Shred for Red, the annual ski fundraiser for Blood Cancer United, will be back in 2027. Registration for fundraising participants starts Sept. 1, the first day of Blood Cancer Awareness Month. 

This year’s fundraising goal is $450,000. Event organizers spoke of the importance of this event and the impact the funds will have in helping the organization’s research and advocacy work for Blood Cancer patients. 

Austin Simon is the adventure series director for Blood Cancer United and has a personal connection to the organization’s work. Her mother-in-law beat lymphoma twice, Simon lost her grandmother to multiple myeloma and she is currently going through cancer treatment herself.

“Our mission is to cure blood cancer and to improve the quality of life for patients and their families and having direct family members that have been touched by blood cancer makes me mission connected,” Simon said. 

Dr. Robert Winn, Deer Valley’s former chief medical officer, started Shred for Red after his wife was diagnosed with leukemia, with the help of Olympian and leukemia survivor Bryan Fletcher and Blood Cancer United. At the time, the organization was called the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. 

Every year since then, people have fundraised for the organization, with the effort ending in a Deer Valley ski day. 

“It really fits into the mission because it allows people to be on the mountain and do something in person, but it also gives them the opportunity to bring honor to people who have gone through treatments, and the memory of people who have passed away,” said Shelby Rogers, the Shred for Red event manager. 

Rogers, who also manages the Climb 2 Cure event, is connected to the organization’s mission through her grandfather, who passed away from lymphoma. 

“Our mission, when we were founded in 1945, was really to fund incredible research because there were no cures at the time,” Simon said. “Our mission has evolved. We recognize not only do we need to find a cure, but we also need to be there to support our patients and their families. We also need to advocate for them so that they’re having access to the most amazing treatments.”

Erin Stone and her family, who live in Holladay, have experienced the significance of the organization’s advocacy directly. Stone’s son was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 5 and a half years old. 

Leukemia accounts for 40% of all childhood cancer diagnoses. Stone explained the treatment cycle for pediatric leukemia takes more than two years. She said some of the medications during her son’s treatment cost thousands of dollars for a single dose. Over the course of long treatment, this adds up to what can be insurmountable for many families. 

Last year, Blood Cancer United provided Utah families with $1 million in financial assistance. And in the past decade, the organization has contributed $2 million to statewide research projects. The 2026 Shred for Red event raised $300,000, only half of its goal. This year, snow conditions will be better, and the event will be earlier in the season, so organizers are hoping they’ll meet, if not exceed the goal. 

Teams and individuals can fundraise for Shred for Red. There’s a tiered goal system, and participants are required to meet their goal to attend the event. Rogers explained this is set so the organization can fund the event itself as well as raise money for its mission. 

After registration, participants will meet with Rogers one-on-one each month to strategize their goals.

“We definitely want this to be a fun experience for people, not something that feels like another thing they have to do,” Rogers said. “So we try to make it fun.”

Rogers said she has fundraising guides with social media posts, email and text templates and phone scripts to help people get started. 

“If it’s not easy, call us,” Simon said. 

Every year, Shred for Red spotlights someone in the community with blood cancer as an Honored Hero. Not all of the fundraiser participants have a direct connection to blood cancer, so the Honored Heroes can help people understand the experiences and impacts it has. 

At the 2023 Shred for Red event, Stone’s son was the Honored Hero. She said participating that year helped their family make connections with people across the country who were experiencing the same thing as them.

“Once you get started with it, you’re hooked. You want to feed into that community of support and love and common goals and wanting to support the mission,” she said. “It’s really a special thing.”

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The National Ability Center is holding its 20th annual Summit Challenge on Aug. 29. The challenge of this bike ride isn’t to finish first, but to raise funds for the center.

Early registration ends Aug. 1 for the center’s largest summer event. Development and Events Manager Madison Lambdin said she encourages early signups because of the ride’s popularity.

“One of the things I love most about the National Ability Center is that we create moments people never thought were possible,” Lambdin said. “Whether it’s someone’s first time riding a bike, skiing or simply feeling included, those moments stay with them forever, and Summit Challenge helps make those moments possible.”

The funds raised through the challenge allow the National Ability Center to continue its work in providing adaptive and accessible recreation. Its goal this year is to raise $185,000 through registration and donations. 

Lambdin said registering for the ride with a team is one of the best ways to fundraise.

“People are often surprised by how willing friends and family are to support a cause they care about,” Lambdin said. “Sharing why you’re riding and why the National Ability Center matters to you can go a long way.”

