2 How Love Beat Cancer

My name is Seth Luker.

I am a simple man from a tiny, unknown place called Voss, Texas. As you will read, my life got very complicated in ways that a simple man from the desert of West Texas couldn’t comprehend. Refecting back at the many chance encounters that later saved my life, I was driven to something that was far beyond my dreams of playing football at the college level. I was destined to impact the lives of people I would never meet in person. I want to share my story because of the profound lessons it has taught me about life, death, love and one thing we all take for granted – our body. Medical statistics or accepted odds would have told you that there is no way I could be around to share my story. Te fact is, that by all indications, I should not be alive today. But, as you stay with me on this wild adventure, you will understand why I consider myself a very lucky guy – and as you will learn quickly, in more ways than just beating the odds. I had been saved by modern medicine, or so it seemed at frst. Surgery and chemo improved the odds of survival and I am eternally grateful to the doctors who helped me. But the real reason I am alive today has little to do with medicine and a lot to do with family, friendship and one aspect of the human spirit that knows no bounds. When it is all said and done, I am here today because of the power of love. Te kind of love that is pure, uninhibited and unconditional. Te kind of love that gives and never takes. Mine is a love story that began with a chance encounter at a honky-tonk bar in Nashville, Tennessee; one look, followed by an avalanche of emotions and an amazing journey. A love that was tested time and time again yet remained pure and powerful. A love that help me beat the odds.

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Chapter One It’s only Rock & Roll and I love it.

I grew up in Voss, West Texas - home to about twenty families. Each day started and ended with all things sports. My football career started at age three, the frst time I held a ball. Growing up in rural West Texas also meant spending all day playing sports and looking for something to do when the sun went down. Around the age of 12, and every night around 9pm, I would head out to the car to listen to music. I tuned into the only pop/rock station we could get and listened to the “Top 9 at 9”, a blend of different genres and styles.I was exposed to a wide variety of top artists. During 9th and 10th grade I played for Panther Creek High School and won the state championship each year. My father, who was a renowned coach, wanted a bigger stage for my brother Kelan and I. We moved to Stephenville, Texas and my team won the Class 4A State Title in my 11th grade season. In 12th grade, I was chosen as an All-Star to represent Texas to With my brother Kelan in1998 play against California’s elite high school football talent. I was the frst brother to head to college on a full scholarship. I played for the University of North Texas. I quit after a year and a half. I had no regrets leaving football. Truthfully, my heart just wasn’t in it. One thing that consistently got my spirit to soar was music. One of my childhood friends introduced me to a Metallica entitled, “And Justice for All”. Te track “One” was the catalyst that ignited my passion for music. I wasn’t paying attention to lyrics, there was something about the ‘beat’ and the energy behind the instruments. I was drawn into music and started to develop immense admiration for the performers and how it all came together. I discovered that I had a natural ear and spotted talent very quickly. It was surprising because I didn’t play an instrument. Dallas had a great rock scene so the three All Star Football- 1996 hour drive was well worth it; I grabbed every opportunity to hear and see amazing bands that played there - whether in huge arenas or local dive bars. I loved the music, craved the energy, but most of all I was drawn to the musicians themselves. I wanted to be a part of that rock & roll lifestyle. Te closer I was getting to them, the more I realized that managing a touring band was what I wanted to do with my life. Metallica

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I dreamt of becoming a executive. Te more time I spent with my musician friends, the more apparent it became that I had business intuition and the organizational skills that meshed well with what musicians needed in their harried lives. In 2001, I started managing an indie rock band named . Managing a rock band required wearing many hats with alternating roles of den mother, business manager, operations manager, psychiatrist and a close friend. I loved everything about what I was doing and my life was going great. Some people believe in luck, some believe in divine intervention. I don’t know what it was, but my brother Kelan, who also played college football at SMU, was about to rejoin my journey. In 2001, he suffered a back injury that derailed his football career. Tat same year, Submersed lost their bass player. Kelan, who was a bass player, wound up joining the band. Life got even better with my brother and best friend back by my side. Te next few years were an amazing ride. My good friend and business partner, Jimi Mayer and I managed two bands; Submersed and Edgewater. Submersed Submersed got their record deal with Wind-Up Records a few months after they were formed when I was just 23. Ten, our second band, Edgewater got one as well. In 2003, our band Goneblind and in 2005 Faktion also secured recording contracts with the same label, . By that time I was 25, we had four bands under major recording contracts. I was touring Jimi Mayer heavily to promote the records; it was a non-stop adrenaline rush; the Rock & Roll music scene, Edgewater managing the bands, and Kelan by my side. We worked hard and partied even harder. In rare moments of solitude I would refect on my upbringing; I was a small town boy with a fast paced heart and big dreams; wired to always try something new powered by an unstoppable drive to succeed. Once I made up my mind about what, and why I wanted to accomplish, I was totally focused on achieving my goal. Te ‘how’ in life never stopped me - I always fgured it out aided by by a strong ‘why’ conviction that I was meant to succeed. Unbeknownst to me at the time, my “why” reasoning would eventually save my life. But, below the surface of my exciting rock and roll life, something I chose to ignore was about to rear its ugly head and put my newfound happiness on a collision course with disaster.

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Chapter Two Kid, you have cancer.

