Last summer, my friend Greg Gunter was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He had an infectious smile and a personality full of goodness and humor. Combined with his work life and his own business, Greg had friends far and wide, was loved by all and touched many lives.

After his diagnosis, several people contacted me to see how they could support Greg's healing. I asked him if we could start a fund or something else to help and my proud and humble friend politely declined. Shortly thereafter, I found out about the Promises for Purple walk which funds pancreatic cancer research at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. I asked Greg how he felt about a group of friends organizing a team for the walk and he loved that idea. Team Greg Gunter Strong was born!!

The organizing and planning for our team was fairly easy due to the far reaching impact Greg had on so many lives. Through social media and word of mouth we quickly had over 75 people from Texas to Maine join Greg's team for the walk. We also sold over 100 purple t-shirts with our team name on them and donated all of the proceeds to Promises for Purple. All in all, Team Greg Gunter Strong raised $8,000 for pancreatic cancer research at DFCI. Greg unfortunately lost his battle, but with the help of the organizations like PFP, the fight continues on.

Post by: Beth Welker, Gunter Strong