While the competition of the Summit Challenge is in fundraising rather than finish times, the ride will still have many signature race-day features. Names will be announced as riders cross the finish line, custom socks are included with registration and community organized rest stops will support riders throughout the course. 

Riders of all abilities will have their choice of eight paved routes exploring Summit County. They range in distance from a one-mile Discovery Loop, planned with families in mind, to a 100-mile route that goes through Wolf Creek Ranch in Woodland. 

“We just want to make sure that there’s something for everyone,” Lambdin said. “The goal is to get everyone … to enjoy this ride with their friends or their family, and enjoy the community members.”

Adaptive bikes are available on loan from the National Ability Center for those who want to participate but may not have the equipment themselves. The center can also direct riders to rental options for traditional bikes. On the day of the Summit Challenge, the National Ability Center will transform into a vendor village so everyone in the community can be a part of the festivities, not just ride participants.

To sign up, visit summitchallenge100.org.

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The Utah Avalanche Center’s 33rd annual Backcountry Benefit is just around the corner. Ticket prices for the fundraising event will start increasing Aug. 1 until the event on Sept. 10.

The first Backcountry Benefit was held in 1993 after the death of skier Roman Latta. A few months after Latta, a young Black Diamond employee, was killed in an avalanche there was a funding cut to the Utah Avalanche Center. Black Diamond Equipment had recently moved their headquarters to Salt Lake City and they quickly worked to support fundraising efforts.

In the three decades since then, Black Diamond has continued to sponsor the annual Backcountry Benefit as it’s evolved into a large source of funding for the Utah Avalanche Center. The benefit has become known throughout the community as a way to come together and celebrate the start of the season, while supporting the center and its lifesaving work. 

This year, the Utah Avalanche Center wants to bring the focus of the Backcountry Benefit back to the original “why.”

The unusual 2025-26 winter season brought extreme avalanche danger. Four fatalities occurred in one week. The Utah Avalanche Center is working hard going into this season to raise awareness for safety measures. Part of that, organizers say, is strengthening the winter sport community.

Laurel Vincent, communications lead for the Utah Avalanche Center, said the 2026 Backcountry Benefit will still be a party, but with an added emphasis on building up life-saving community bonds. Something as simple as knowing where your party is on the mountain can save someone’s life, she said.

“[The Backcountry Benefit] is a homegrown effort,” Vincent said. “It’s community built and driven.” 

As always, the community can connect with nonprofits, industry representatives and education initiatives, but this year the benefit is promised to be “sport-agnostic.” The backcountry is just as dangerous whether you’re on skis or a snowmobile, so the center wants to emphasize that this event and this community isn’t just for skiers and snowboarders.

The money raised through the Backcountry Benefit keeps every part of the Utah Avalanche Center running. Forecasters employed by the U.S. Forest Service and the essential staff that keep the nonprofit on track are all supported by the benefit. The website and hotline used to share the forecasts and awareness initiatives wouldn’t be possible without community donations, either. 

In addition to supporting the Utah Avalanche Center, this year’s Backcountry Benefit will also support the National Ability Center. Attendees can bring used gear to the event which will be collected and donated to the National Ability Center. Tickets for the Backcountry Benefit can be purchased through the Utah Avalanche Center’s website. For more information on Roman Latta’s story and the history of the Backcountry Benefit, visit here. 

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Every year, 78-year-old Rocky Mountain Middle School custodian Dean Davis swears he’ll retire, but he always comes up with some reason not to. 

His latest, morbid excuse? 

“I’m looking for two holes (for my wife, Carol, and me) to get buried in. And when I get them all paid for (then I’ll retire),” he said.

But Jade Chavez, the middle school’s Spanish liaison and secretary, isn’t taking any excuses from Davis this year. That’s why she organized a GoFundMe for community members to help fund her friend’s retirement. 

Chavez has worked at the school for three years; Davis for 18. The pair are usually the last people in the building on a given school day, so they’ve gotten pretty close.

“I love learning about him, and he gives me advice,” Chavez said. 

Davis experiences daily pain in his legs, hands and back, but never complains and rarely takes a sick day. 

“This body of mine, it doesn’t know how to quit,” Davis said. 

Some of his health issues stem from a battle with stage IV colon cancer 18 years ago.

“They took a big ball out of me, like a baseball,” he said about his tumor. “I came out of that alive, but I keep telling my wife I’m dead. When you get cancer, and when you get all them treatments, it takes a lot out of you.”