Starting in my senior year of high school I had bouts of rectal bleeding. Te very frst time it happened, I came home from a track meet and noticed traces of blood on the toilet paper. I had no clue what that could mean, but as it continued, I told my mother and she realized that I needed to see a doctor. We went to see a local family practitioner. He pretty much dismissed it, “Most likely it’s nothing, you’re an athlete, a big guy, you’re lifting weights, you must have strained yourself and caused a tear.” Te doc did a physical exam, found nothing suspicious and I went on with my life. Te bleeding persisted. It was embarrassing and nerve-wracking for me to get the courage to talk to my mother. We were simple people from a tiny town in West Texas; we did what was typical for a young athletic boy – we ignored it. Interestingly, the word cancer had been on my mind since I was 10 years old. I used to ask my big sister, Scarlett if I had cancer because I could pull my hair out. I also chewed tobacco since I was 13. I don’t know why cancer was on my mind, but from a very early age I had very strong premonitions about my future. I saw myself being successful and overcoming challenges, but none of my visions had anything to do with what was about to happen. I stopped playing football when I was around 20. Tis was also the time when I stopped working out. I wasn’t exercising and my diet pretty much consisted of McDonald’s and…more McDonald’s. Life on the road wasn’t conducive to making Me @ 290 Pounds healthy choices, I was having way too much fun and the 290 pounds I was carrying around showed it. I was 23 and still attending school. Just before I moved to Orlando, Florida with Submersed and dove heavily into the band scene, I decided to see the doctor on campus and I remember telling him “Doc, I think I have colon cancer.” He sort of smirked and said “Let’s do a blood test. I’ll make you feel better that there is nothing going on.” And nothing showed up! I kept my lifestyle and things were getting progressively worse. Traces of blood were now showing up more frequently and with neon-like colors. Te scary part was that I did not ‘feel sick’ or show any symptoms. Well, not quite. When you are on a constant adrenaline rush topped with heavy drinking, you don’t feel much except the effects of binge drinking. What I put my body through during those years was punishing enough. It would have masked anything else that might have been going on at the time. Several years later, at age 27, I knew that something was seriously wrong. I was still living in Orlando, FL. We are about to go on two huge, national tours. I had another scary premonition that my health was going to drastically change. To make matters worse, I had no medical insurance. I spoke to my business partner, Jimi Mayer, who got me insurance so I could get checked out. I came off tour and went to see a gastroenterologist, had an exam and again the doc says, “I’ve seen colon cancer, I don’t think you have it.”

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He scheduled a colonoscopy to get a defnitive diagnosis. When I woke up from the twilight sedation, the frst face I saw was the doctor’s and he wasn't smiling. I remember that moment like it was yesterday, because what followed was the worst case of bedside manners you can imagine – “You see this kid,” he said, pointing to the video monitor, “I believe we are looking at colon cancer and you need to take care of this right now.” Just like that. I think it was the effect of the anesthesia, because all I said was “Doc, I need to go back on the road. We are going on a huge tour sponsored by Jaegermeister, as the opening band for . Tat’s a huge deal.” Te second thought was not being able to go on this major tour with Kelan. I think that thought had a more profound impact on me than the cancer. I cried more that day than any other I can remember. All I could think about was “get me back on tour.” I didn’t care what was wrong with me. I immediately called my cousin Bill, an orthopedic surgeon in Dallas. He told me to get back home immediately so I could have surgery and chemo. A couple of weeks later, I had a colon re-sectioning surgery. Te doctors wanted me on a chemotherapy regiment and again I said, “Doc, I need to go back on tour.” Te doctor told me it wasn’t really possible, but I insisted. Te oncology team came up with a program where I would spend two days getting chemo in Orlando, then go back on tour, and then fy back to Orlando for the next round of chemo. Being sick and riding on a bus for hours at a time following chemotherapy was not something I wish on anyone. It was degrading, embarrassing and downright awful. While most people lose weight during chemotherapy, I gained because all I could eat on the bus without getting sick was bread. Something much more profound hit me like a ton of bricks, everything was going my way, I was connected with the right bands and the right people. One of my premonitions was to live in New York one day – that’s where I saw it all coming together, and I was making the connections that were driving me towards that goal. Tis cancer stuff quickly became one giant nuisance. I wasn’t concerned about dying, I was more concerned about not being able to tour or get to New York one day. Maturity was not my strongest quality at the time. Te same voice that told me from early childhood that I was destined to be successful one day, this time rattled my cage — “If I am going to be the man that I envisioned myself being, and fulfll everything that I dreamed about, then I better get my shit together and change my ways.”

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Chapter Tree Allison

Having fnished chemo and feeling better, I went on a couple of tours with Submersed. During a break in our schedule, I started working at the House of Blues in Orlando. It was there that I decided “I just went through cancer and chemo, it looks like I am going to live so I better get my life together.” In the back of my mind, a little voice kept reminding me that I was going to be successful one day; that same voice also warned me that it would never happen unless I changed my current path, lost weight and got a little healthier. So I changed; a little bit. I started to make better decisions. I started to eat better; I ate salmon and sweet potatoes. I stopped eating buckets of queso cheese dip topped with lots of greasy Chinese food. I dropped from 285 pounds to 225 pounds while I was working at HOB. I was a cancer survivor, and for the frst time in a long time, my body changed, and so did my looks. At 6’2” I was getting trim and ft, and I was getting noticed. I went on tour with a real rock & roll, wild bunch of guys - a new band called Faktion. We were invited to join another band, Hinder, on the “Girls Gone Wild Rocks America” 2006 tour. I adopted a new attitude; I was a cancer survivor and as a band manager everyone thought I lived this crazy and exotic lifestyle. I decided to prove them right. Tose were some seriously wild and crazy nights… Touring became extremely draining and I needed a break, so I decided to go back to University of North Texas and fnish my education. I graduated in the Spring of 2007 with a degree in Finance. I did an internship long enough to realize that the corporate stuff wasn’t for me: “I’m a rocker, man.” On September 1, 2007 I was back on tour with Submersed and we stopped in Nashville, Tennessee for a day off. Nashville is the kind of place you can go to and listen to a live band, surrounded by thousands of people. It’s the kind of energy that I craved. So I ended up at the legendary bar, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. I’m sitting there by myself, enjoying listening to a guy playing Garth Brooks cover songs, one of my favorite country singers. Tere were two pretty girls sitting at the bar next to me. I looked over to check them out, and saw a pair of bright blue eyes just staring at me. In my best Texas drawl I say, “Hey, how y’all doin’?” Oddly enough, I felt an instant connection, there was an aura about this one girl, Allison. I couldn’t help but stare at those blue eyes, and, they stared back. We started talking while the guy was singing “Friends in Low Places” which apparently was her favorite song by Garth Brooks. I asked her where she called home, “New York” she replied. Ali and crew She was in Nashville that Labor Day weekend with her best friend Grace, on a “girls weekend.” I knew that I had to do something to get closer to Allison, so I suggested that we move toward the band. Ten, I simply grabbed her by the waist, twirled her around with a Texas Two Step, and fnished with a dip and a kiss…

