Stand Up To Cancer
First, check out the Stand Up To Cancer public service announcement. Then here are my thoughts about Stand Up To Cancer:
I remember growing up in the '80s, learning that my grandfather had cancer. Back then before there was Stand Up To Cancer, Livestrong and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, cancer was a word that was hardly spoken in my family. It was the "c" word--feared, unknown and final. When cancer was diagnosed, that meant death. So when I learned that my grandfather, who taught me how to ride my first bike, to drive a car and help raise me, had prostate cancer, I didn't know what to think. I didn't know much except I remember him talking about radiation treatments. He had a slow growing form of prostate cancer and did not die from it until January of 2003.
For over twenty years, cancer came into my family, faded away and then resurfaced again late in my grandfather's life. As I was a little boy, I only knew of what was whispered and talked about behind closed doors. My family was mum on the subject not getting into all the details with me. Yet in the last years of my grandfather's life, I saw him in pain, understood his frustration and his tiredness in fighting the disease. You see, his cancer had started to metastasize to his spine and as the cancer grew so would his pain. I am glad that he passed away before he was in too much pain, but how can anyone be glad of a loved one passing on. My grandfather lived to be 86 years old and had a full life raising two grandchildren and seeing one great grandchild and learning of my wife's being pregnant (for his second great grandchild) before he died.
Yesterday I saw the above public service announcement for Stand Up To Cancer and I was moved. I was excited to see such a national movement beginning, sad that my grandfather wasn't around to see it and proud to be part of the project. I work for the American Association for Cancer Research and our organization will be making certain that the funds raised by SU2C are put to good use. I've been working with the AACR for nearly 11 years and I've been so impressed to see how hard our members work in curing and preventing cancer. It's not just that the association that I work for will be working on this national project. It's not that. I'm not just proud of that. I'm proud to know that all my hard work and the tireless work of my colleagues and my association's over 27,000 members will now have the means to continue working to find the drugs, treatments and preventions to help people fight cancer.
About a year ago, the president of the AACR came to speak at my work and he talked about the cancer funding problem. The NCI's budget had not grown to help support cancer research as had been hoped. To explain the problem to his young daughter, our president explained to her: "Imagine a roomful of 100 cancer researchers. All of them have brilliant ideas to help prevent and cure cancer. However, only 10% of them will get the funds they need." That was a very sobering thought.
Now with the Stand Up To Cancer movement, monies raised will help fund those scientists who have amazing ideas but lack the funds.
I'm here in this virtual space to stand up. To invite you to stand up and take part. If you have money to donate, then do so. But even if you don't, take time out to visit the Stand Up To Cancer site. Read the information there, take part in The Stand (Facebook application) to share your story with others and help out. Stand up. Stand up today.
Now as I raise my son and daughter, I look at them both and hope and pray that all the work we do will help them and their children so that they will not have to deal with the suffering and death associated with cancer.
