Ayman Mabrouk grew up in Elk Grove, graduated from UC Berkeley and now works in investment banking in New York City.
“Alex and I have been best friends since middle school. We share similar interests, especially sports. After spending time with the Kropp Family, I realized that Big Mike shared those same interests. We would have lots of long talks about almost anything, from my performance on the football field, the trends in the stock market, and how I was doing in the classroom. I enjoyed learning from Big Mike and quickly learned that Big Mike would always be in my corner – encouraging me along the way, but also letting me know his opinion about some of my decisions. I remember learning about his first diagnosis of colon cancer in 2012. It was definitely a scary time for all of us, but Big Mike always maintained his sense of humor and constantly reminded us that he would be ok. I truly view Michael as not only my friend’s dad, but a personal mentor to me.
Big Mike always encouraged me to learn through every experience – and I want to continue to honor that through Big Mike’s Bottom Line. I want to be a voice for people my age since CRC is beginning to impact us more. I have already learned a lot about life with cancer and its devastating effects. At my age, I want to be a part of the solution and to help shift the paradigm about how we talk about poop and bodily functions. I hope through this advocacy work, we can bring greater, more widespread awareness to Colorectal Cancer. I believe that with a little education, we can make a huge difference for so many people. With a bit more, we just might be able to alleviate the stress that comes with a cancer diagnosis by preventing it from the very beginning.”