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Allison did not know that my premonition kicked in the minute I saw those blue eyes. I could really see a future with Allison in it. With just the two of us standing by the band, and free to follow my intuition, I looked Our first meeting at her and said, “I don’t know why, but I feel compelled to tell you that I believe we are going to get married.” Literally fve minutes into our ‘relationship’ I sort of proposed. Allison responded by asking me how much I had to drink, and I said “Tat doesn’t matter.” We exchanged numbers and she left while I stayed at the bar. A few minutes later, Garrett Whitlock, the Submersed drummer, texts me that some gal was driving like a maniac and stopped in front of the bus. She was looking for me. I didn’t have to guess who that person was so I left Tootsie’s and hightailed it back to my tour bus where Allison was waiting. It may sound scripted but as soon as she saw me she ran towards me and into my arms. She told me that her friend went to bed and she just had to see me again. We spent hours talking back on my tour bus. It felt natural and comfortable. She was funny, witty, savvy and beautiful. I told her everything about my life. It was a magical evening, we talked about everything, where we were from, to religion, to our careers, and then some. Ten something came over me and I felt compelled to tell her something you don’t normally tell a great girl you just met. I told her I battled cancer and was now 2 years clean/NED (No evidence of Disease). She just looked at me and said “I’m here if you need me”. I didn’t want the evening to end, but the bus was about to leave. I kissed her Our tour bus goodnight, not knowing when or if I would really ever see her again, and boarded the bus. Life on the road was very hectic; it was non-stop on-the-go and juggling many balls in the air. It was a crazy busy touring schedule with very little sleep or quiet time. It was Allison that tracked me down and sent me a text, “Call me!” I did, and from that moment on we spent hours talking on the phone every day. I could not wait to get off tour for a 3 day break, and immediately went to see Allison in New York. We had a magical weekend. I asked her to come down to Tampa, Florida for one of my tours. It was there, only after a month of knowing each other, that we exchanged “I love you’s” for the frst time. One day, while in Tampa, I got very sick with Tonsillitis. I wound up in the E.R. Allison, who was back in NY, kept me company on the phone everyday, many times a day, until I felt better. We continued to get incredibly close, even though we were apart. Te Submersed tour was heading up north toward Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey. Being the tour manager had its advantages. I was able to adjust the schedule to include a few “days off” on Long Island, just so I could spend the night with her. We went out for a nice, romantic seafood dinner and one bad shrimp landed Allison with a horrible case of food poisoning. I was right by her side nursing her back to health. Yes, it sure seemed like we were destined to be by each other’s side forever.

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I invited Allison back home to Texas for Christmas in 2007. As a New York Jewish woman, and six and a half years my senior, Allison was very nervous about meeting my family for the frst time. But, with her sweet nature, funny, “tell-it-like-it-is” wit and obvious love for me, it was love at frst sight and Allison was quickly welcomed into my family. We spent New Year’s of 2008 in Mexico, we had no doubts about where we were heading so we even bought a timeshare right then and there. We discussed a future together. I told Allison that my doctors said I was probably sterile from all the chemo. Allison, in her mid-30’s, shared with me that doctors told her she didn’t have many viable eggs and would probably have a difficult time conceiving. So we decided that we were both okay being “child-free” and accepted what the doctors told us. We felt that loving each other and traveling the world together would be enough. When the band wasn't touring I had no source of income so I decided to return to Orlando to pick up some work. Being away from Allison for four months seemed like an eternity. Battling cancer and living to tell the story is only the frst step. Tere is tremendous anxiety that follows. Being cancer-free is a temporary relief. You live for your ninety-day checkup; get cleared and live for the next one. At some point, it becomes a six-month checkup, then a year. Surviving cancer really means getting cleared until your next exam. In May of 2008, I went to Gustine, Texas for Mother’s Day where my folks lived. My plan was to drive to Dallas for my annual check-up at Dallas Presbyterian where I had my colon re-section surgery. Up until then I was cancer free. Life was good; actually life was great; I had my two true loves - Allison and music. Allison and I became incredibly close, but there were still some things I was simply unaware of; I had no idea how concerned she was about my health and, unbeknownst to me, that she was going into a tailspin worrying about the pending results of this yearly check up.

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Chapter Four Strike Two.

My mother accompanied me to get the results of my yearly CAT scan. Sitting in the waiting room I started talking to a woman that had cancer. Her odds did not seem promising. It was just a conversation, I wasn’t affected by it, after all, I beat it. My doctor walked by me without saying a word. Even after I said “Hey Doc!” he just kept going. I fnally got called into his office for the exam and I could tell that he was not his usual friendly and upbeat self. He fnished checking something on my neck, looked at me and said, “Seth, your CAT scan shows a growing mass. I am afraid the cancer traveled from your colon to your liver.” All I remember is just saying, “What? What are you telling me here?” I have no grasp of what he is talking about. He explains that in older men, colon cancer next travels into the liver. I am not an older man, I’m only 30 years old. I raised my head to make eye contact, he looked worse than me at that moment. Clearly I was in shock. I heard the words “cancer” and “liver” and I just started to walk away in a daze. Toughts began to hit my brain at a fast pace and I realized that I forgot to ask the doctor a question. When I went back into his office, his body language showed a defeated man; I watched him wipe his eyes and as he turned to face me I could tell how devastated he was. I don’t remember much except that we hugged. I had to call Allison and give her the bad news. I did my best to minimize it and to come across very optimistic, “I am going to get through this.” I told her. We were incredibly connected and I could sense the unbelievable fear she felt. Our love was fourishing; we had no doubts where we were heading. Cancer was the last thing on our minds. Allison immediately got on a plane to be with me in Texas for the emergency surgery that I needed to have ASAP. As word about my condition spread, the reaction from my family and friends was nothing like the frst time. Gone was the “Hey man, you got this.” Sheer fear was in the air. My cousin Bill, the doctor in Dallas, had been very optimistic when I went through this the frst time. Not this time; he started to talk to me about life’s journey. He was preparing me for something. He gave me a copy of ‘Te Celestine Prophecy’ and asked me to read and embrace the book. Tere I was, 30 years old, and being coached by my cousin on how to face the end of life. I was dealing, well sort of, with the horrible prognosis, but the excruciating pain came from watching my parents. My poor mother who lost her sister to breast cancer and who had just lost her mom a few years prior, was now faced with the real possibility of losing her son. My mother was silent. She did not have to say anything, it was written all over her face. In hindsight, being ignorant was my best friend. I was still that boy from nowhere in West Texas; ignorance allowed me to not obsess about what was about to happen; ignorance allowed me to believe that there was a way out of cancer. If I got myself here, I can get out of here too. I said “Let’s do surgery now.” Dr. Tom Shires was my surgeon. He had performed the frst surgery as well. Dr. Shires is a liver specialist who lost his own father to pancreatic cancer. He was and still is on a mission to cure cancer and had lots of success with liver cancer. My cancer localized to the bottom lobe of my liver and the plan was to cut out the diseased, cancer-ridden 25% of my liver.

