Local Martial Arts Masters Hold World Class Seminar to Help Save a Leukemia Patient
If you live in the midwest, more specifically within driving distance of Omaha, Nebraska, there is a martial arts demonstration fundraiser going on this weekend put on by several martial arts masters, my sensei included. This is open to anyone from any art who would like an opportunity to train with many great martial artists in arts from around the world. The purpose of this event is to help raise money for a 14 year old boy with leukemia. Besides the martial arts demonstrations, there will be a garage sale and a bake sale.
Here is a message from Greg from the website.
“I have leukemia, a cancer of the blood. I underwent chemotherapy for 2 ½ years starting in May of 2000. I was in remission for fifteen months and then had a relapse. I underwent another 2 ½ years of chemo because a bone marrow donor was not found. I was in remission for 17 months after that chemo; unfortunately, the leukemia relapsed just after Thanksgiving this year 2007. This means that it is very resistant to chemo and is considered VERY HIGH RISK. The best chance for a cure for this disease is a stem-cell or bone marrow transplant. You can learn about Greg at www.greghatchey.com.
Well I’ve found a couple of cord blood units…but read on.
Translated: that means I’ll be in Seattle for awhile (possibly up to a year).
I’m told that the likelihood of finding a match for me is like winning the lottery, but in the last couple of years, they have made some significant advances with cord blood.”
In the times of feudal Japan, a samurai would travel through Japan in Musha Shugyo. These wandering Samurai are not to be confused with Ronin, or “Masterless Samurai.” Ronin are samurai who have been expelled by their master, or their master has been killed in battle. A shugyosha is a samurai who has left his family and school to travel from town to town, taking challenges and learning at various schools to hone their skills. This time is also used to seek a daimyo to serve. The shugyosha would carry only a few supplies, their swords (or weapon of choice), and would hire themselves out for food or money. During this time, the shugyosha would not be protected by his family or school. The most famous shugyosha was Miyamoto Musashi.
I was fortunate enough to enjoy a weekend of sitting around and doing nothing. I noticed the History Channel was having one of their “We’re All Going to Die” weekends, which I suppose is better than 72 hours of Hitler, since it was Veterans Day weekend. One of the dooms day shows they were playing was “10 Ways the World Will End”. One of the ways is an asteroid, of which they discussed that Apophis will dip below our satellites as it passes through earth orbit on April 13, 2029 (Friday the 13th). Then, if it continues on it’s path as expected, it will hit the earth and kill us all. Only a handful of people are actually preparing to defend the earth against Apophis. They believe that by flying a ship close to it, the gravity of the ship will be enough to pull Apophis off course so that it won’t hit us. This theory is untested, and scientists only think it will work. But that’s not the the odd thing that came to mind.
