Never Surrender

Today I’m participating in Elana Johnson’s bloghop for the release of her novel SURRENDER.

I’m not going to share my story, however, but someone else’s.

Andy Whitfield was a talented actor, a father, a husband and a strong and handsome guy. When he was up for the part of SPARTICUS in the Australian television series SPARTICUS: Blood and Sand, he and his family kept a positive attitude and spread post-it notes throughout the house reading ‘Andy IS Sparticus!!’ He eventually won the roll.

Andy was living the dream until he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in March 2010 and a completely different goal took up the thoughts and prayers of him and his loved ones.

He just wanted to stay alive.

He fought hard. He didn’t give up. But in September 2011, after an 18 month battle, the cancer won out and he passed, leaving behind him a wife and two young children.

But that didn’t mean Andy had surrendered. During those 18 months, he filmed a documentary about his struggle. He hoped, in sharing his story and showing how cancer can destroy a perfectly strong, healthy body and affect a family, he might raise awareness and funds for cancer research and help others in their struggle.

Unfortunately, since his death, the documentary has lacked the funding needed for additional filming and editing. And yet, his family and friends refuse to surrender. They’ve begun the BE HERE NOW project on Kickstarter and many other blogs and professionals have joined the battle, including Kathy Bradey, an Australian author and blogger who has organized a Writer’s Auction to raise funds for Andy Whitfield’s documentary.  The auction offers up chapter and query critiques from well established YA authors.  There are some fantastic writers on that list and I encourage you all to have a look! It begins today and you can find all the details here.

Thank you Kathy, for bringing this project to light. Andy’s story should be shared.