Fight On!

Today marks the second anniversary of GM Roper's lung surgery to remove the cancer. All the follow-up CT and PT scans, GM has remained cancer free and is living proof that cancer can be beaten. Those of us belonging to An Army of Bloggers are posting today about the importance of fighting cancer.

In "The Season for Giving," a post I did in December 2007, I explained why I was donating to The Kayla GBM Foundation, which supports research for glioblastoma multiforme, the deadliest type of brain cancer. I myself have never been diagnosed with cancer. But back in 1996-1997, I did have a cancer scare, when a mammogram showed a suspicious result.

Twice, for a few short days, I thought that my number was up, at the age of forty-four, the same age at which Mr. AOW underwent inner-ear and brain surgery for acoustic neuroma, a benign albeit invasive tumor of the auditory nerve's myelin sheath. The auditory nerve, of course, follows a path into the brain stem and, if not removed, acoustic neuroma compromises the function of the brain stem, eventually leading to death. Acoustic-neuroma surgery is a life-altering event, with permanent side effects, including chronic fatigue, loss of hearing, loss of balance, and short-term memory problems — even when the surgery is successful.

My own cancer scare came when I received a phone call at work. I was summoned to the school office for an emergency call and heard the medical specialist on the other end tell me that I had to go immediately, that very day, to the hospital for an ultrasound of my right breast. When I arrived, the personnel at the breast cancer center already had the operating room reserved for later in the day! Based on what the diagnosticians had seen on my mammogram, they were nearly certain that I had to undergo a radical mastectomy.

As it turned out, the ultrasound indicated that I did not have breast cancer. With apologies, the breast cancer center sent me home. I cannot begin to describe the relief I felt! I was going to live!

But my relief did not last for long.

A few weeks later, I received a call from a surgeon, who insisted that I needed an excision biopsy, for a lump I couldn't yet feel. On January 20, 2007, the very day of the biopsy, I finally was able to feel the lump, which was about pea-sized. Once again, feelings of doom overtook me. I was sure that my number was up!

Of course, I went ahead with the excision biopsy. Then, I had to wait a full week for the results. Negative for cancer! Not even precancerous! But the little lump, detected so very early by mammogram, was of the type which, over time, could have become precancerous and, later, fully cancerous.

That week of waiting for the results of my biopsy was probably the longest of my life. I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, couldn't keep my mind on my work. I recalled all the horror stories of cancer surgery and cancer treatment. I imagined those horrors happening to me, in the prime of life.

But would I have fought cancer, had I been so diagnosed. You bet! Life is precious and worth holding on to. And do I still get regular mammograms. Absolutely! Those appointments are ones that I keep, no matter how much I have to alter my schedule.

[CLICK HERE FOR FREE to support free mammograms]

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Thank-You Note Received

As part of my participation An Army Of Bloggers, I posted about the Kayla K Foundation. Please see my sidebar for the blogroll of participants in An Army Of Bloggers, sponsored by GM's Corner.

Today, via email, I received a thank-you note from The Kayla Glioblastoma Foundation. I don't often share emails with my readers, but I hope that sharing this one will encourage readers here to donate to the Kayla Glioblastoma Foundation:

My name is Michael Owens and I’m with the Kayla GBM Foundation. Sorry for the belated reply but we greatly appreciate your decision to donate to our foundation. I checked out your blog and it’s a great thing you’re doing, searching out the lesser known foundations to support and promote. We are grateful for any links to and promotion of our site so thank you again for that. I also wanted to let you know that we have not yet received your donation so I am a bit worried that it may have gotten lost in the mail. You can also donate via PayPal or try mailing us at:

Kayla GBM Foundation
P.O. Box 3891
Reno, NV 89505

Thank you again for seeking us out and we’ll definitely post a “thank you” and send you a receipt for your donation once it is received. We greatly appreciate your help. Take care.

Michael Owens
Kayla GBM Foundation
P.O. Box 3891
Reno, NV 89505

During the painting and redecorating of my living room, my donation got lost in a stack of papers, which I had cast aside when my outgoing-bills desk had to be moved. After a thorough search of my home office, where various items had been tossed and never returned to their proper place due to the Christmas rush, I found that check and tore it up. Today I wrote and mailed a new check. Money is tight right after Christmas, but cancer doesn't wait for holidays. Also, donating to a worthy organization is a wonderful way to begin the new year.

Glioblastoma Multiforme is a terrible cancer of the brain. I've lost friends to GBM and know, up-close-and-personal, how difficult living with it can be.

Please consider sending a donation to The Kayla GBM Foundation. The organization does excellent and desperately needed work! A donation of any amount will be appreciated and appropriately used. If you can't afford to donate right now, HERE is another way to help:

UPCOMING EVENTS

We have a few events that we're discussing in our meetings right now:

- Rock 'n' Run This would be much like the runs put on by other cancer foundations but with our own unique Kayla K. style, of course.

- Guitar Hero Competition In creating GBM awareness we want to reach as many people as possible and what better way to do that than with a Guitar Hero competition?

We would like to reach as many different audiences as we can so we're always tossing around ideas for new, creative ways to raise money and spread GBM awareness. If you have any ideas or would like to help out with any fundraisers, please contact us.

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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.

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