• Font Size    

CBS4.com Top Stories

Disney Worker Killed In Monorail Crash
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Kayaking The Keys For Cancer Research

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +
May 23, 2008 8:24 pm US/Eastern

Kayaking The Keys For Cancer Research

MIAMI (CBS4) ― A local high school teacher lost both his mother and grandmother to cancer in just one year. But now, he is trying to turn the tragedy into triumph with the help of a kayak.

Steven O'Brien created "Castaways Against Cancer," with a group of friends in hopes of raising money to help in the fight against cancer. The group decided on kayaking from Key Biscayne to Key West.

It might seem grueling, and even impossible to some, but he says the worst thing that gets to him is the heat.

"It's the worst trip you'll ever love. It's the greatest experience and some of the hardest things you'll ever go through," O'Brien said.

O'Brien teaches world history at Christopher Columbus High School and beat cancer to the punch when his sister gave him a colonoscopy for his 50th birthday.

"It turned out to be something really important, because I had two polyps that were just about to go cancerous, and that was really the message, early detection," O'Brien, or OB as his students call him, said.

Since founding the group a little over nine years ago, the castaways have collected $160,000 to help the cancer fight. This year, the group hopes to raise between 50 and 60 thousand dollars.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

The Slideshows You Love

You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.

Local News

Top News Stories

© MMIX, CBS Television Stations Inc. All Rights Reserved.