Namely, over a year of chemotherapy left him with peripheral neuropathy, an umbrella term for conditions involving damage to the nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include numbness, tingling and pain.

“It gets you in your hands and your feet up to your knees almost, and you can’t walk that great. That’s how come I have problems,” he said. “I take medicines for it, but you always have pain.”

Like a 31-year-old “big sister,” as Davis put it, Chavez is always giving her friend a hard time for overexerting himself — for example, when the 78-year-old custodian climbs onto countertops to dust out of reach spots or skips meals. 

“He shouldn’t be working, and he’s always in pain,” Chavez said. “The first year I started working here, I asked him, ‘How would you feel if I made a TikTok about you?’ And he did not like that. So, I want to respect that and not do it, but I did it now because I just can’t see him like that.”

When Davis learned about the GoFundMe, he was embarrassed.

“Having people look at me like, ‘Oh, he’s old. He should be retired’? No, that’s not me,” he said.

As Chavez put it, she organized the fundraiser not because Davis has to retire, but because he deserves to.

Davis has been working ever since he graduated from Grantsville High School in Tooele County six decades ago. He milked cows at a local dairy for 32 years. Then he worked maintenance and custodial jobs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Lucas Aerospace in Park City, Bear Creek Country Kitchens in Heber City and the Zermatt Utah Resort & Spa in Midway. 

When Davis tried to imagine his retirement, all he could think of was more work. He plans to spend his days pulling weeds in his backyard. He can’t see himself “sitting in the house all day long watching television.”

But when pushed, he admitted he’d like to travel to Georgia and Iowa to visit family. Montana and Idaho, just for fun. He might even go on an Alaskan cruise with his wife, who has been begging him to retire.

“I think she put her up to it,” Davis said, pointing to Chavez.

He’ll also, of course, spend some time planning his funeral. He’d like his hearse to be his baby blue 1986 Dodge Ram pickup truck, which he inherited from his father when he died in 2000. Somehow, the car has only 88,000 miles on it.

“I want to use it for the coffin … and let somebody step on the gas, and I go flying out,” he joked. 

Davis’ retirement GoFundMe has already raised nearly $6,000 and can be found at tinyurl.com/y38wn3pu.

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Of the hundreds of people gathered on the Wasatch High School track on Saturday morning, around 40 wore green and yellow baseball caps reading “Team Gunnar.” They’d come for the 5K fundraiser for the local disability advocacy nonprofit, Parents Empowering Abled Kids, or PEAK.

They were the cheerleaders of 9-year-old Gunnar Larson, the biggest Green Bay Packers fanatic in his third grade class at Midway Elementary School — hence the hats.

“His goal in life is to go to the Green Bay Packers Lambeau Field and meet Jordan Love. He even signs his name at school, ‘Gunnar Love,’” said his mother, Darcy.

Gunnar has a rare chromosomal condition called partial trisomy 19. He’s been participating in PEAK-organized activities for four years. The organization partners with the National Ability Center in Park City to provide access to adaptive sports — like cycling, rock climbing, equestrian and skiing — for local kids at a low cost.

“This was Gunnar’s third year skiing, and he flies down that hill, and he was doing blues this year,” Darcy said. “PEAK has been amazing for us because it’s been able to provide opportunities for Gunnar that might not always be available.”

PEAK was founded 10 years ago by Ben Springer, who was the director of special education for the Wasatch County School District at the time. He created the parent group to provide opportunities like recreation and scholarships for the district’s disabled students, give parents a voice in special education programming and recognize the work of parents and educators.

PEAK Board Vice Chair Erin Sabey said the purpose of the 5K is not only to raise funds for programming through business sponsorships, race registration and a silent auction, but to foster community engagement. 

“We want the community to see our kids and recognize that they are part of the community, and we all are better together,” she said. 

John Emmett ran with his 12-year-old son, Timmy. They would trade off in 20-second intervals — 20 seconds of John pushing Timmy in his wheelchair and 20 seconds of Timmy wheeling himself. When they got to the downhill segments, John “couldn’t keep up.”

“It’s (an) all-abilities focus, so there are opportunities to cut the course and do the distance that you can. So last year, we did a little over 3K. Today, we did 4K. Next year, we’re gonna do the full map,” he said. “Right, bud?”

“Sure,” Timmy replied. His favorite part of the 5K wasn’t the race — it was the donuts.

