My dad, myself, and now my son all live with lymphedema (LE). Our family has been affected by this disease for three generations. As a young child, I never really knew what was wrong with my legs. I just knew they didn't look like all the other kids, but it never slowed me down. I lived a very active life playing soccer, football, and baseball. When I was twelve, a dirt bike crash sent me to the hospital. I spiked a fever and had the chills almost immediately. It became a race to find out the cause of these sudden symptoms. After that, they started to look more at my LE, bloodwork came back, and my leg showed signs of an obvious infection.  

After I was released from the hospital, I had many follow-up appointments but it was clear very little was known about LE. For years, I continued to get infections. The more it happened, the more we knew what questions would be asked and we had every answer for the doctors, including what medications worked for this type of infection. I felt like a broken record playing the same song over and over to every new doctor. I felt so alone. In 2010, I got engaged to the woman of my dreams. We knew we wanted to have kids but were concerned about them having LE. Before we even got married, we started genetic testing. At that time, they couldn't find anything. We decided we didn't want to go any further with the genetic testing. We knew what it was, how to treat it, and how dangerous it could be.

Emily and I got married in 2012, and a year later we had our son, Hunter. Right away, I knew Hunter had LE because of the look on a nurse's face. After Hunter was born, we had some doctor's appointments to get him diagnosed and found out that not much had changed since I was little regarding information about LE. Life went on, and one day Emily found out that Colorado would have their first Run/Walk to Fight Lymphatic Diseases. Our families and support team signed up, ready to walk as The Super Sangers. The day of the first annual walk came and I wasn't sure what to expect. As we got to the starting area, for the first time, I could see with my own eyes that I was not alone in my battle with LE. When I got partially around the lake, I met up with Angela and Marie, Co-Chairs of LE&RN's Colorado Chapter, and started conversing with them. While Angela went ahead, my family fell back and walked with Marie and me.

In that short time, I knew I found my LE family. It was comforting to know that Hunter now had a group of people he could talk to and get the help he will inevitably need later in life. During the second annual event, I was honored to be asked to cut the ribbon to start the walk. I knew I had found a place that I was meant to be and asked to join Angela and Marie as Co-Chairs of LE&RN’s Colorado Chapter. LE&RN has lit a fire in me that I had thought was put out a long time ago with this disease. LE&RN led me to meet some of the best people in the world and has pushed me to be more open about LE. It gives me peace of mind to think that my son isn't going to have some of the same problems I had growing up with this disease.