Jay Patrick, left, and his twin brother, Rian, revel in the view from atop the Statue of Liberty in New York.

by Jay Patrick, '98

In April of 1997, as I was completing my last term at the University of Oregon, my family received the news that my twin brother, Rian, had cancer again. Unlike the first two times, the tumor in his brain could not be removed surgically. He left Eugene, where he was in his third year at UO as a media arts major, and immediately flew to Seattle to start treatment.

We all knew time was running short, and Rian decided to take his own advice: If there is something you want to do, do it now. Rian knew he had to take the cross-country journey he had always dreamed of.

In June of last year we began our journey with two UO friends, April Upchurch, '96, and Andy Johnson, '97. It lasted all summer as we took a loop around the entire country in the 22-foot motorhome donated by a Washington couple after they read an article that appeared in the Seattle Times. We hit 32 states and more than 40 cities.

But we were not driving around the country in a motorhome just because we thought it was cool. There was a mission to this journey. Our mission was to raise money and awareness for cancer research and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which in 1993 had granted Rian's wish to meet Chevy Chase. More importantly, Rian had an innate mission to help people realize the gift of life. Rian had an incredible ability to do this.

One of our stops in Richmond, Va., brought us to the children's cancer center in the Virginia Medical Institute. We followed Rian as he spent time with children inflicted with cancer. The bond he shared with these kids was immediately visible and moving. It was as if he had been friends with these kids their entire lives. And I saw hope in their eyes after their visits with Rian.

Along the way, we had tons of fun. We met director Quentin Tarantino on the set of his latest movie "Jackie Brown," saw the "David Letterman Show" and "Rent" in New York, went to baseball games and visited friends and family around the country. Rian also bungee-jumped from the 250-foot Sky Screamer in Las Vegas while I kept my feet flat on the ground. In Washington, D.C., we snuck into the press room at the Capitol building, where Rian held his own press conference for us. And that is the short version.

"Rian knew that his mission was to teach others how to enjoy life."

In trying to make this dream trip become a reality, I discovered what excellent training and knowledge I had gathered from the School. I was fortunate to see my hard work in school pay off immediately in the real world. At the School, my emphasis was in public relations, and what I did in the classroom was exactly what I did for the trip. And it created great results.

Press releases I wrote generated five articles in four newspapers around the country. I had the privilege to work with top PR professionals while planning fund-raising events in Portland, San Francisco, Beverly Hills and Washington, D.C. We were on the news and live-interview TV shows in Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Dallas, Texas, Richmond, Va., and Washington, D.C. These events were made possible by one important lesson I learned about public relations--establishing good relationships will open many doors.

Now I feel confident I can do anything. The School went beyond just teaching me skills; it prepared me for the real world. With this knowledge, I recently secured a job as an assistant account executive at The Rockey Company, a well-respected and successful PR agency in Seattle.

In June, I was fortunate to walk through the School's graduation ceremony. It felt like my last step with Rian because he was so supportive of me during school and because I finished my last upper-division class one day before Rian was admitted to the hospice. He died Dec. 10, 1997.

The next step along my journey, the first one I will take without Rian, will be one of the biggest and most exciting. In August, my girlfriend and I are moving to Boston where she will attend Northeastern University School of Law, and I will look for a job (anyone have any connections?). The process of looking for a job and apartment in a strange and big city will be quite intimidating and exciting at the same time.

I know that everything will work out because of what I have learned from Rian.

Most of us may go through our entire lives without knowing what our mission is. One thing cancer can provide is an answer to that question. Rian knew that his mission was to teach others how to enjoy life. He led this mission by example. He didn't just enjoy life -- he cherished it.

Rian was the best teacher in the world. I sometimes still struggle to enjoy and appreciate what I have been given. There was a time on our trip when we looked out over the Grand Canyon walls to see the ocean of orange created in the sky by the setting sun, and I realized everything we had learned in our lives had prepared us for this moment.

So, as I take the next step on my journey, I get my power back from looking at the clouds. Really. Sometimes I feel that Rian's new way of helping us realize how lucky we are is to create incredibly painted clouds in the blue and orange sky. Take a look sometime, and I'd be willing to bet it will give you the power to take your next step.

Note: If you would like to learn more about what Rian and Jay did on their "Journey of a Lifetime," check out their website at www.dynnet.com/journey. Donations may be made in Rian's name to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the American Cancer Society, The V Foundation and Noah's Children Hospice in Richmond, Va.