John said Timmy has made friends through PEAK that he wouldn’t have had otherwise and that it’s given him access to recreation that the family wouldn’t be able to afford on their own. 

Ryan Bennett, a parent who has been involved with PEAK since it began, said the same about his 14-year-old son, Tanner.

Tanner’s favorite PEAK activity has been riding horses — especially getting to say, “Yeehaw,” he explained.

Ryan and his wife, Kimberly, have been involved with PEAK since it began. Ryan said he “wasn’t sure how to be a good parent” to Tanner when he first found out his son had Down Syndrome, but that other parents, and later, PEAK, offered advice and connected him with resources that could help.

“I have learned so much about empowering these kids,” he said. “(The key is) believing in him, giving him opportunities, not treating him as having disabilities, but treating him as having many gifts and that he can do hard things.”

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If the witty banter between cast and crew members behind the scenes is any indication, Heber City theater company Charitable Acts Theatre’s production of Larry Shue’s 1984 comedy “The Foreigner” is going to be a riot. 

“The first priority is to make everybody laugh so hard that they pee their pants,” joked director David Thorpe. “So, we’re going to be handing out bottles of water and try to have everybody be really hydrated so that those with the weakest bladders can help us meet our goal.”

The premise of “The Foreigner” ensures that it’ll be easy to laugh at.

The play follows an Englishman, Charlie Baker, who visits a lodge in Georgia for a weekend trip. Feeling shy and depressed, Baker pretends to be a foreigner from a fictional country who doesn’t know English — a very reasonable excuse to get out of socializing.

Actor Gary Page said playing Baker is, in many ways, a breeze. He barely speaks, and when he does, his lines are complete gibberish. If he flubs a word, he can just make up the next one. You can’t do that in Shakespeare.

It’s a very physical role, characterized by facial expressions and exaggerated body language. That’s resulted in a fair amount of chaos. During rehearsals, Page jumped from a table and collided straight into the ceiling.

“Full leg spring into the thing, and you watched his head collapse into his rib cage,” Thorpe laughed. “And he landed, and everybody was like, ‘All right, so your next line is …’”

Probably the trickiest thing for Page to pull off will be a three-page monologue written in gibberish, performed in a way so that the audience comprehends the monologue’s meaning despite it not making a lick of sense. 

As Baker pretends not to understand English, people become much more loose-lipped around him. As a result, Baker learns all kinds of gossip and even discovers a plot by members of the Ku Klux Klan to take over the lodge as a new gathering place. 

Some theater companies have chosen to remove the Klan storyline, but the crew at Charitable Acts Theatre felt it was important to carry on the play’s original mission of pointing out the horror and absurdity of racism.

The cast and crew were inspired by a quote by 17th-century French playwright Molière: “The duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them.”

The play is rich with mature themes, including unwanted pregnancy, xenophobia and the fetishization of foreign cultures, but comedy makes these themes easily digestible for a general audience.

“I think (the audience) will be reminded of things that are happening that are current events in America and out of America, but they won’t feel like they’re being talked down to or lectured to,” Thorpe said. “It will feel relevant and pertinent, but it will feel fun, and that’s the most important thing. This show is designed to be fun, to remind us to enjoy each other and to enjoy community.”

Community is central not just to the script, but to Charitable Acts Theatre as a venture. The theater company was founded in 2022 with the mission of giving all proceeds to local charities. 

Founder Carrie Zabaldo began her theater journey in childhood, but her passion fell to the wayside while raising her children in Oregon. There, she began volunteering with a bevy of charities. By the time she moved to Heber City, she knew she wanted to start a charity of her own, all while getting in touch with her thespian roots.

Production costs for Charitable Acts Theatre productions are covered by grants, including Wasatch County Trails, Arts and Parks tax grants, as well as a haunted house fundraiser in October. That means truly every penny spent on a ticket is going directly to charity.

Over five productions, Charitable Acts Theatre has raised over $72,000 for organizations including The Horse of Many Colors, Wasatch Community Foundation, Peace House and the Midway Playhouse.

All proceeds made from ticket sales for “The Foreigner” will go to the Wasatch County Children’s Justice Center, which provides services to children undergoing the child abuse investigative process.

“The Foreigner” runs Friday through March 28 at the Ideal Playhouse in Heber City. Learn more and purchase tickets at hebercat.org.

