BEST OF: That Damm Spot 12.11.2008

   Just because Sybil and I are out frolicking in the South Pacific, couldn't leave you guys hanging. So while I'm gone let's do what the syndicated radio shows do. Yeah, a little "best of ..."
   I'll post some of my favorite stories from the past and before you know it I'll be back live and in living color with tales from abroad.
   Thanks again for your patronage, your patience and your understanding of my honeymoon sabbatical.

THAT DAMM SPOT
By Richie Whitt
Dallas Observer
December 11, 2008

   He always loved running. Helped him clear his head.

   If only Steve Damm could turn that trick now.

   Unfortunately, a pair of New Balance shoes and 15 miles per week can't combat inoperable brain cancer. Though a two-time ('01 and '02) finisher of the Dallas White Rock Marathon, chances are Steve will never run again.

   "Of the things I miss, running is at the top of the list," Steve says from his family's Frisco home last Wednesday, just hours after doctors revealed that the tumor at the base of his brain is again growing. "I used to go four miles, just to alleviate stress. Now there are days when I can't walk more than four feet."

   With his condition deteriorating and a desperate round of chemotherapy coinciding with the one-year anniversary of his courageous fight, Steve's body won't be able to complete Sunday's Dallas White Rock Marathon. His spirit, however, will proudly cross the finish line, lifted, carried and joyfully, if not painfully, delivered by 22 family and friends who will run for him.

   "I'm a very unnatural runner, but it's to honor him," says Steve's wife, Tyra. "It's not really something we ever shared. But I'm finding it therapeutic. I picked up his iPod and went three miles by myself the other day. I was bawling at a Coldplay song, a U2 song, and then I heard The Beastie Boys, and I started laughing. I could just hear him running along, trying to rap."

   It started with a headache.

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