The Season For Giving

(This posting stuck at the very top through January 1, 2008. My Christmas posting is HERE, and my New Year's posting is HERE)


Please visit An Army Of Bloggers, a site started by GM Roper, whose cancer is in remission. The site is dedicated to enrolling as many bloggers as possible and to encouraging them to make an annual contribution to fighting cancer.

For my part, I have decided to support The Kayla K Foundation, dedicated to raising research money for Glioblastoma Multiforme, the most severe form of brain cancer. Read Kayla's story HERE.
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Perhaps you've heard about Glioblastoma Multiforme. The book Death Be Not Proud, written by eminent journalist and author John Gunther, who related his teenaged son's battle with brain cancer:

Johnny Gunther was only seventeen years old when he died of a brain tumor. During the months of his illness, everyone near him was unforgettably impressed by his level-headed courage, his wit and quiet friendliness, and, above all, his unfaltering patience through times of despair. This deeply moving book is a father's memoir of a brave, intelligent, and spirited boy.

I have personal reasons for supporting The Kayla K Foundation. I lost a dear friend to our family in 1983. Some ten years later, one of my best friends lost her husband George to Glioblastoma Multiforme.

The diagnosis of this rarest and most severe type of brain tumor is, so far, a death sentence. But with more research and better options for treatment, that outcome might be changed! Two of the more recent treatment-tools are CyberKnife and Gamma Knife. Shouldn't we dare to dream the impossible dream?

I realize that, for many at this time of year, money is often tight. Therefore, I am offering you another option so that you have no excuse not to support cancer research! The Breast Cancer Site provides a FREE way for Internet users to support the offering of mammograms, a life-saving diagnostic tool for saving women's lives because mammograms can diagnose breast cancer before it becomes a death sentence.

Again, I have a personal interest in supporting breast-cancer diagnosis and research. First, I myself had a breast-cancer scare back in 1997. Thanks to mammography, the doctors found a small lump in my right breast. As it turned out, the lump was not cancer, and I was spared exploratory surgery because of ultrasound and advances in biopsy techniques.

Some five years later, the outcome for my cousin Carol was the worst possible. She died of breast cancer metastasized to the brain because, not having health insurance, she couldn't afford to get a yearly mammogram. If only my cousin could have gotten a free mammogram before she detected the lump in her breast, she might still be celebrating Christmas this year with me, as she did for so many years before cancer won the battle.

Just click on the button at this link, and support free mammograms. All clicks done in December are matched by sponsors for The Breast Cancer Site.

Please consider doing your part for cancer research this Season! You'll find additional options for your support at An Army Of Bloggers. Sooner or later, cancer touches each of us or one of our beloveds.