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Tomorrow is the parade through downtown Raleigh to celebrate the Hurricanes bringing home the franchise’s second Stanley Cup in an open-top bus procession. So we finish the week pretty much as we started it with only a slight change due to having less time to play with prior to the puck drop.

Game 1 Warm-Ups (Bendis Division Championship)

Game 2 Warm-Ups

Tonight’s special theme is one that is very much close to my heart and very personal.

My cousin Hannah has been fighting a most courageous battle against a disease that affects many thousands of women with symptoms that range from harrowing to debilitating and everything in between. It’s a condition that’s often misdiagnosed and insurance often doesn’t properly cover the very intense surgery that is often required to give her any chance at sustained relief.

If you’re interested, here’s an entry I wrote for her a few months ago which includes a link to the story in her own words and her hope for the surgery that might well give her a chance at life without pain and suffering.

She has truly forgotten more about courage than I could truly hope to know and thankfully she recently had the specialist procedure she was asking for and it appears that it was successful.

She’s got a long journey on the road to recovery and hopefully she’ll come through to the other side with a vastly improved quality of life so that she can get back to properly being the troublemaker of the very best kind that cares so much for others in this world that those of us who have had the privilege of knowing and loving her know that she can be.

So this set is for her and all who suffer from endometriosis with the hope that the day will come swiftly that this disease is consigned to the nearest rubbish bin for all time so that no more women have to suffer as she has.

Post-Game