Why I Choose To Hustle Up The Hancock

By John Dodge

CHICAGO (CBS) -- This isn't working.

I know.

In a hospital bedside conversation that took just a few seconds, a father and son accepted the fact that dad was going to die.

The diagnosis was made just a few months before: Lung cancer.

There were no tears.

This was strange, because the son cries during the movies a lot, which is embarrassing. (Two words: Brian's Song ... and, "Toy Story 3")

When the son's son read an essay at his elementary school graduation about the grandfather he never knew, well, you can imagine who was a total mess.

When the son was a boy, he remembers the dark room, the flicker of the television and the orange light.

Then, suddenly, the light was gone.

I quit smoking, son.

That was about the time that "Brian's Song" made is debut.

The boy started running in high school. This time, dad was looking up to his son. He became a runner, too

So they ran. Tens of thousands of miles between them. Dad kept track.

A few decades passed, including a few years in which the two didn't speak. The reasons are only important to them and nobody else.

The son, now a dad, worries that someday he will do something to piss his son off. He lives with that fear, but also knows the power of forgiveness.

Wounds were healed and relationships restored.

Thirty years gone by without a cigarette. Cancer didn't care.

Dad was gone. His grandchildren never knew him.

The son is now a middle-aged man, restless and obsessive.

Guess where that comes from?

Dad did everything to the extreme. Tragically, that included smoking three packs of Sir Walter Ralieghs a day for nearly two decades.

That is why, this weekend the son is climbing 1,600 stairs at the John Hancock Center, to raise money for the Respiratory Health Association, aims to end lung disease through research, education and public policy.

The Hustle Up The Hancock, which is sponsored in part by CBS 2, is one of the group's big fundraisers.

Please consider making a donation, by clicking here.

The Dodges would be one of many families who would be most grateful.