Hey everyone, we had posted this a while back and at the time we knew Pat’s words were extremely powerful but did not realize the far reach and affect that they would have. On Facebook alone, this post was seen by 47,000 people. It’s difficult to think back to the night Pat sent these words to me in a text message knowing that his fight was coming to an end. Pat is wise beyond his years and he created a legacy for himself with these words to live by. Please cherish his words and do him the respect of living by his message everyday. -Goose
From Pat P…..
I just popped onto Facebook and scrolled through caught the southie blog post and of course noticed the “pr for pat” workout is on the docket for tomorrow.
I read through the little write up on the blog and watched the video. It took me right back to that day. A day that I was just so so overwhelmed with positive vibes and love and support, from all my southie fam, and extended CrossFit fam all around the state and region and some other parts of the country.
It was a day where I saw some really cool things happen, talked (as best I could) to a lot of people, made some new friends and really just had a great hopeful uplifting day.
The coming days and weeks and months were tough, I started my chemo and radiation shortly after that day and it was a grinding process. Radiation everyday for 6 weeks topped off with huge doses of chemo (up to 5 hours at a time) every other week.
I was beyond optimistic, I was 100% certain that I would be overcoming this illness and my story would be one of inspiration, and hope. A story that people could look back on and draw encouragement from, and something that I would look back on and say something about what doesn’t kill me etc etc.
I was prepared to document my recovery and my progress as I got back into shape, got my life back together and began a new chapter with a new title to my name “Pat Padgett: brother, son, friend….. Cancer survivor”
However life has a way of throwing everyone’s plans out the window. So things haven’t exactly gone the way I was expecting them to. My very first MRI post surgery and post treatment showed an abnormality. A few weeks later another more conclusive MRI showed what everyone feared. My cancer had come back, almost immediately once treatment ended it came back and it was making it very obvious that it wouldn’t be going away no matter how many kitchen sinks we threw at it.
So my story won’t end the way I had hoped, and it will be a shorter book with less chapters than I planned on.
I’m still trying my best to live my life to the fullest. If you’re friends with me on fb you know I’ve been traveling a lot. Some big trips with huge groups of family and friends, some trips with small intimate groups, and everything in between. I’ve also been trying to organize as many social gatherings as possible to spend time with as many of my friends as often as possible. As I recently said and was quoted the only things in life that matter are friends, family, experiences, and love.
Yesterday was my birthday, and I’ll admit it was a pretty tough day. Aside from my general daily challenges and struggles, my mental battle, my hugely alien looking swollen face, and the constant relentless pain, this was my birthday. It’s a very strange and hollow and haunting feeling to know almost for a fact that, that will be the last birthday I ever see alive. I don’t say this to be dramatic or draw sympathy, I’m only trying to give an honest update and a glimpse into my day to day.
So things for me are tough, really tough, and they get worse almost daily, certainly weekly. There is no relief in sight. There’s no pot of gold at the end of my rainbow. But I still LOVE my friends, I still LOVE my family I’m so thankful for the life I have enjoyed, the experiences I’ve had, the people I’ve shared my life with, I still find reasons to smile everyday even if I force it (I might cry almost everyday too but I smile damnnit!)
I can’t say this is how I pictured things turning out for me, but this is the hand I’ve been dealt and I do my best to deal with it and make the most of things everyday.
I haven’t been by southie in a while, truth be told I haven’t even worked out in about a month. I miss the gym, I miss my friends, I miss a lot of things, but I recently ordered some weight and a barbell for my moms house where I’m living now. I’m going to set it up in the back yard and hopefully find some motivation to at least lift heavy errrrrrrrryday.
I hope to make a trip over to cf southie sooner than later to check in and see some friendly faces, maybe even break a sweat.
Thank you to everyone for your support no matter how you show it. Even if you just try really hard in the workout, that is support all day.
Thank you to southie and of course special thanks to the coaches who I consider friends as well as my other good friends from the box.
The specialist thanks to goose and ames. Some of my best friends on earth. Two people who have helped shape the person I am and have become. I wouldn’t be who I am without you guys and I couldn’t have done all this without you and the cf community.
So do me the honor of living your life like you really mean it. Go out and conquer your goals, do things that you’re a little scared of, make awesome memories that give you cool stories to tell, and love, love as much as possible, freely and genuinely. Love people, love activities, love scenes and ideas, and material things, and songs, and just love as much as you can. Enjoy your life you only get one, and value your time, you never know how much of it you really have.
Thank you everyone, and thanks for reading this.
Pat P
The Celebration of Pat’s Life will begin at 12:00. We ask that everyone arrive by 1:00pm to be present for the tribute speeches and videos. Below is the timeline of events for Sunday:
12:00 – 1:00pm: PR for Pat WOD completed by Pat’s closest family & friends; mingle with everyone
1:00 – 2:00pm: Tribute speeches
2:00 – 3:00pm: Tribute video & slide show
3:00 – 4:00pm: Socialize & share your favorite Pat P memories with one another
Dress for the Celebration will be casual. Wear your PR for Pat gear, or rep your favorite sports team as Pat would.
We will be running heats of Pat’s workout, “PR for Pat” all morning. A heat will kick off every 30 minutes, starting at 9am. The last heat will begin at 11:30am. All are welcome to come in and complete the workout. Athletes will be responsible for their own warm up. We hope you can join us in honoring Pat in this very fitting way. If you plan to complete the workout, please sign up for a heat HERE.
WOD
“PRforPat”
20 minutes AMRAP
6 Power Cleans (185,135)
12 Burpees
14 T2B
50 ft Handstand Walk*
Level 3 (155,105)
Level 2 (125, 80)
Level 1 (95,55)
* sub= 3 wallclimbs