I’m Crossing the Canyon in honor of my husband, Jonathan Bass, who died in 2007 after a long struggle with brain cancer. I’m dedicating my crossing to our two awesome boys, William (19) and Christopher (16). Jonathan and I met through rowing while graduate students at Oxford. He’d been diagnosed with a benign tumor at the age of 21, but he survived four surgeries and 21 more years, including three years with a glioblastoma. He never let cancer define him – in the later stages, he scheduled his chemo treatments around rowing regattas – and he was an inspiration to many. I’m Crossing the Canyon with my great rowing buddy, Gail Zaharek, who lost her best friend, also a rower, to brain cancer. Together, we want to raise awareness and generate funding for new treatments that will help the next generation of brain cancer patients.