Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 9 No. 5 | May 2017

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looked like a day closer to a cure for
my dad.
The list of things that have
impressed me about Slye’s efforts
runs beyond lengthy. His balancing
of time between academics, athletics
and philanthropy ranks near the top
of the list.
But at the very top is that he has
done all of this with the knowledge
that it won’t bring back his brother.
Mine is a selfish participation. The
work that is being done can and
has saved my dad. I hope it never
comes to this, but some day, it may
save my brother or me. That work is
remarkable and the advancements
in treatment are real and being felt
daily. Slye is doing it for me and
potentially you … and so are all of
you.
I hope that thosewhoparticipated
could feel the aura of resilience in
the air over the weekend. I hope that
the Slye family took a moment through their
efforts to feel the community-wide embrace. I
hope that it brought them some solace. I hope
that they felt proud of what they already had
accomplished by being willing to get back up
and fight after getting flattened.
As I was leaving the event, I began to think
of that feeling in a grander sense. I couldn’t
help but be reminded of a similar feeling I had
the weekend before while participating in the
3.2 for 32 Run of Remembrance.
It was collective resilience. Resilience
doesn’t take away pain. Resilience doesn’t
allow others to understand personal
mourning. And as I mentioned earlier,
resilience won’t bring back Slye’s brother, A.J.
It also won’t change the events of April 16th,
2007, or prevent other families from dealing
with tragedy and loss.
But resilience makes the profound
statement of whom we are and what we refuse
to be defined by. It has allowed the Virginia
Tech community to heal, and a decade later,
for its members to be sewn from the same
cloth of those who showed such resilience a
decade earlier. It allowed for the scene at the
indoor practice facility to be awash in smiles,
even though tears didn’t lie too far beneath.
It brought Slye to Blacksburg. It has brought
many others of a similar makeup as well.
I have wrapped up my second year in
a place that has become home—a year
where the punctuation mark at the end was
evidence of that resilience. Reminders of the
promise that drew me here in the first place.
An extraordinary community with a resilient
spirit. Since then, I have enjoyed the privilege
of meeting amazing families like the Slyes. I
thought I knew what resilience looked like. I
underestimated it. I am grateful for that.
So as we head into graduation season and
the turning of another page in our history, I
say a collective thank you for who you are,
what you have and will continue to fight
through, and most of all, for being Hokies!
***Joey Slye’s campaign and LLS’s fight
against blood cancers continues. If you
would like to read more about his story
and to donate or participate, please visit
.
HELPJOEYKICKCANCER .COM