The date was August tenth nineteen seventy seven, in the early evening hours I stood by your mother in the delivery room and with nervous anticipation watched as you made your grand entrance into this world ... In less than two minutes the Doctor handed you to me and I quickly counted ten toes and ten fingers and realized what a beautiful baby you were. And as I as I held you close to me I made you a promise that I would do every thing possible to protect you from harm and provide you with a safe and loving home environment and your mother and I would prepare you for the time when you would be on your own establishing your mark on the world.

As I look back and reflect on your life I remember the times you would go fishing with me and would sit for hours and you would say to me "Dad I just want to catch a fish" and I would tell you to not give up just keep trying and eventually you succeeded in catching your fish. You were never afraid to face a challenge head on, at ten you were able to ride a four wheel ATV (while supervised) with the skill most 18-year-old teens could not match. I remember all the countless hours we would spend at the shooting range and how you wanted to be prepared to defend yourself if necessary and were always trying to hold a tighter target group. And all the hours you would fly with me in our plane you then decided to learn to fly. And how proud I was as I watched you perform your first solo flight. At eighteen you decided you wanted to go fast on the ground and a new world was opened up to you. You were introduced to the world of motorcycles. And how you put yourself into learning all you could about the world of high performance sportbikes.You attended the approved training courses to become a safe and knowledgeable rider and later on even completed high performance racing school. I was really proud that you faced and completed those goals also.

When you reached the age of twenty one you were so happy and you had such a bright future ahead of you. Your mother and I were thrilled that you were now able to face the world head on and achieve the goals that you wanted. Just a short time later our world was absolutely shattered when you informed us that you had been diagnosed with stage three melanoma cancer.

Again you faced the challenge head on, you obtained all the information you could find on Melanoma. Almost instantly you posted information on your website to inform others about the dangers of skin cancer and while you were facing the most important challenge of your life you were trying to save the lives of others. Not once did you complain about the cancer other than while you went through numerous surgeries you were unable to ride your Honda sportbike until the surgery healed. Even while undergoing the radical Bio-Chemo you never complained and I remember thinking that in today's society of the me generation, and political correctness of persons saving trees, fish, whales etc. All you wanted was to be able to ride your motorcycle and try to save lives. What a truly amazing young woman you were because you contributed so much to this world and you asked so little in return. I am thankful that you and I were able to talk about your life and how much we loved you.

On October 8th. 2001 a thief came in the night to our home and took from us what can never be replaced. Not any amount of money, nor any Government, is able to repair the damage to our hearts and lives caused by this thief in the night. The thief named Melanoma took you from us and we were asking why did it have to be Tiffany? It is difficult to understand why you were taken from us at such a young age, when there are tens of thousands of young people destroying there lives with drugs etc and you were fighting so hard to live.. However your cyber friends from around the world e-mail us with encouragement and there thoughts on how you affected there lives, from England one says "it is sad that beautiful roses die, but thorns live on", another from Canada says "God must have built a race track in heaven and needs a bright young talented woman to face the challenge of managing it.", another writes, "I would be proud to race with you any time, hold a spot for me on pit row".

This year on father's day I realized that there would be no phone call from you as in years past 'Hi dad happy father's day" I really miss that phone call. But I realized what an impact on the world you have made, you are saving lives, your Melanoma foundation website and sportbikegirl will continue on with your effort to save lives by informing and educating. Your mother and I are in so much pain, but never have parents been more proud of there child than we are, and I will make you another promise, I will on your behalf continue this war against the thief in the night called Melanoma, so that other parents may avoid the pain of having there child taken from them by the insidious thief in the night....

Until we meet again, I miss you so much,

Dad