I saw this picture on Saulo Ribeiro's Facebook page, the actual heading read, FUCK YOU, CANCER! and was pleasantly shocked! I even commented on his page, "Hell Yeah!!..Badass at the highest level!" He has been raising awareness and funds to help out one of his young female students who is battling ovarian cancer. Her name is Seana Rossi and she is a purple belt training out of Canada. It's awesome to have a huge name in the game like Prof. Ribeiro showing his support not only by putting together a benefit seminar but also shaving off all his hair for the cause!!
Around this time, thanks to one our teammates Anthony Balestrieri, I came across a Facebook page,Tap Cancer Out. It's a non profit organization dedicated to raising awareness and funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It is founded and run by Jon Thomas, who is also a purple belt training out Connecticut. In addition to selling gear, t;hey have put together their first BJJ tournament, scheduled for tomorrow 4/28/12 in CT and they have provided an excellent opportunity for grapplers to compete for a cause at a ridiculously low cost: $30 for one division $50 for two. I wanted to show support as well and I ordered a cool patch and tee shirt from them. These experiences helped spawn the idea to purchase some Tap Cancer Out gear to raffle off at our academy. With Prof. Mike Codella's blessing we were all set to put this good work into action.
As fate would have it, life, likewise in jiu jitsu, has a way of testing us and compelling us to persevere and adapt. This horrible disease has hit home brothers, and hit hard!
One of our young guns in the teen class has been diagnosed with testicular cancer and lymphoma. John has been a part of Team Codella for many years.
John and his mother have had an already tough road made that much tougher with this recent development . Codella Academy will be running a raffle but now this cause has a name and a face. And it's one of our own, a loyal and valued member of the Codella Family. Time to rally around this young man and his mother. Let's pitch in what we can, donate all that we can!
I'll close out echoing Prof. Saulo Ribeiro's sentiment, "FUCK YOU, CANCER!!"
*For those of you who may not know Prof. Ribeiro, he is a multiple world champion and is the older brother of multiple world champion Xande Ribeiro. He authored probably the best BJJ book ever, a must have, Jiu Jitsu University, which is also the name of his academy in San Diego, CA. Here is a cool video of him teaching another well known BJJ black belt Roy Dean.
Jiu Jitsu brought young John into our fold. Let us keep him and his mother in our thoughts and prayers and let us all collectively be a shining example of strength, community and brotherly love from which to drawn on throughout his journey. Osss!
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