Dear Chip,  

   So what do you get for Christmas for the guy who has cancer?

   A book? A box set of CDs or DVDs? That just doesn’t seem to cut it. A new shirt to wear to teach next semester at Macon State? No, that seems to fall a little flat too. So I’ve tried to think a little bigger, a little broader…a little deeper, and I come back to just words. Things I want to say to you, and want you to know, just in case things get really bad.

   But then that spoils the best part of Christmas – the greatest gift we are given – that of hope. And if the Rogers gang has nothing else this Christmas, we celebrate hope. Hope that your white blood cells, platelets and hemoglobin will keep making a magic climb, hope that we will be strong for you as a family and conquer whatever comes together, hope that if there is a stem cell transplant in the coming months, we will be ready and courageous, ripe for a fight.

   And even, if blessedly, we don’t get to that point, why should I let that stop me from going deep? From telling you that you’re the best big brother a girl could have. From telling you how much I have always looked up to you, from when I was in lower school at CCDS and older students would take one look at my curly red hair and say “You gotta be Chip’s sister.” To my introduction to the social life at Duke, where it was a point of pride to party like a Rogers!  How much I have always appreciated your compassionate ear and your words of wisdom through a breakup with a boyfriend, a disappointment at work, or some fear over uncertainty in the future.

   Without a doubt, you have been my biggest fan as a reader, and I never thank you enough. I don’t say often enough how proud I am of the passion you put into your job and the impact you have on all your students. And I don’t find a way to come out and say that the grace you’ve shown during your illness is nothing short of amazing.   

   But still, I’m left with Christmas. And what to do for you that has a little more meaning…. I did come up with something. First off, I know it will do an awful lot for me, but I’m hoping it’ll also do a little something for you too. I’ve decided to train for the Rock-n-Roll Seattle Marathon on June 27. Look out Team in Training, “Because, Brothers” will be revving up again.

   The stakes are higher now, the distance longer, and it’s a little scarier. But I think the time is right. And whatever happens in the next six months or the next six years, I want to show you that we’re in this fight together and that we’re in it to win! …Ur, um, at least to finish.

   Merry Christmas, Chip. I love you more than a letter can say. Let’s raise a little more cash for the cause and bring on a cure. (Somewhere Alley is smiling!)

Love,

Carroll