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Allison few down for the surgery. By the time she arrived I was in a different place; I knew that this time it was serious. Tis time I needed to shut up and listen; the road ahead was unknowingly frightening. All I was thinking about was that Allison did not deserve this pain and uncertainty in her life. I went into surgery the next morning. It took two hours longer than it was supposed to. Dr. Shires told me that he had to remove 70% of my liver, an aggressive approach that he believed would be the the key to my survival. “Your liver will regrow in about ten weeks. Once that happens, what you choose to do to keep it healthy is up to you.” I woke up in the ICU and the frst person I saw was my dad. Te look on his face, and what it meant, was brutally painful for me. I was still groggy and all I said was “What’s Post Op ICU going on?” but I understood. He had a “My son is about to die” look on his face. Te intensity of his pain and worry is forever carved into my mind. I asked Dr. Shires point blank about my prognosis. He didn’t know, he couldn’t tell me; there were very few documented cases of someone my age originally having stage III colon cancer to now full-blown Stage IV metastasized colon cancer that showed up in the liver. In older men, he said, it was about 20%. “So doc, you’re telling me that if there were ten people in the room with what I have, only two are getting out?” I looked at him and said, “I must be one of those two.” I am an eternal optimist. I fnd the silver lining in most things in life. I knew I was going to get better. I knew I had made bad decisions in life but I had gotten past them. My family, Allison, and my friends, did not share that optimism. Te odds were simply stacked against me; they all thought I was going to die. I stayed in the hospital for a month and had major post surgery complications, one resulting from a chest tube failure that leaked toxic fuids into my abdomen. My parents, my brother and Allison, surrounded me but I never felt so lonely; when everyone left, it was just the cancer and me. I was terrifed but I was also determined to get out of the hospital and beat this one too. Rockin’ post-surgery

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Chapter Five Garbage In. Garbage Out.

I continued to believe that I was going to get past this. One day, while still in the hospital, I got a call from my friend Dave Weiderman, who runs the Guitar Center in Hollywood. He was heavily into health and ftness and told me point blank that I needed to start taking care of my body - healing from the inside out. Tis was the frst time I actually thought about my health from that angle; after years of exposing my body to Mickey D’s, alcohol and a grueling lifestyle, my body was paying me back. In my good old “dumb ignorance”, I never pondered why I got cancer. I just reacted to the bad news by saying “Get it out of me and let me move on.” But, when Dave told me “Something in your insides isn’t right” this time I paid attention. Recovering from my second surgery was very difficult. Dave pointed me in the right direction. He introduced me to cleansing teas and I became a vegetarian. So I went from a Texas-style “Meat- atarian”, eating everything “chicken-fried” and dipped in “gravy”, to drinking my veggies and juicing daily. Next came a grueling regimen of chemotherapy. Allison insisted that I come to New York for my chemo. She wanted to take care of me and ensure that I was getting the very best level of care. With Dr. Shire’s help we identifed one of the areas top oncologists on Long Island, Dr. Vincent Vinciguerra, head of the LIJ Hospital, Monter Cancer Center, who was going to manage my treatment. Ten, a note from my dad sparked a new level of passion about health. He sent me an email about the ratio of alkalinity and acidity in the body and pretty much told me “You didn't have to submit to cancer.” I had no clue what alkalinity was about but I was determined to fx my “insides” and take nothing for granted. Tis email, like so many other chance encounters, was going to eventually save my life. I was always a hustler looking for work. After my second bout with cancer, I was still recovering from the major surgery and the long road ahead with chemo meant that I could not work anymore as an “on the road” tour manager. I was living in New York where I always dreamed I wanted to be, with the girl of my dreams - but living in a With Ali just after surgery nightmare. With lots of time on my hands I started to write a blog about my experiences. I was depressed, unemployed and worried about making a living. In my blog I was also sharing the new and amazing world of health that I was uncovering: alkaline foods, acidic foods, complex carbohydrates and phytonutrients. All of this made sense and I knew that if I ate certain foods and took care of myself, I was going to beat this. As a matter of fact, my childhood premonition kicked in again and I could truly see myself cancer free one day. No doubt. Allison was by my side during all chemo sessions. As I was going through toxic treatments to kill the cancer, I was also changing my life and my health. I made a decision that I am going to take care of my body. After years of abusing my ‘insides’ and ignoring the signals and my body’s cries for help, I was now one with my body. I was one hundred percent focused on health.

