WorldWind Gets Busy

Hirshberg

LA Cancer Challenge

It was great to be a part of the Hirshberg Foundation LA Cancer Challenge last weekend.  Because of the Halloween weekend many people dress up and run in quite an array of costumes that made the event all the more colorful.  What a bustling hive of activity that seems to gain more support every year.

This was a well-planned event where many of the participants have been personally affected by this horrific disease.  Our family enjoyed the many vendors and hanging out at the kids' zone.

Lydia and Katherine

It has been a truly rewarding experience for WorldWind Productions to be involved with supporting this cause especially after losing my father-in-law to Pancreatic Cancer and more recently the passing of Patrick Swayze and Steve Jobs.  We hope that any of you who have been affected by Pancreatic Cancer will join with us to raise money for research for a cure.  "You can hope or you can help."





Krikorian Premier Theaters
Many of you who followed Abby's trip may know that Krikorian Premier Theaters (KPT) were a big part of making Abby's trip happen by coming on as one of her major sponsors.  Our relationship with KPT is continuing with the release of the documentary Wild Eyes:  The Abby Sunderland Story documentary DVD.  Between November and January they will be playing the trailer for the doc during the previews at all of their theaters.  If you live near one their locations, we encourage you to drop in and catch a show in support of them.

Amazing Race
What a great season of the Amazing Race!  It has all of the usual fast-paced exciting and challenging tasks with the fear of elimination always hovering.  The Amazing Race airs on CBS Sunday evenings at 8:00pm Pacific.  Team Laurence and Zac are definitely giving the other contestants a run for their money!!

You Can Hope or You Can Help

It was an ordinary day.  The sun was up and we were all going about our business as usual when my wife had a very out of ordinary call from her father that stopped her dead in her tracks. It was not long before that call that Marianne, my wife, had  made quite an insightful statement about her parents being great health.  


It is always a concern as we watch are parents age. I had had to come to terms with my own father developing Alzheimer's at the age of 65. I had tried to come to terms with it, but it is not something that's easily done.  I would have to say it's more something you learn to live with knowing it is not going to get better only gradually worse. I would miss that relationship a father has with a son as my father grew less cognitive.   Al, Marianne's father would come along side me with  advice and tips from time to time  - the jewels of life that money can't buy.  Al became one of those pillars in life that a father (then) 6  would need from time to time. 


On that ordinary day back in July 2007,  my wife was contacted by Al who informed her that he had been diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer and that the prognosis did not look good. That was our introduction to the crippling disease of pancreatic cancer.  We took it upon ourselves to research the disease and what we found out troubled us.  Pancreatic cancer is the 4th leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States.  Pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers and a 94% mortality rate. 


This information crushed the family who were wanting answers but not finding it easy to come to terms with.  I remember telling my wife that we should plan on visiting her parents as regularly as we could.  There was little change at first.  Al seemed his usual self and was always very happy to see us.  As his course of treatment continued he deteriorated quickly. 


It  was a short 2.5 months from diagnosis until Al passed away and became another statistic for the disease.  I was glad to have met such a man during my life; a successful man surrounded by a loving family - one of those sound men with a good moral virtue - a pillar in life where you could always find fair reasoning.  Although 4 years  ago now there is not a day that goes by where we don't think about Al and wish he was here.  He has left a lasting impression in my mind of what it means to be a man.  


Our company, WorldWind Productions LLC, has joined together to support the Hirsburg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research by giving 100 documentaries of Wild Eyes The Abby Sunderland Story and a percentage of all online sales.  Abby Sunderland, Al's granddaughter was awarded the Hero Award last year at the Hirshburg Annual fun run, the LA Cancer Challenge.  

Zac receiving the Hero Award - 2009

Abby became the youngest person to sail solo around Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope in 2010. The year before, in 2009, Abby's brother,  Zac Sunderland was awarded the Hero Award.   He became the youngest person to sail solo around the world and is still  the youngest American ever to do so.  

If you want to take part in this years annual run or learn more about the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research visit:  www.pancreatic.org.

You can hope or you can help.

Al and Carol Criqui with our daughter Lydia