We all do it differently. When a loved one dies, we mourn. We grieve. We try to move on. We find ways to honor their memory and celebrate their life. For Dr. David Kishbaugh, it’s golf. That is how he honors his son Ryan’s life. Every year, at the Ryan Patrick Kishbaugh Memorial Golf Tournament, scores of friends, family and community members join David in a day of fun and friendship to celebrate Ryan and raise money to help others. This year, the Ryan Patrick Kishbaugh Memorial Golf Tournament tees off at Gates Four Country Club on Saturday, July 23.

Ryan Patrick Kishbaugh was a leader, a sportsman, a scholar and, to those who knew him, he was so much more. He was a friend and an inspiration. In his junior year at Fayetteville Academy, Ryan seemed to have it all. He was unstoppable. He played soccer and basketball. He was at the top of this class. He was headed to Princeton. 

But soon, things changed. The diagnosis came in October of his senior year. He had cancer. The day he found out Ryan wrote in his journal, “I have a premonition that this story will not end in me, but will carry on and will bring hope to others.” He didn’t slow down. He fought. In fact, Ryan went on to lead his school soccer team to the state championship that year. He played basketball. He graduated salutatorian of his class. Then, it happened. He died on January 3, 2003, of complications from a bone marrow transplant. 

That could have been the end of his legacy. Instead, his family set their grief aside and turned their loss into a new chapter in Ryan’s story. They established the Carpe Diem Foundation in his honor and now work tirelessly, raising funds to make a difference for others and fulfilling Ryan’s premonition on the day that changed everything for him and his family. 

The foundation’s mission is to:

• Help provide college scholarship assistance to student athletes with a chronic medical condition.

• Support other charitable organizations (such as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society).

• Promote and help fund education and research for the treatment of chronic illnesses, especially those that affect young adults.

Since its inception, the Carpe Diem (Latin for cease the day) Foundation, has raised more than $35,000. Funds from the Ryan Patrick Kishbaugh Memorial Golf Tournament benefit the Carpe Diem Foundation. It is open to the public. 

Participants can sign up as teams for $400 or individually for $125. Non-golfers can support the cause by donating to the foundation.

It is Captain’s Choice on tournament day, with prizes going to the top teams in the corporate and standard flights. There is a trophy for the corporate team with the lowest score and prizes for the longest drive and closest to the pin. Participants can look forward to contests and side events throughout the day, including a hole-in-one contest.

The entry fee includes a bag lunch, beverages during the event and food at the awards ceremony. A commemorative bag hand-painted by the children of New Hope Children’s Home in Arequipa, Peru, and $60 in Nike bucks for use on tournament day at the Nike Mobile Pro Shop are included in the entry fee as well.

Same day registration starts at 8 a.m. The Nike Mobile Pro Shop also opens at 8 a.m. The shotgun start is at 10:30 a.m. Visit http://www.2016rpkmemorial.com to register now or to donate to the Carpe Diem foundation.