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My attitude about chemo was also different. Some doctors in Dallas hinted that it seemed like the chemo did not work the frst time, so now I was questioning why I was going through it again. Tis time around, it was a different treatment plan but regardless of science or medicine, Allison pretty much told me it wasn’t up for discussion. I was thirty years old, questioning chemo, but forced to do it anyway. But, I was no longer driven by dumb ignorance. I surrounded myself with a network of knowledgeable people and personally accumulated a wealth of knowledge about nutrition, health and the human body in general. I also believed that I would beat cancer again by utilizing this new found information. Te challenge with chemotherapy is that it kills “good” cells along with the “bad” cells. Most people don’t understand that in many cases, patients die from the side effects of chemotherapy, not the cancer itself. Doctors also tell you to stay away from ‘healthy foods’ during treatment; you don’t want to confuse your body; chemo is suppressing your immune system and if you introduce healthy stimulants you are literally messing with the formula. But, here I was, totally committed to taking care of my ‘insides’ by introducing only healthy ingredients into my body. Chemo wasn’t part of the plan. I wasn’t going to battle modern medicine (or Allison for sure) but I was going to fnd a way to counteract the effects of chemo and help my body. So, I made a plan to cleanse all the time with my teas, healthy shakes, juices and following a vegetarian diet. I was lucky that Dr. Vinciguerra was open minded about this and all he asked me to do so was stay off “healthy foods & supplements” for 48 hours following each chemo treatment. By then, the poison would be out of my body and I can continue my regimen, until the next session. I was helping my body recover after each chemo treatment and kept my immune system strong as soon as the drugs left my body. My goal was to be in the best physical and emotional condition at the end of the 16 rounds of chemotherapy treatments. I felt better, my body was changing, I was walking fve miles a day and completely reengineered my diet. I lived on nutrition shakes, juices, cleansing teas, water and carried on this lifestyle during the nine months of chemo.

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Chapter Six “Will you marry me?”

I was going through chemotherapy treatment from late 2008 through the summer of 2009. As I was battling and ridding my body of disease, Allison’s presence was the fuel that kept me going. Her devotion and sacrifce were incredible. Here was a gorgeous, vibrant and successful businesswoman who put her life on hold to save mine. Allison had a successful graphic design and advertising agency. She was a hard worker, fercely independent and did quite well. One day, while feeling very guilty about my situation, not being able to work and the tremendous fnancial strain on Allison for her supporting both of us, I told her how I felt and that maybe she needed to move on; my odds weren’t great and there was no telling whether I was going to make it. Tere was no “let’s talk about it” pep talk or drama. In her typical, don’t-miss-a-beat Allison style, she looked at me and said, “Will you marry me?” Back in my early years on the rock & roll scene, I befriended an incredible guy named - one of the founders of the Grammy award winning, largest grossing band, Creed. We had a true-blue, trustworthy friendship - and he included me in his close circle of friends. He was always supportive and concerned about me throughout my battles with cancer. In 2009, he called and invited Allison and I to come to Las Vegas to hang out with him for a few days. Creed was getting back together and he thought I could use a few fun days after the hell I’d been through. We took him up on his invite and had an awesome time. When we got back to New York, Allison was posting photos of our trip to Facebook and noticed an ad looking for engaged couples who wanted to get married on a reality TV show. She wrote to the show, told them our story, and we were accepted! Te producers wanted us to get married in 3 weeks. Te show’s concept was that all the casted couples weddings were to take place at landmarks around New York City. We were assigned to Central Park, but it was December 2009, and Allison did not want to freeze on our wedding day, or as she put it, “I don't want to wear my UGGs under my wedding dress.” We we suggested the 59th Street Bridge tram instead. We wanted an intimate setting so we invited just ffty people. Te date was set for December 8th, 2009 on a Tuesday afternoon. Allison was at her hairdresser a week before our wedding, when she got a call from the producers telling her that after flming a few episodes, the network decided to cancel the show.

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So here we were, a little more than a week until our wedding day, with no ceremony. As if our relationship hadn't been through enough, we now had to scramble to try to make “our day” happen. My whole family had fights booked and friends took the day off, we were ready to take our vows. Just like her daughter, without skipping a beat, Lynne, Allison’s mother and Andrea, her sister, stepped in and saved the day. Lynne quickly booked the exquisite “Inn at New Hyde Park”, found a judge to perform the ceremony and we wound up having a beautiful, intimate, love-flled wedding.

Married!

The Luker Family

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Chapter Seven Rockin’ Wellness.

Te realization that my life had changed forever began to set in; no more tours, living on the road, grueling schedule. Basically, my music career was done. At the age of thirty-one I had to start over. Te real battle began when chemo stopped. Tat’s when cancer patients begin a journey into the unknown; what are you going to do, or can you do anything to keep this monster away? – I felt frantic – life is now measured in clean bills of health – snippets of hope between each 90-days, then 180-days, then yearly checkups. Each clean scan sets the stage for another round of pressure. Ten, you’re at the BIG ONE: the 3-year mark. Cancer survivors live a double-life; the one for family and friends, the gung-ho “I can beat this and doing great”, and the internal one; quiet, worried, frantic. I refused to let this thing beat me and I was determined to fgure out a way to get out of this situation. I thought about my frst bout with colon cancer. I did nothing with or for my body after my frst surgery, yet I still made it to the three year mark. I may have been Seth from nowhere West Texas, but even I knew that if I was going to live, I had to do something different this time. I continued to blog about my experience and health. I was clamoring for any piece of good news I could fnd about fghting cancer. I dug into anything and everything; I went from being a McDonald’s addict into a person obsessed with what I needed to do, to not only be kind to my ‘insides’ but also help them fght this monster. I was tired of being depressed and my passion shifted from music to health. One day, while talking to Allison about my blog she told me that I needed to give it my own identity and name it. What stuck in my mind was the symbol of rock & roll - the “rock horn” hand symbol; my two passions in life now came down to rock & roll and health & wellness. Allison looked at me and with a big smile announced “Rockin' Wellness”. She thought of using the rock & roll hand with a shiny apple - the symbol of health. I was feeling great and my premonition kicked in again. I saw wellness as my destiny and I also felt that I was going to be successful with my mission to share what I was learning with everyone else. By now I was exploding with practical knowledge about health, which included my fght with cancer, alkalinity, cleansing, nourishing your body and what the chemicals that enter your body are doing to your tissues. I also understood the interrelationships between hydration, reducing infammation, stimulating your immune system and keeping your belly satisfed at the same time. I was in good physical condition, working out everyday, my blog was going well and one day I again received a call from my friend Mark Tremonti. He asked me to help him rebuild Creeds’ fan base using all the modern social media tools. I jumped at the opportunity to get back to work and grew Creed’s social media following from a few hundred to many thousands. Mark was visiting New York for a Jones Beach concert. We went to a supplement store on Long Island and got into an intense conversation with Mike Wall, the store manager. As it turns out, Mike was a guitar player and immediately recognized Mark. He knew rock & roll but he really, and I mean really, had tremendous knowledge about health. With Mark Tremonti

