I began playing Tee-ball with my brother when I was four years old. I fell in love with the sport from a young age and some of my favorite memories and lifelong friends are from recreational league, travel ball, high school and college softball.
Gerrit, and two of his very best friends, grew up playing for Tustin Western Little League (the same league as Max).
Both of us can remember the coaches we had that went above and beyond to make us better on and off the field. Gerrit’s pitching coach growing up became one of his mentors and closest friends and was a groomsman in our wedding.
My dad coached my three siblings and me growing up. He taught us skills that we carried with us both on and off the field for the rest of our lives: work ethic, resiliency, confidence, and integrity.
We are proud to support the coaches who are participating in MaxLove Project’s Coaches Fighting Cancer Campaign to help families in our communities thrive in the face of childhood cancers. MaxLove Project’s mission is to increase the quality of life and reduce long-term health risks for all children surviving cancer, both in treatment and beyond.
Gerrit and I are strong believers in how MaxLove empowers families fighting childhood cancers and related life-threatening conditions with quality of life care, fierce foods, whole-body wellness resources, education and research.
Audra Wilford, Maxlove’s CEO, compares kids fighting cancer to athletes competing in their sport. Athletes are constantly putting their bodies through trauma and require focus on their nutrition and recovery. Maxlove believes that all kids should have full access to excellent nutrition and therapeutic resources and have teamed up with a diverse group of doctors, nurses, dietitians, chefs, farmers, integrative medicine practitioners, and artists.
