On the 10th anniversary of his life’s calling, Aurora Police Officer Jim Seneca found himself in a hot warehouse with music blaring, surrounded by muscular athletes streaming with sweat.
Flexing their bulging calves above multicolored sneakers, 20 teams of two competitors — one man and one woman — were flipping kettlebells and lifting 50- to 100-pound medicine balls over their heads for the first Cops Fighting Cancer CrossFit Competition on Sept. 8.
“We wanted to do something different that supports wellness and fitness,” Seneca said. “It’s something I believe in, and is especially important when you’re fighting cancer.”
When he began the nonprofit in 2003, Cops Fighting Cancer was a one-man show. Seneca, then a 16-year leukemia survivor, began planning fundraisers and events to raise money for Colorado families struggling with medical bills from a cancer battle.
“We’ve served well over 200 families in financially debilitating situations,” Seneca said. “Not only is it a huge reward for me to see this come together, but seeing these people’s faces … it’s incredible. How do you even describe it?”
Seneca said as grueling and horrific as cancer was for him, it’s brought him to his “purpose” in life.
“I just want to help people like I was helped,” he said. “I get to be the inspiration, the hope, the support, and then seal it with an act of compassion.”
Seneca recalled Brianna Roberts, a 3-year-old girl with a rare cancer that developed a tumor the size of a lemon when she was an infant. In its first project, Cops Fighting Cancer provided $15,000 for Roberts and her family.
Now 14, Roberts is still in close contact with Seneca, who tears up just thinking about her.
“She was the catalyst,” Seneca said.
With the organizational aid of faithful volunteers from the Aurora Citizen’s Police Academy, funds raised through the program help upwards of 10 families a year. Recipients are approved through an online submission process.
Volunteer Alice Jackson said the crossfit competition was to be the first of many in partnership with the owners of CrossFit 6th Avenue in Lakewood.
Participants were a blend of police officers and regular fitness buffs who trained for three months to prepare for the fundraiser. In the future, Jackson said the event could be split between two days to accommodate the turnout.
“We started light for the first year,” Jackson said. “But there were plans to do it on two days. We may start there next year.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650 or mmitchell@denverpost.com