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During our conversation, I shared my story with Mike and he immediately rattled out exactly what I should be doing, and what I needed to do in order to stay healthy. Both Mark and I were blown away. We liked the guy, so we invited him to the Creed concert and talked some more. Later in the evening, Mark turned over to me and said, “You need to start a business with this guy.” At this point, I was actually in pretty good shape but I was also spending a fortune on supplements each month. I still felt frantic because I did not know where I was going; I was just doing my best. And then, in another chance encounter, Mike from the supplement store walks into my life. I did what I could to learn about healthy ingredients but Mike was a real health guru. He possessed the fountain of knowledge that I needed to affirm and improve what I was doing to literally save my life. Mike and I connected quickly. He was a musician and probably dreamed about being a rock star and living my previous life. I, on the other hand, was a cancer fghter trying to beat the 20% odds I was given for survival, and dreaming about having the incredible amount of knowledge Mike had about how to keep myself cancer free. We connected on a very profound level. He talked about health and I talked about music. We were an interesting duo feeding off of each other’s passions. I met Mike at a point in my life where I was spending hundreds of dollars per month on anything that anyone said was good for me. Tis was brutally expensive and started to put a fnancial strain on Allison and I. I felt horrible because she was carrying the entire fnancial burden. I needed to do my part, and soon. I started to express to Mike that I had a vision. I needed to create something that will not only help me, but help others that were in similar situations. Not just cancer fghters, but anyone who was as ignorant, or just oblivious as I was about taking care of your ‘insides’. It wasn’t just about nutrition but also about fnding something that was Always backstage VIP… affordable. No one should have to go bankrupt in order to stay healthy, or worse, get sick because they can’t afford what they need. I gave Mike some of the nutrition shake I was drinking and he laughed at it. He let me try his shake and I told him it tasted like sewer water. I was thinking, “Man, how far do you have to go in order to be healthy?” I couldn’t drink his stuff. We were going back and forth until it hit us. We needed to develop a shake that will contain all of the right ingredients, tasted amazing and it had to be affordable. We needed to give people a solution to improve health and well being while not going broke. Tis wasn’t about surviving cancer anymore. It was about taking care of yourself so that you don’t get sick. I didn’t want to become the poster-boy of surviving cancer. My story was about neglect, ignorance and about being selfsh – not caring enough about the body that served me every day; never thinking about the impact that my cancer, or any illness for that matter, would have on my family. Te truth stares us in the eye every minute of our life; you take care of your body and your body will take care of you. Simple, until you choose to ignore it or the many warning signs that show up before you hear those dreadful words “Kid, you have cancer.”

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Chapter EIGHT A dream becomes a life changing reality. We started by answering a simple question: “What ingredients would you put into a shake that would accomplish our goal?” What are the top ffteen foods that we must consume? Mike had amazing amount of knowledge, but we took it a step further. We embarked on intense research about those ingredients and their origin. We started to buy the raw material, mix them up and taste them. Tey were awful. We pieced it together, loved our formula, but it didn’t taste that great. I took the base formula and kept experimenting. Not many of the ingredients that are healthy taste good. We had to fnd a way to balance health and taste. Tis was an exhausting process that took hours, days and months. I was the chief laboratory scientist and tester. Allison also served as a guinea pig for tasting as well. I would spend many nights in the bathroom literally in pain; nutrient dense ingredients are very powerful so you can’t just throw them together, they need to be balanced. I was highly motivated and driven to make this work. It was my personal goal to fnd an affordable but effective way to stay alive. Mike was going through his own battle with health. He battles adult onset myotonic muscular dystrophy. It was a daily race for him to stay as symptom free as possible since he was diagnosed at age 19. We shared a common goal and a vision that we would develop a product that would deliver results. We were disease fghters trying to help ourselves, and at the same time developed a product that would ultimately help others as well. We created an amazing product that is sourced properly, basing our decisions on quality of life vs. the bottom dollar. We all know that there are way too many products on the market that do not share those same concepts. Mike knew the ideal doses to use in the formulation of our nutritional shake. He based this information on many Making it taste good trials on himself, interacting with customers and getting feedback from thousands of clients who shopped at his stores. Te dose is the key – no one doses high enough for amazing ingredients to work properly. Our formula was delivering optimal doses that detoxifed the body and provided energy at the same time. We fnally fnished the formulation at my in-law’s house. We both actually felt the product work. Something about the synergy of ingredients brought it all together. Te Rockin’ Wellness shake was born. Mark Tremonti passed through New York again while on tour and we surprised him with a bag of Rockin’ Wellness. He started to use it. He was a close friend but also an immensely successful musician with over forty million album sales to his name. He called me one day and said, “Seth, there are talkers and there are doers in this world. A lot of people talk about ideas like this, but you did it man, you made it happen.” I thanked him but I also told him that I had no choice. I am alive, kicking and in great shape today. My foundation for health is simple; enough sleep and enough water. After that it’s all about always alkalizing your body. Build your immune system. Reduce infammation. Cleanse a little bit everyday – “get the gunk out of your cells.” I only put

Seth Luker 19 How Love Beat Cancer things in my body that are easy to digest and that are phytonutrient rich (plant materials that support the human body). Whatever I introduce into my body helps cellular communication with antioxidants and cell-to-cell nutrient transfer.

Te ideal formulation we d e ve l o p e d f o r Ro c k i n’ Wellness is two scoops per day. I take two to three scoops twice a day. Te ingredients i n o u r s h a k e c o n t a i n antioxidants to cleanse the body and stimulate the immune system. For example, one scoop of Rockin’ Wellness is the plant In shape & feelin’ great chemical equivalent of about ffty cups of green tea.

