Iowa City, and an Unexpected Donor

Iowa City, home of Iowa University, is home to a small, but well organized city department. The guys took me in and showed me the kind of hospitality I've grown accustomed to. It wasn't until I got up in the morning, though, and talked to the oncoming shift that I got a sense of how meaningful my visit was.

On the wall of their day room, there's a cork board with a pamphlet from Christopher Bok's funeral. Chris, or "Bok" as the guys called him, was a beloved Iowa City Fire Lieutenant. He was diagnosed too late with colorectal cancer, the 3rd leading cause of death by cancer, and died on May 29, 2011. One of the firemen gave me his memorial sticker - the letters BOK in a spiderweb, because of his love for Spiderman. I was honored to affix it to my helmet, as one of the men observed that "Bok would've liked that, riding around the country on your helmet."

At breakfast, one of the guys slipped me a donation; I found out later that his wife had died from ovarian cancer. And while I was enroute to my next destination, I got a very generous, and completely out of the blue, donation from Karen Bok, Chris's widow. She's on a mission of her own to educate everyone she can about the early signs and recognition of cancer. I was so touched, I was speechless...

Chris and Karen