestrongmaine. Be sure to put the code in the Coupon/Promotional Code field during check out and push the Apply button. This offer will be good until December 31, 2008."

(Jeremy's inquiry also got me motivated to do something I have wanted to do for a long time, and that is chronicle my experience with cancer - the criminal misdiagnosis to the 5 year checkup which declared me cancer free.)