With Mike; the dream is now a Our Total Body Nutritional Shake delivers “nutrient-dense” reality dosages but most important, is their origin. We source our organic ingredients from parts of the world where farming has not been affected or damaged by modern agricultural methods. None of our sources use pesticides or GMOs. Rockin’ Wellness takes care of your ‘insides’. I am 36 years old as of this writing, December 2014. I have also been cancer-free for six years. Surviving cancer is not about luck; the will-to-live isn’t enough - if you want to beat cancer you must have a support group by your side, but typically, one person makes all of the difference. Allison is my rock. You also have to get angry, the kind of anger that gets you going and pushes you to take control of your ‘insides’. It is so simple and so many miss it - when you understand how your body works and what it needs to stay healthy, the rest is easy. Don’t get me wrong though. I am surrounded by love and friendship but in my quiet moments it is just me…and cancer. I am determined to continue my journey and leave that monster behind.

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Epilogue Nash.

My amazing wife was 39 when we got married. We kicked around the touchy subject of having kids but we also didn’t think too much about it either. Allison was told on a few occasions that she was infertile and doctors had told me that I was most likely sterile because of the amount of chemo I was exposed to. Mike and I were working continuously to try and come up with the ideal formulation for our shake. Allison was our official taster. I was actually thrilled about this because Ali’s “Long Island Diet” consisted of coffee and bagels with cream cheese. It was time for my wife to hop on the health wagon. Anytime Mike or I came up with a shake that we could tolerate, we had Allison try it and not surprisingly, she became our biggest critic. Tis, of course, worked very well with my hidden agenda; getting Allison to drink shakes was a great way to improve her health. Mike, who is on a mission to help the entire universe, was loving the opportunity to change my wife’s life. And the truly best part was the fact that we did not have to convince or argue with her about this; she was a willing participant in something that was about to change our lives, again. At some point Mike introduced Allison to one of the Rockin’ ingredients called Maca root; a potent root vegetable that balances hormones, boosts energy and stamina, but was also known to improve fertility in women. We did not set out to make Allison fertile; it was just a stage in our health regimen. Other than our shakes, Allison’s lifestyle did not change at all. Hundreds of hours and very long days ended on July 2, 2011 when the official Rockin’ Wellness shake was born. A month later, Allison and I are in Nashville to attend the the CMAs (Country Music Awards) and we are shocked to learn that Allison is 13 weeks pregnant! We honestly did not know how to take it; it was bittersweet news. On one hand, Allison was running a very successful design business, on the other, she was patiently waiting for me to get my act together. I knew that with Rockin’ we were on to something big; I was living proof that it was working, and Allison’s health was changing as well. Between my chemo (a ferce sperm killer) and her declared infertility, the last thing we expected to hear was that we were about to become parents. Tere was no time to waste. Our miracle baby was coming and so we dove right into focusing on Allison’s health. She had a difficult pregnancy and was on bed rest most of the time. She had a hard time eating but was really good about taking all of the nutrients and pre-natal vitamins that Mike and I were giving her. Te baby was in a breech position so Allison was scheduled for a C-section. On May 20th, 2012, on our way to the hospital, she lifts up her tee shirt, rubs her belly in circles and declares that she will miss her big belly. I stood by Allison as we were getting ready for the procedure. She was behind a curtain, she was very emotional and scared. All I could think about were the many times Allison was by my side holding my hand. It was my turn. Holding back tears, I did my best to comfort her. Our baby boy

Seth Luker 21 How Love Beat Cancer was born a few minutes later. We named him Nash Lexington Luker, a reminder of the frst time we met in Nashville. Te delivery team took Nash away to prep him. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed something. I guess it was either the way everyone huddled over Nash, or the way they were looking him over, that provoked me to go over and ask, “Is everything okay?” Something wasn’t right. Every sense in my body was telling me that. I noticed that they pointed to Nash’s rib cage. “We think it may be some sort of a deformed rib.” It was hard to the touch. You might think that my own experience with docs and hospitals prepared me for this, but it didn’t; the avalanche of emotions doesn’t take long to form and something in me is now screaming “Oh no, holy shit, not again.” I was there before. Welcome Nash 5/20/2012 By now, my medically-wired brain was processing everyone’s body language and concerned looks faster than I could. What I felt was sheer panic. Allison was still lightly sedated but sensed that something wasn’t right. She was crying and begged to know what was going on. She wanted to see her baby. I think they gave her more sedation to calm her down and knock her out while they fnished the operation. I asked to hold Nash and see up-close what they were talking about. It looked like a bite size Snicker bar on Nash’s rib cage. Tey cleaned him up and handed him over to me for a few minutes. My precious and special frst few moments with my son immediately turned into “Tis can’t be cancer, can it?” I was alone again, staring at my newborn son and a lump on the side of his little chest. Nash was born in the brand new Katz Women’s Center at Long Island Jewish Hospital on Long Island, NY. He was also the frst newborn that was immediately transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Cohen Children’s Hospital next door - luckily one of the top 50 children’s hospitals in the country. What transpired in the next three weeks was a frantic race to fnd out what was wrong with Nash. MRI’s, CAT scans, bone scans, endless blood tests - doctors in and out of the recovery room all day and night, more for Nash, than for Allison’s C-Section recovery. It was crazy and surreal. I would never wish this on any new parent or baby. A biopsy operation of the mass was done when Nash was just 5 days old. For 3 weeks we waited for the pathology reports. Back and forth to the hospital, medical experts were all around Nash, but no defnitive diagnosis was pronounced. One pathologist said that he saw some ‘cell activity’ but nothing to raise concern. A newborn with cancer was literally so rare that none of the doctors had ever experienced it before. Nash post Biopsy Surgery Our medical team at Cohen Children's LIJ Hospital consulted with and sent the pathology slides to top pediatric hospitals around the country. It seemed that no one had ever seen anything like this case before. Finally, a doctor at Vanderbilt University pronounced the defnitive diagnosis, “Rhabdomyosarcoma”, an extremely rare cancer of the soft tissue that typically begins in muscles that are attached to bones. His mass was located in the muscle tissue of his rib cage. Te medical team told us that that maybe two or three cases had ever been reported.

