We lost another one of the good guys on Tuesday – Andrew Harris – an inspirational friend and brilliant entrepreneur. I first came to know Andrew when I landed in the US where he was was one of the people that made be feel welcome and spent time helping me orientated. The last few years were made more special by the fact we got to know his wife Lisa. We will miss him, but never forget.
Brian over at HomeAway had this to say: “Andrew’s contributions to this business are extraordinary and innumerable, and his strong leadership, experience, wisdom, and keen sense of humor kept HomeAway on track through a period of incredible growth,” says Brian Sharples, chief executive officer of HomeAway. “He will be remembered for his passion for excellence, a love of competing, and the opportunities he created for all of us. He will be missed tremendously and never forgotten.”
This is the third friend I’ve lost to cancer – but the stats are much more sobering than that. And reading this interview over at The Roar bought it home:
Lance Armstrong’s … reasons for a comeback are incredibly noble, and unlike an Ali or Jordan, there is a deeper mission here, one not dependant on results.
“The reasons are twofold. First and foremost we want to take the Livestrong message across the world and the burden of this disease.
“My bike has a couple of numbers on it. One is 1,274, the amount of days since I last raced a professional bike race in Paris, 2005. The other is 27.5, for 27.5 million. In those 1,274 days, approximately 27.5 million people have died from this disease.
“It’s a staggering number when you stop and think about it, it seems like I’ve been off the bike for a while but it’s only been a few years and in the meantime about the same number of people who live in this country are gone.
Statistics don’t make up for the friends you’ve lost. But they do bring home the need to keep fighting the battle against cancer so that others don’t have to. Here is a good place to start.