It’s nearly impossible to find someone who has not been touched by cancer. The disease impacts young, old, otherwise healthy and those with pre-existing conditions. Still, it’s a shock when a strong, lively person receives a cancer diagnosis.
That’s how friends and family of Blake Wilson felt when he was recently diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.
“You look at him, and he looks like the definition of health,” said Wilson’s friend, Austin Logan. “He’s strong and in really good shape; then out of nowhere, we get a phone call that he has to get some tests done. Within a week, we found out he has leukemia.”
When Wilson was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, doctors started treatments immediately and aggressively. Before his diagnosis, Wilson could often be found at 10 Fitness in Cabot, lifting weights and encouraging — or challenging — others to improve. Several of his friends said he brings out the best in them, and the four things that are most important to him are God, family, his dog and the gym.
“He’s a special guy,” Logan said. “If you ever met him in here [at 10 Fitness], it doesn’t matter who you were, if you were serious about working out, he would encourage you. If you work out with him, you might be tired, but he makes you push for that one more rep.”
That’s how Logan and his wife, Taylor, came up with the idea to do a lifting competition to support Wilson’s treatment. Wilson hopes to seek treatment at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
“The ultimate goal is to get him to a certain state here so he can go to MD Anderson. Everybody knows cancer treatment’s not cheap,” Logan said. “I wanted to do whatever I could to help him, and since I’m not a doctor, we decided we’d try to raise money and show how many people in the community are standing behind him and supporting him.”
Logan recalled how there have been times when he and Wilson had spontaneous deadlift competitions at the gym. So Logan and his wife have organized the first Lift Against Leukemia to take place April 27 at 10 Fitness in Cabot.
The competition will include deadlift and squat competitions for both males and females. The competition fee is $25 and includes a T-shirt. Shirts are also available for noncompetitors at $20 for adult sizes and $15 for youth sizes.
The contest is a great way to raise support for Wilson, Logan said, because Wilson loves the gym yet doesn’t want to seem like he’s begging for money.
“He doesn’t want a GoFundMe account or anything like that,” Logan said. “That’s just not who he is. I put [the contest] all together and texted him late one night to tell him about it. I sent him all the info, and he said he loved it.”
Logan said he was expecting a small event, but within four hours of posting the event on Facebook, he had more responses than he ever anticipated.
“It exploded,” he said. “We’re getting overwhelming amounts of people buying shirts and donating money. I’ve had to recruit other people to start helping.”
Fortunately, it hasn’t been hard to find others who want to help. Wilson’s friends have been selling shirts and signing up people for the Lift Against Leukemia, and many others in the community have had fundraisers to help support him. For example, Shawn Rumbaugh has been conducting classes in posing for bodybuilding at 10 Fitness, and Campbell’s Tax Service — where Wilson’s mother works — has been selling shirts, decals and bracelets. Graffiti Graffix in Jacksonville has helped design and supply the T-shirts, and 10 Fitness has been more than accommodating with the facility and promoting the event.
“It’s not just our event going on,” Logan said. “Everyone’s just trying to contribute and show Blake that he’s got a massive support system behind him.”
As far as the Lift Against Leukemia is concerned, Logan said, his goal is to make it an annual competition.
“[Wilson’s] not able to be here this time, obviously, but he told me the goal is that this will be an annual thing, and he’s going to be at the next one,” Logan said. “That’s our goal.”
Logan said Wilson has been excited and appreciative as the event and other efforts have grown.
“He said it means so much to him to see people you wouldn’t even think of — people he hasn’t even talked to — want to contribute,” Logan said. “That was our goal. It doesn’t matter what situation you’re going through, but if you have a community backing you, anything’s possible.”
For more information on the Lift Against Leukemia, visit the Facebook event page. To order a shirt, place an order at stores.inksoft.com/teamblake/shop/home by April 1.