On Saturday, April 2nd 2016 Dave Bever, pastor at Crosslink Community church arrived at Ohio Cryo to get his final Whole Body Cryotherapy session. ‘Pastor Dave’ was no stranger to the #BlackOctagon; the two had met 11 times previous in the past 3 weeks. And although Dave was quite familiar with the cryotherapy process at this point, the energy that filled Loft #21 at Ohio Cryo that Saturday afternoon was different. It was electric.
About 4 weeks previous, Pastor Dave had embarked on a mission titled the ‘Fight For Gunnar’. Armed with loads of determination, faith and perseverance, Dave began an intense physical and mental training regimen to prepare himself for an MMA fight that was to be held on Saturday, April 2nd that raised money to support one of Dave’s dearest friends Gunnar who at 9 years of age was battling Cancer.
Training 6 or 7 days a week, Pastor Dave would come in with bruises, aches, soreness and the like, using cryotherapy to help him recover along his journey. Dave knew at the time that although he was banged up from an intense training regimen, the pain and soreness that he was experiencing from training was incomparable to what Gunnar had been going through during his battle.
With his friend in mind, Dave trained and trained and trained. And when fight-day Saturday rolled around, Dave understood what the fight meant to him, to Gunnar, to his faith and to his community. Dave knew that by telling Gunnar’s story, by helping to raise awareness for such an amazing cause, by giving all his faith to god and by gathering the community of supporters around himself & Gunnar that he had already won the Fight For Gunnar, no matter what the outcome of the fight would be later that evening.
The first time I spoke to Dave in person I was immediately captivated by his determination, his faith and how genuine of a guy Dave was; I also knew that Dave was an immediate reflection of Gunnar, representing Gunnar’s strength and will power to the best of his abilities.
Dave ended up winning his MMA fight that Saturday night, which was merely a dance that represented an entirely larger theme. A theme of helping others win in life’s battles using love, faith and community.
To Dave and Gunnar: Thank you for allowing your Ohio Cryo family to support you in your journey & fight. We will Never Stop Fighting along your sides.
