Happy Birthday, Dear Nelson

The 46664 Concert Honouring Nelson Mandela at 90

Last Friday, June 27 witnessed an historic concert in Hyde Park, London that I was fortunate to be able to attend: a musical celebration of Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, with proceeds going to 46664, Mandela's charity initiative to raise global awareness about HIV/AIDS. So this post is not directly cancer related, but it was an event that enriched my life, and about which I wrote an objective article today for Look to the Stars that left me craving the chance to write about, well, how I felt, not just what I saw.

So here I am.

For a run-down of the performers, check out Look to the Stars or the BBC coverage.

What I really want to say is this: I got to sing "Happy Birthday" to Nelson Mandela. I got to sing "Happy Birthday" to Nelson Mandela. I got to sing "Happy Birthday" to Nelson Mandela.

How many times have we sung this song in our lives? To how many people? At how many parties, in how many silly harmonies?

It's nothing but a little ditty of a song, and yet the fact that I had the honor, the absolute once-in-a-lifetime privilege, of singing that very song to Nelson Mandela as he stood on stage, escorted by a loved one and surrounded by the evening's superstar enertainers, was more than enough to bring tears to my eyes and rolling down my cheeks. It was utterly humbling, singing this everyday song to one of history's most courageous, compassionate, visionary men.

Before this concert, Nelson Mandela ranked right up there in my mind with the likes of Mother Teresa and other such larger-than-life figures. I knew who he was, I knew the outline of his life, I knew he was a great, great man. But seeing him on stage, joining in to serenade him, and hearing him speak was just humbling.

Celebrated British humorist and actor Stephen Fry said it best when he came on stage later during the show - he spoke of Mandela's entrance and the subsequent crowd reaction and said it felt like "waves of love" were washing over the audience and crashing up onto the stage.

Indeed it did. And who wouldn't want to take a little time to frolic in that?

Care Packages and Katie Couric

My mom has always been great about sending me mail. When I was in college, she sent me at least one piece of mail a week. I probably never admitted to her how much that meant to me - being able to open my little mailbox in the student center and see a brightly colored greeting card or - even better! - a slip indicating that I had a package to pick up. But I'm sure she knew.

Now that I live across the pond, she has gotten back into her care package mode. Though these days the packages that the mailman crams through the slim slot in our front door contain more credit card bills and other grown-up mail than fun things. But her care packages are always thoughtful and always appreciated (I hope you're reading this, Mom!).

Yesterday, I received a big cushy envelope filled with newspaper clippings, bills (told you so), and the June 23 issue of Newsweek magazine, which contains a lot of great articles about cancer. But I will get to those later. Also included in the package was a photocopy of another Newsweek piece, written by Katie Couric back in April. The article discusses the tenth anniversary of her husband Jay Monahan's death and how Katie chose to share some of the condolence letters she received a decade ago with her daughters, who were only 2 and 6 when Jay died of colon cancer.

I am a big, big Katie Couric fan. I have met her on a couple of occasions and she has always been gracious and lovely. The first time I met her was fairly soon after my stepdad's death. I had run a race in Central Park on a beautiful weekend morning, and my mom had come to the finish line. After the race we went to a greasy-yet-swanky-spoon brunch spot, the likes of which you could only find on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. And there was Katie, eating with a friend, in her exercise clothes with no makeup. My mom and I spent our entire meal debating about whether or not to say something to her, and had decided against it until we both got up to pay our tabs at the same time.

There we were, in line behind Katie Couric to pay for our diner brunch. My heart pounded as I decided to just go for it, and said, "Excuse me, Katie?"

Most of the conversation remains a blur. I remember that my mom and I quickly told her that we had lost my stepdad recently to colon cancer, so that she didn't think we were just quack fans. She immediately took off her sunglasses to make eye contact with us as my mom told her how much she admires the grace with which Katie handled her husband's death.

"You have been a model to me," my mom said. "It hasn't been easy."

Katie replied, "Yeah, it really sucks."

But not in a Debbie Downer way. In a way that sealed my respect for Katie Couric for life. It was a moment so genuine it gives me goosebumps to write about it now, years later. In that moment, two widows of men who'd lost their lives too soon to a disease that is all too preventable instantly and deeply connected. If only for a moment.

My mom and I were also at Katie's last day on the Today Show, and appeared on camera for fleeting seconds with a group of colon cancer survivors and advocates. It was a hoot!

I like to call this one Katie and Me. Heh.

Anyway, this is all to say that I respect Katie a great deal, and so was excited to be able to read a piece of her writing.

I got through the article without crying, which was an achievement. Everyone who is affected by cancer has a different story to tell, and hearing a new story always makes you reflect on your own. As heartbroken as I remain about my stepdad John's death at age 64, attempting to fathom what it was like for Katie to lose her husband at age 41 - yes, forty-one - is just impossible. To lose your life partner when your daughters are too young to remember him... it's just one of those things that should never happen to anyone.

