John O'Leary to Headline 18ForeLife Banquet on June 1, 2018

Dexter, Missouri - The 2018 guest speaker for the 18 FORE Life banquet is John O'Leary.  

The Ben Kruse memorial 18 FORE Life Charity Golf event is set to take place on the weekend of June 1st and 2nd with the banquet on Friday evening.

While most past banquet speakers have survived cancer or had someone in their family to who battled the disease, O'Leary is not a cancer survivor, but at the age of nine suffered burns over his entire body while playing with matches and gasoline in his family's garage.

The burns were so severe that the doctor told his parents he would not survive.  He spent months in the hospital and faced many surgeries and years of therapy.  Before he was 10 years old, he lost all of his fingers to amputation due to the severe burns he suffered.

O'Leary now speaks across the country, inspiring others to do three tings in life:

1.  To navigate adversity through decision-making;

2.  To reveal a brighter vision for what's possible;

3.  and to live boldly to impact others.

Each year, a love offering recipient or family member also is invited to speak at the banquet. This year, members of the Pixley family will be on hand to honor the memory of their brother, Adam, who lost his battle to cancer this year.

"There are still some tickets left for the banquet and we need a few more golf teams as well," commented Scott Kruse.  "The cost is only $30 each."  You can contact Mr. Kruse at (573) 614-0503.

The 18 FORE Life Charity has raised over $2.2 million dollars since its inception in 2000.  The charity, through a number of annual events and primarily through donations and the golf tournament are able to provide love offerings to area families in the amount of $1,000 each.