PPWC sponsors Fundraiser for Katie Hilleke

On November 14, 2006, PPWC sponsored a special event to benefit Katie Hilleke. Many of you have met and spent some river time this year with Katie's brother Tommy Hilleke, and if you missed his clinic this year, you'll have another chance to boat with him, because he is doing another for us next year in 2007. Those of you who know Tommy realize what a special person he is. This was an opportunity for PPWC to come together to help support the Hilleke family in a very difficult time.

Last summer, 2006, Katie had to be med - evac'd home to Alabama from a paddling trip to Honduras. When she got home she was diagnosed with colon cancer. Katie has been undergoing chemo therapy and is accumulating some overwhelming medical bills.

A wide variety of gear as prizes, were donated by many whitewater companies, PPWC used a raffle to collect money from the boating community in general, and PPWC in particular to donate to Katie.

To bring everyone together and pick the winners, on November 14, 2006, at Southside Johnny's, PPWC had a slideshow that Tommy put together especially for this event. Tommy joined us to show slides from past trips and tell some stories to bring us along on some of the LVM crew's best expeditions. PPWC had a drawing to give away gear donated to support this effort and sent Tommy back with a nice contribution for Katie.

PPWC wants to thank Mike Brown for putting this event together, and all of the manufactures and distributors who put together the prizes. Read more below about Brad Luddens "First Descents" camp. Overall, this event was a tremendous success. Katie will be visiting PPWC in 2007 for a downriver paddle. Look on the PPWC calendar page for the dates and times. This will be a river trip to celebrate life.

Photos courtesy of Tommy Hilleke.

A Message from Brad Ludden & First Descents

Newton Tilson, a paddler from Georgia, made a donation this week and said we could put him in the raffle, but anything he won could be donated to First Descents, Brad Ludden's kayaking camp for kids with cancer. Newton's idea caught on and we have 65 out of the 72 tickets in the raffle so far committed to First Descents. We just received this message from Brad.

On behalf of First Descents, I would like to say thank you to the Pikes Peak Whitewater Club for including us in this awesome event to help Katie Hilleke through a rough time. When I heard about Katie's diagnosis, my heart instantly went out to her and her family. She is heading down a long road, but as the Lance Armstrong Foundation has said, "from the day of diagnosis, you are not a patient or victim, you are a SURVIVOR." Katie is a survivor, a name she can be proud to have. With her diagnosis she joined some 500,000 other Young Adult Survivors. Few people realize how big of a problem Young Adult Cancer is. I have listed some stats to give everyone an idea.

Cancer is the leading disease killer among 20 to 39-year olds. Currently, there is an estimated 500,000 young adult cancer survivors between the ages of 15 and 40 year olds. In addition, 12,000 deaths due to cancer occur each year among 15-40 year olds. Young adults face a spectrum of cancers unique to their age group. In contrast to younger and older patients, the survival rates for young adults have not increased since 1975. Diagnosis and treatment during young adulthood often results in a range of unique psychosocial issues. Adolescent and young adult cancer survivors are a vastly understudied population. First Descents is striving to give aid to this underserved population by giving them kayaking. Katie was fortunate to have the sport of kayaking and its wonderful community before diagnosis but so few have that and that is where First Descents steps in!

Thank you for supporting Katie and the entire Young Adult Cancer community in this struggle. We are all with you Katie, you are far from alone!

Cordially,
Brad Ludden and FD

Bid for a Wave Sport boat & help Katie Hilleke fight cancer!

Get a one of a kind boat with the proceeds going to support paddler Katie Hilleke as she fights colon cancer. This past month, the Pikes Peak Whitewater Club coordinated a raffle as a fundraiser to help paddler Katie Hilleke with the expenses, not covered by her insurance, resulting from her treatment for colon cancer. The event was a big success raising over $4,000 for Katie.

The effort to support a boater in need caught the eye of Wave Sport paddlers, Tanya Shuman and Ben Guska who got together with Jimmy Blakeney and offered to donate 2 Wave Sport boats of choice to place in an online auction to help raise money for Katie. The top 2 bidders will choose their WS boats wavesport.com and pick their colors and graphics from Wave Sport’s inventory of graphic designs to create a one of a kind boat. This is a great way to get a new boat that will no doubt, have the best possible river karma built right in, and at the same time, have 100% of the price go directly to the Katie Hilleke assistance fund.

The top 2 bidders will be notified on Wednesday, December 20th, 2006 that they have the winning bids. We will arrange for them to pick their colors and graphics and have the boat shipped at no charge to the Wave Sport dealer of their choice.

Also, visit the River Angels: Ruth Gordon, Tanya Shuman, Tanya Faux, and Nikki Kelly
at www.riverangels.com

Kokatat donation of new PFD's adds value to boat auction

To further sweeten the boat auction, our friends at Kokatat are donating two of their new, soon to be released, Ronin or Ronin Pro PFDs to include with the boat auction. One of the PFDs will go to the highest bidder, while the other will go to the winner of a drawing for everyone else who enters a bid that puts them in contention. The winners of the vests will have a choice of colors, sizes and model and will have one of the first of Kokatat's newest model PFDs on the market in early 2007.

The PFDs are not out until early 2007, so it may be a little hard to find info on the Kokatat site. Click here for Ronin product info and then click on the pictures for a view of the Ronin and Ronin Pro models.