This video is a bit dark, and I am sure many people will find it offensive. It does raise an interesting point about people’s mixed motivations. For example, none of us want fires to happen, but I bet Fire Fighters get excited when the alarm goes off in the station. Similarly when a Highway Patrol Officer gets in a high speed chase it probably makes his month.
There is still a lot of work to be done to solve the AIDS crisis but hopefully when it is resolved all the organizations and government support will be channeled into something new in a similar manner something similar to what happened with March of Dimes. That organization was founded to cure Polio, they did that, and then re-focused on the broader issue of prenatal and newborn health.
Help support CURE Childhood Cancer with a night of good food, specialty drinks, advantageous networking and, of course, bowling! The Georgia Chapter of HSMAI (Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International) is hosting their 6th Annual Bowl-A-Thon on Wednesday January 27, 2010 at Ten Pin Alley in Atlanta.
Registration begins at 6:00 pm. Bowlers will have an opportunity to show off their unique bowling moves, and even win one of the prestigious awards of the evening for best bowler, worst bowler, or best team spirit.
For HSMAI members, it’s $40 for individuals and $325* for a team of 6. For non-members, it’s $50 for individuals and $375* for a team of 6. Students get a special rate of $25 per person and $125* for a team of 6.
A portion of the proceeds from the HSMAI-Georgia Bowl-A-Thon go to CURE. We hope you’ll join us for a fun night for a good cause.
For more information and for a schedule of the night visit www.hsmai-ga.org
* Team pricing includes the following benefits: 1) inclusion on the sponsor board at the event, 2) placement of promotional item in event goody bags, 3) recognition in the HSMAI-GA next newsletter, and 4) entry in the Team Spirit Award
The death of your child follows you everywhere you go, hovering in your blindspot. That’s how Lorrie Moore describes parenting a child with cancer in People Like That Are The Only People Here. In your blindspot: just out of reach, never in focus, but there.
So you move along, heading for that sacred destination (cure, survival) and on good days, you get into a groove, lulled into a feeling of comfort, of certainty even (certain that this child will be okay, this child will escape the worst fate). But then, for whatever reason, you reposition yourself and glance over your shoulder and there it is.
Just lingering, hovering. If you try to really look it in the face, try to grab it and shake it and tell it to leave you the hell alone, it would disappear. It’s unreachable, ungrabbable. But there.
Wilms’ tumor is one of the big success stories of pediatric cancer. But that’s because it’s relatively easy to beat the first time around. Once it makes it past that first round, once it survives the initial onslaught . . . well, then it’s not so easy to beat.
We don’t put much weight in survival statistics these days. Of course, there are no accurate numbers for a kid like Austin; he doesn’t fall neatly into any pre-existing category. When we pore over the research with his doctors, we inevitably say, “Well, he’s a little bit like this and a little bit like that,” and “Oh, this case looks like his except for (insert major event here).” So we really have no guidepost, no reliable map to follow.
But if we were forced to give a number, if we had to choose some random survival statistic, it would surely fall below the 50% mark. Which is partly why we don’t put much weight in survival statistics these days. Austin has always fallen outside of the range of normal. Since Day One, nothing about his cancer has been textbook. So we buck up and figure this won’t be textbook either; he’ll just continue beating the odds because that’s how he does it.
The treatment plan we’re following is a full-court press. We’re going whole hog, guns blazing, no holds barred, enter whatever metaphor you’d like to say we’re doing every damn thing we can. When I said in an earlier post that this plan “just might work,” I was wrong. It must work, it has to work.
About a year ago I watched a documentary called Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days. I watched with great skepticism. None of my doctors had ever even suggested dramatically changing my diet as a way to treat my Type II diabetes. They always reached for their prescription pad. Take two and call me in the morning. The meds they prescribed made me sick and sapped my energy which made me depressed which made me stuff my face. Vicious cycle. The people in this documentary were equally skeptical. At the end of 30 days though they had normal blood sugar and had all lost some weight. That’s some strong evidence and some strong medicine.
I immediately bought a ton of books all about the raw diet. I educated myself and I embarked on my first run at raw. In two months I had lost 20 pounds and my blood sugar levels were near and occasionally at normal. I was a believer. I burned myself out though. I didn’t realize how much work the raw diet would be. All that produce needed to be cleaned, processed, and prepared. I got to the point where I was eating a romaine salad twice a day because it was the easiest and quickest thing I could make. I’ve been off raw since this past summer. I haven’t gained the weight back which is surprising but my blood sugar is back up in the 300’s.
Its time for a change.
The new year has just arrived and with it I’ve made a hefty resolution. I have resolved to be diabetes free by 1/1/11. And come hell or high water I will succeed, my life depends on it.
I see now that variety is the key to staying motivated on the raw vegan diet. This time around I’ll also be adding green smoothies. For the first month I will be totally vegan, no animal protein. I may continue that throughout but I also think that a little fish here and there is not a bad thing. I plan to track my weight and blood sugar levels on this blog. I will also talk about what kind of food I’m eating and how I’m feeling. I hope to capture the transformation that is in my future. I want to change and I am ready to change. It is time to Re-Raw!
I don’t often “like” things on Facebook, but I liked this:
…courtesy of this group.
I ate tofu for lunch at the co-op today and feel incredibly guilty. Irrationally, I am more fearful of soy than of smoking. I’m half-convinced I’ll have a tumour by tomorrow.
Help support CURE Childhood Cancer with a night of good food, specialty drinks, advantageous networking and, of course, bowling! The Georgia Chapter of HSMAI (Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International) is hosting their 6th Annual Bowl-A-Thon on Wednesday January 27, 2010 at Ten Pin Alley in Atlanta.