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When Melissa Phelps bought her house in Daniel with her former husband in 2001, it was in rough shape. Daylight filtered through the walls of its single bathroom, and the structure wasn’t even sitting on a foundation.

“I remember we came to just look around the property, and my husband’s foot went through the bridge that goes over the stream,” Phelps recalled.

The 1,200-square-foot home was built in the 1890s. Although it was being held together by Band-Aid fixes, it was affordable. So, the Phelps family bought it.

Phelps raised her four children in that home. 

The youngest, 11-year-old Verity, was diagnosed with epilepsy in first grade. She regularly has absence seizures, which, from the outside, look as if the person experiencing them is staring off into space. 

In January 2024, the attacks worsened. Phelps said Verity was “like a robot,” constantly out of it and giving one-word responses.

A pediatrician explained that Verity was having back-to-back seizures. Prescribed medication worked for a time. But by the start of that summer, Verity’s symptoms worsened again.

In September, Verity was rushed to the emergency room for sepsis, the body’s extreme response to an infection, but just what had caused the infection remained a mystery. Phelps took her daughter to specialist after specialist who couldn’t explain the cause of her health issues.

In July 2025, Phelps noticed that Verity’s symptoms had lessened during a family trip to Florida. She realized Verity’s health problems must have been connected with the house they were living in. 

There had been no visible signs of mold in the house. But upon further inspection, Phelps found mold under the floor and in the roof. Phelps moved in with her parents in Midway as she resolved to redo the floor and roof herself with the help of YouTube tutorials. 

When Phelps mentioned her problem to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Bishop Justin Goodrich, he connected her with local plumber J.R. Coleman. Coleman assessed that it would cost more to mitigate the mold than it would to build a new house entirely. 

“(Goodrich) said, ‘I don’t want to step on any toes here, but would you let us just tear your house down and build you a new one?’” Phelps recalled. “I’m stubbornly independent, and so I swallowed my pride, and I finally said, ‘You know, if God’s going to try this hard to bless me, I’m not going to stand in his way.’”

Goodrich organized an effort to demolish Phelps’ home and design and build a new one in its place. Fellow church members and the broader community have pitched in labor and funds, including an anonymous donor who will be paying off Phelps’ current mortgage.

Jason Grant, a general contractor who has helped design Phelps’ new home, described his neighbor of over 12 years as “one of the most Christlike people I’ve ever met.”

“She would do anything for you. You would never know if she was in a bad mood because she just seems like the happiest lady in the world,” he said.

Phelps currently works as a teacher at the Heber City location of Sunshine Square Preschool. The series of preschools was founded by Phelps’ mother, Susie Anderson. 

When she was younger, Phelps, insisting that she wouldn’t become her mother, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business from Utah State University. But the teaching itch must have been genetic: Phelps ran the Heber City preschool for over 20 years. She’s currently studying special education at Western Governors University and hopes to teach for the Wasatch County School District.

In 2023, Phelps took a break from the preschool to work at a credit union, but came back running. 

“I felt like a part inside of me was dying. I was like, ‘Nobody’s singing songs,’” Phelps joked. “I’ve got to have children in my life. They keep me grounded. They keep me humble.”

Amy Reeves, who taught at the preschool when Phelps was principal, described her as “the kindest and most ethical person I have ever known.” 

She said Phelps’ foundation was not only in academics, but in teaching children honesty and responsibility and ensuring each student felt important and loved.

Phelps’ connection with her students is evidenced by a towering, cottonless cottonwood tree on her property. She bought the sapling using a plant nursery gift card given to her by the parents of one of her students almost 20 years ago. 

“Every time I look at the tree, I think of the greatness within each child,” Phelps said.

Sadly, the tree will have to be cut down when the Phelps family demolishes their home in the next few weeks. But as Phelps put it, “Change is the only path to something better.”

Although much of the home building costs have been covered through volunteer labor, community members have organized a GoFundMe to fundraise the cost of building materials and the replacement of furniture exposed to mold spores. Donations can be made at gofund.me/30ae49d1f.

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Pat Dettman was at a football long snapping camp in Las Vegas with his son, Brock, in January when he first experienced the symptoms.

“I got up to get a ball, and my right knee kind of buckled, and I fell,” he recalled. “Of course, my wife and daughters were there and had a good chuckle because their dad looked uncoordinated and fell. We just chalked it up to being old and clumsy.”

He fell a few more times in the following months, but it wasn’t until April that Pat began to suspect something was wrong. He set a doctor’s appointment for himself — which, his wife Lorraine joked, “never happens.”

