Roger Bayly is my business partner, mentor, and best friend. I have only known Roger for a year and a half but I feel as though he has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Roger has that effect on people, he might be a little rough around the edges but he is quietly observant, gently advising, and loyal to the bone. He is and has been since the day I met him one of the most stable, dependable fixtures in my life. “One tough son of a bitch” always comes to mind when I think about having to describe Roger. He is a man’s man, an old school man who has worked hard his entire life and, like the rest of us, had his ups and downs. When I actually make it to the shop early in the morning, which for those of you who know us, is not all that often, I would talk to Roger and exchange stories of our past experiences. Through these conversations I learned about the years Roger spent serving our country in the military, living and working in Key West, over 30 years of experience in fabrication and design work from awnings to construction to disaster relief. He ran a 30+ man crew during the Hurricane Ike disaster response, it seems the list of things Roger has done grows with every conversation that we have. Roger has crushed vertebrae in his spine, so pain has been a part of his daily life for years. Despite his back pain and having 3 ulcers for the last 6 months he has worked day in and day out, harder and longer hours than ever, with me and Kris at his side building our business’. For those of you who don’t know, we run three businesses out of our shop: most importantly Vertical Turbine Power, followed by our fabrication and design company, SI Concepts, LLC and the thorn in our side of the motorcycle shop that I insist on keeping. Last week Roger went to the Emergency Room due to extensive swelling in his leg and an increase in his ever present pain. After many tests in the emergency room he was admitted and diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The cancer has also spread to his liver, one rib, and one place in his spine. After biopsy’s and more tests the doctors informed him that his cancer was stage 4 and sent him home to die. We refuse to accept doing nothing and are going to fight this. As I tell everyone, Roger is the toughest son-of-a-bitch I know and if there is anyone who can beat this, it’s Roger. We have found a treatment that shows good results for pancreatic cancer through the American Cancer Association in Jacksonville, FL. We have to come up with $250,000 to enroll Roger in this treatment process. We realize how tough times are, most months we struggle to make our car payments and keep the lights on at our shop, but this isn’t a matter of having a car to drive, or even electricity at your home. For Roger this is the difference between life and death. Please help Rogers Cause in any way that you can. Please spread the word and ask your friends and family to help donate to Roger’s fight against cancer. Every penny counts, a hundred dollars, ten dollars, even a dollar, please help us beat this cancer!!!
Great write-up and very true about Roger. He is definitely a great guy that deserves some help as we all know he does anything at any time to help his friends. I hope this money goes toward whatever Roger sees fit, whether it goes toward treatment of getting out of town for awhile with his wife.
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