I went to Gary Khoury's dojo Sunday and sat on the promotion board. It was a very pleasant experience and an honor for me to head up that competent board. The quality of candidates was exceptional and the entire promotion went smoothly. My congratulations, again, to all the candidates and to their sensei, Gary Khoury. Gary ask me to tell my story, my fight against cancer and relating it to my Uechi Ryu training. I did that and after the presentations were made and we ended the formalities, one of the candidates came up to me and said that he didn't tell anyone before the promotion but he had recently been diagnosed with cancer. After hearing my story, he decided to talk to me. I was very pleased because much of my time is spent talking and supporting other cancer patients. Multiple Myeloma patients have a better chance now, still not cureable but the average survival is now 5 years. Sunday, I hit the 10 yr. 8 mo. mark since my diagnosis. I have been very fortunate, thank you Uechi Ryu. The gentleman who spoke to me did not let his bad news effect his performance in attaining the rank of ni dan. He performed exceptionally well. I advised him to continue to fight, don't give in to this nasty disease. Though our diseases are not the same, our fight is. I wish him the best, both healthwise and with his future Uechi training. This meeting made the whole day a special one for me. I hope the day was celebrated and enjoyed by all.
Bill Bauknecht