“I don’t know what (it is) about men, but men don’t want to go to the doctor,” she laughed.

That doctor’s visit led to a follow-up with a neurologist. And in late August, Pat was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

ALS destroys motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, which communicate with the body’s muscles to control movement. There is no known cure. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, most people with ALS die from respiratory failure within three to five years after first symptoms, and about one in 10 people survives for over a decade. 

Casey Lewis, Pat’s friend of 12 years, remembered the heyday of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014. Lewis, Pat and some other friends and family members participated, recording a video of themselves dumping ice and frigid water on their heads as part of the viral trend to spread awareness about the degenerative neurological disease.

“Nobody even knew what it was, but it was kind of the thing to do,” Lewis said. “When he was diagnosed, we knew exactly what it was. It’s the most ruthless, thieving, unfortunate disease there is out there, that just robs you of everything.”

But that hasn’t stopped Pat from continuing his passion for assistant coaching football at Wasatch High School. Pat has driven a golf cart around the field all season, offering advice to players, repairing helmets and setting up equipment with the other equipment managers.

“He thought about how he can make everything better for the boys … from equipment to events to celebrating little accomplishments in their personal lives to highlighting them on social media,” said head coach Derik Bringhurst.

Lewis recalled a moment two years ago when a student athlete was injured during a game. Tearing up, Pat helped the student off the ground as EMTs rushed to help him.

“Pat is 6-foot-4, 375 pounds, but he’s just a big, giant teddy bear,” Lewis said. “I remember a couple behind me, they were like, ‘Holy cow. Look at that big, giant guy. He’s so emotional about this. It must be bad.’ But the reality of it was that Pat just wanted to make sure this young man was comfortable and had a good experience.”

An army of friends and local businesses, donating time, labor and funds, backed the Dettmans when they remodeled their home for wheelchair accessibility, beginning in September and finishing earlier this month.

A week before moving back in, a power wheelchair the family ordered for Pat arrived. Already, he has minimal mobility in his legs. Lorraine said the disease’s progression has been faster than she expected.

Lorraine recalled the evening they moved back into their remodeled home with the help of friends, neighbors and church members. She had gotten Pat to bed when she went to the bathroom and found an envelope of money had been slipped behind the sink faucet, with no indication of who had left it.

Bringhurst said he wasn’t surprised that so many people have rallied behind Pat since his diagnosis because he’s touched so many people through his involvement in the football program.

The latest act of kindness came from Shane Clegg, owner of Mountainland Auto Sales. When Lewis came in to inquire about purchasing a wheelchair-accessible van for the family, Clegg went ahead and ordered an all-wheel drive Toyota Sienna, complete with a hydraulic ramp. 

“I just wanted to help. I don’t know Pat personally really well,” Clegg explained.

Mountainland Auto Sales has launched a GoFundMe to pay for the van’s $82,000 price tag. Mountainland Auto Sales will be contributing $5,000 to the van’s cost and will help cover any deficits in funding.

“Sometimes I feel like, ‘Do we deserve all this?’ People are just so kind and giving. We just feel humbled at all the generosity that people have given us,” Lorraine said. “We just take it one day at a time and try to make the best of little things. We do cry a lot, but we also are able to laugh. And laughter gets us through it.”

In fact, uncontrollable laughter and crying are two of Pat’s symptoms. 

“I’ve told people the last three or four months that I’ve hugged people more, I’ve said, ‘I love you more,’ and I’ve cried more than my whole life combined,” he said. “I think it’s changed my process this time of year, to be more centered in family and centered in relationships. Presents and all those things are not as important. It’s just people coming over to visit or sending a text, just reaching out in some way to let them know that they’re thinking of you and your family.”

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Recycle Utah hosted their 100 Mile Meal fundraising event Saturday evening, August 12, 2017, at a private ranch near Oakley. The event featured games, live music and a five-course meal made with local foods that were sourced from within 100 miles of the recycling center in Park City. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

Link to full gallery here: https://parkrecordphoto.smugmug.com/PHOTOS-100-Mile-Meal/

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The Utah Olympic Park hosted their second-annual Anti-Gala at the base of their nordic jumps Thursday evening, July 13, 2017. Attendees were treated to gourmet foods, drinks as well as silent and live auctions. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

Link to full gallery here: https://parkrecordphoto.smugmug.com/PHOTOS-Utah-Olympic-Park-Anti-Gala/

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