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Nash was about three weeks old when I was changing his diaper and noticed another lump next to the frst one. My heart stopped. Tere was no longer any doubt that something was very wrong with my son. Almost around the same time, we received a call from the hospital, “You need to get your son here immediately, this cancer needs to be removed ASAP, as it is spreading quickly.” Nash was wheeled into surgery at 21 days old. Te appearance of the second tumor changed the course of treatment; it became a very Cancer Fighters complicated case. Te surgery took longer than expected and Nash went through a total chest wall Nash post chest wall surgery reconstruction. Te pathology that followed showed that the cancer spread to the surrounding area. Allison, my in-laws, sister-in-law and I were in a room full of doctors discussing Nash. My son, like his dad, was facing terrible odds of survival. Tis was a deadly childhood cancer. Doctors in Sloan Kettering Hospital in Manhattan, one of the top cancer hospitals in the world, had given Nash a 20-30% chance of survival. Every ounce of my being was rebelling against what I was hearing; I didn’t have much faith or was going to allow anyone in the medical community to decide whether my son was going to live or die. Heck, I was given a 20% chance by the same medical community so I immediately dismissed the doom and gloom and decided that Nash was going to make it. Our doctor told us, “I can’t believe I am saying this but your son must go through chemotherapy immediately.” I was in shock. No one in that room truly understood what those words meant; the thought of putting my 3-week old baby through 42 weeks of chemotherapy, was ripping me apart; my poor baby was going to get massive amounts of poison put into his body every few weeks. He was too young to tell us “I don’t feel good Mommy” or “I can’t take this anymore” or…..Allison, who stood by me during grueling nine months of chemo, knew all too well what this meant. We couldn’t bear the thought that we actually needed to agree to put Nash through this. Our oncologist, Dr. Caroline Fein-Levy, was very blunt, “If your son does not receive chemo he is going to die.” I immediately turned to her and said, “You’re awfully brave playing God with my son.” I turned to look at Nash and my trusty premonition kicked in again; Nash would get through this, just like I did. We reluctantly went along with Nash’s chemo treatment but, I was also going to make sure that he will beneft from the immense knowledge I accumulated going through chemo; I was going to make sure that his body would remain healthy and not shut down. My battle with cancer and the journey I took to save myself was going to save my son’s life. Tere was no doubt in my mind. I was committed to beating the odds, again.

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Sloan Kettering recommended radiation in addition to chemo; Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia (CHOP) was against it. As rare as Nash’s case was, there was evidence that the survival rate was over 50% without adding radiation. I loved Nash’s new 50% odds and we decided against radiation. It was an easy decision because we learned that the after effects of radiation would literally alter Nash’s quality of life. Te struggle continued as on October 29th, 2012, Hurricane Sandy left us homeless for almost a whole year. After a short stay with a wonderful couple, and then with Allison’s parents, we spent many nights at the Ronald McDonald House just beside Cohen’s children medical center so Nash could receive his treatments. It was truly ironic, after spending so many years ruining my health eating Mickey D’s, that here we were enjoying the wonderful hospitality and generosity of the same organization. Nash was prescribed a nine-month regimen of intense weekly chemotherapy. My new obsession was getting my son through this. I thoroughly researched ways to help a young child deal with this horrible poison. Tis time around, I had my business partner Mike by my side. With the help of our Rockin' Wellness manufacturer, who is also a naturopathic doctor, we developed a course of treatment to boost Nash’s immunity and keep his blood healthy. While most young children going through chemo need weekly blood transfusions and regular immune boosting shots, Nash only needed two of each during his treatment; we succeeded in getting him through. Nash was known throughout the hospital as “the baby with perfect blood.” We also decided on a vegan diet for Nash; no dairy products, no meats, no refned sugars. Only organic, Non-GMO, healthy veggies, grains, fruits and alkaline water. Vegetable juices come in all sorts of colors, and the docs used to joke with us asking, “What colors are both father and son drinking today?” But, it didn’t matter to us what the medical doctors thought about Nash’s diet. We knew, and I was living proof, that the right nutrients would give Nash’s cells the power to replicate and renew normally. We dismissed the “junk food” the hospital offered the other kids for meals - hot dogs, pizza, chips, cookies & ice cream. It really sickened us to see sick children eating this way; some simply did not get better. We are nearing the end of 2014 and Nash is on a 90-day checkup routine. We have one more to go and we move on to a six-month checkup cycle. We continue to keep his ‘insides’ exposed to healthy, immune boosting foods. “So far, so good” is what we like to say. His daily diet includes our Rockin’ Wellness shake. We are certain that Allison’s lifestyle transformation into healthy living, along with vitamins, supplements and drinking a Rockin’ Shake each day, allowed Nash’s immune system to fght and win his battle against Rhabdomyosarcoma, a fast spreading killer cancer. Nash was also able to go through intense weekly chemo without virtually any sickness.

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Our little Nash is smart, funny, athletic and adorable. He’s a miracle all right. I am incredibly blessed to have an amazingly supportive wife, and a little bad-ass fghter we call Nash.

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Refections

Allison and I are not what you call religious but we are deeply spiritual; how can you not be after what we’ve been through. I don’t know if divine intervention exists but I do know that my life was saved by chance encounters all weaved together to prove one simple point; love and family conquers all. My journey began meeting Allison who stuck by me and has given me the only reason I needed to stay alive. It continued with meeting my business partner Mike, whose knowledge and immense expertise about the human body helped my family survive. Mike and I are determined to share what we know about being nice to your ‘insides’. No one should have to compromise, or go bankrupt, just to stay healthy or even alive. Rockin’ Wellness started as an educational blog by a cancer survivor who wanted to share with the world what he knew about what it took to stay healthy. Te Rockin’ team is on a mission to make living healthy affordable. We have the knowledge and resources to make it happen -we are making it happen. You don’t need cancer to drink a Rockin’ Shake. You just have to take care of your body so your body can take care of you. Stay healthy and join our movement. As my life proved, chance encounters play a prominent role in defning and changing our future. In my case, with a bleak twenty percent chance of survival, meeting Allison during a bus stop saved my life. I take nothing for granted and neither should you; I listen to my body, take care of my ‘insides’ and I am thankful for having my best friend by my side. One day, your own chance encounter will change your, or someone else’s, life forever.

With much appreciation for your love and support,

Seth. p.s. Share your thoughts or just say hi: [email protected]

Seth Luker