COCOA BEACH, Fla.— Life is about finding joy in the journey.
Mike Rogers has that down pat.
“Just relaxing right now. Got a little happy going. Good to come out and get those rides, feels good. Good exercise. Yeah buddy,” said Mike Rogers, a two-time cancer survivor.
He’s 55-years-old and the skatepark is still his happy place.
“For me skateboarding is a good stress reliever. I can get out there and clear my mind and focus on riding the concrete waves,” said Rogers.
“I’m alive, I’m happy, I’m well, I’m healthy so you got to take the good with the bad sometimes,” said Rogers.
It’s that attitude that helped him grind through some of the toughest days of his life.
“When I was first battling cancer I was 12 years old,” said Rogers.
It was a rare, aggressive form of Sarcoma.
“It was a four and half year treatment plan for me back then. When I was done I was going on 15 I weighed 76 pounds,” said Rogers.
Rogers beat it and was in remission for 25 years until he realized something abnormal.
“In 2003 I started getting a runny nose so I went to a doctor they gave me 10 days of antibiotics and it still was running,” said Rogers.
He soon found out the cancer came back, this time even stronger.
“They removed the eye, the check bone, half the roof of my mouth and then they took the right abdominal muscles to make my check. To do all fo that they have to lift the brain to remove the eye, the check bone and half the roof of that mouth first,” said Rogers.
For Rogers there was no time for a pity party.
“This has helped a lot of lot of people. A bad situation that turned into a thing that has helped thousands of people,” said Rogers.
His life is now devoted to his non-profit called “Grind for Life”, an organization that host skateboarding competitions throughout Florida while racing money to help cancer patients get to their treatments.
“The original mission for grind for life was just to share my story and let people know you can get through these battles with cancer and we also saw there was a need for people who needed to travel,” said Rogers.
Nearly a million dollars raised but countless lives touched.
“I talk to a lot of people battling cancer and let them know there’s hope out there. A lot of people get cancer and get back to life,” said Rogers.
Rogers is an every day inspiration as he continues to grind through life with a message that everyone needs to hear.
“Be nice to everybody. Give everybody a smile because everyone is going through something. Everyone has to battle their own battles,” said Rogers.
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Local Skateboarder Share His Story to Inspire Others - Bay News 9
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