For Boston welcomes our newest cast member, Ethan Zohn! Three weeks ago Jeremy and I headed to New York to interview Ethan who was the winner of Survivor Africia and is Co-founder of the non profit organization, Grassroots Soccer. I first contacted Ethan almost a year ago, after a friend told me about the great work that Grassroots Soccer was doing in Africa. I was impressed with Ethan's spirit immediately. Ethan eagerly excepted our interview request after being diagnosed with Hodkins Lymphoma a month prior. As we prepared for our trip to New York, Ethan was undergoing intensive chemotherpy. When he got his first CT scan he expected to be rid of the cancer that is curable in 95 percent of cases, instead the cancer had spread. We canceled the interview so that Ethan could focus on his health and organized a charity run for Grassroots Soccer as a surprise. Thanks to everyone who came to the Zombie Run last October, we raised $840 dollars for Grassroots Soccer and he was very pumped.
Jeremy and I held the interview a few weeks after Ethan's treatment, which included 11 rounds of chemotherapy, 25 blasts of radiation and a stem cell transplant followed by 30 days of isolation in a sterile environment. As he described these treatments I thought, why would he even want to do this interview so soon after such an ordeal? His last statement put my thought to rest:
"You want to know the definition of fulfillment? Follow you heart, fight for a cause and see the hope that is born in someone else's eyes because of something you were able to do for them".
Again thanks to Ethan, all our supporters, and Danny Finocchiaro for pointing us in the direction of Grassroots Soccer.