Katie's story is one of many that fuel my passion to raise awareness about this disease in the hopes of eradicating it. It is not an easy story to hear, but I deeply admire that she is putting herself out there - as a mother, a widow, and a cancer advocate.

I wonder where my mom and I will be, what we'll be up to on the tenth anniversary of John's death. This July marks the fourth anniversary, so we have a long way to go. But I'm sure the time will fly, and I can only hope that when my mom and I inevitably reach that decade milestone, that we remain as full of grace and passion as Katie Couric.

Exciting Writing News!

Here is what made my day yesterday:

I had been thinking for a long time about starting a blog that would combine some of my main interests: cancer advocacy, philanthropy (in my former life I was a fundraiser), and celebrity pop culture. I wanted to write about celebrities (and other wealthy folk, and even some not as wealthy folk) giving their time, money, and other resources to non-profit organizations, in an effort to get the word out there that giving is good, and easy to do, and vitally important to more people than one can fathom.

But I was so overwhelmed at the thought of starting this venture. Where to even begin? How to get the word out? Etcetera.

So finally yesterday I did a Google blog search, just in case someone had already seized my idea (as is so often the case with blogs these days, considering the gazillions of them that are out there)... and lo and behold, I came upon this:

Look to the Stars! A fantastic blog started by a husband and wife team, containing a vast online library of celebrities and their charities, as well as the last news in celebrity giving, all in a really well-written and fun-to-read format.

I emailed the editors immediately, offering to help them in any way that I could. I heard right back from them, and will be starting to write for them soon! I am so excited to add another dimension to my blogging experience. Not to mention the fact that I will be able to indulge in my fondness for pop culture and do some good while I'm at it!

Take a moment to check it out. And keep your eyes peeled for my byline, coming soon!

More Boobs! (A Book Review: Part II)

Now that I have slept on Bathsheba's Breast - or, well, on my thoughts about this book, I mean - I have come to the conclusion that, although it is not an easy read, this is a truly remarkable book. And I might be a little oversensitive because a) I am a woman with breasts, and b) I take my cancer reading very personally. So there. I admit it.

When I go back through the notes I took on each chapter of this book and attempt to digest everything I learned, I am almost overwhelmed with knowledge and awareness. I feel that now I have a solid knowledge of the history of this disease and also an awareness of the bigger picture: how breast cancer has evolved from being the original cancer, the only one known for generations because it could be seen without an x-ray or an autopsy, to setting the standard for cancer research, treatment, awareness, and advocacy. Olson covers this evolution in depth, and although he chronologically bounces around a bit, his efforts are fairly extraordinary.

In an attempt to be fairly concise... here are some very valuable things I learned from this book (with links to Wikipedia if you're interested):

• Breast cancer has taken the lives of countless notable women, from Theodora (wife of Justinian I) to Adolf Hitler's mom to Linda McCartney.
• Hippocrates named cancer for "karkinos" or "crab" because tumors seemed to have tentacles that resembled crabs' legs.
• Mastectomies were being performed in Germany as early as the 1600s! Yikes.
• And these surgeries were performed without anesthesia - that didn't come into the picture until 1846.
  
• William Steward Halsted invented the radical mastectomy (removal of breast, axillary bodes, both chest muscles in a single en bloc procedure - I didn't know what it was, either) in the 1880s. He was also a coke addict. Oops.
• By the mid-1950s, a variety of surgeries were being used on women, sometimes in succession, with each being more gruesome than the last. Needless to say, faith in doctors and science at this time was very, very high.
• Radiation also came into use in the 50s and 60s - but mortality rates for each of these treatments (radiation, radical surgery, lumpectomy, etc.) were similarly high.
• This is gross: due to the high mortality rates, every country except for the US opted for the less invasive treatments. American surgeons (most of whom were male) were the last to cling to the radical mastectomy.
• Luckily, the feminism movement gained momentum in the 60s, and empowered women were on a roll by the time Nixon announced the "War on Cancer" in 1971.
• Women like Shirley Temple Black, Happy Rockefeller, and Betty Ford started speaking out about their diagnoses in the 70s. Amazing and so brave.
• Rose Kushner was an incredible cancer advocate who took control of her diagnosis and treatment. Her courage paved the way for other women to have more control over their treatment options. Kushner was diagnosed in 1974 and died in 1990.
• Ruth Handler, the inventor of the Barbie doll, lost one breast to cancer in 1970, and the other in 1989. She started a breast prothesis company and was another incredible advocate.
• Breast cancer has been riddled with controversy for decades, but the disease has made its way into mainsteam consciousness, which ultimately bodes well for the cause.

Phew! And there is more where that came from. A highly recommended read indeed. I just hope that someday a book with this depth and detail will be written about colon cancer.

Boobs Boobs Boobs (A Book Review: Part I)

One of the greatest accomplishments of the breast cancer movement (besides, you know, the gazillions of dollars that have been raised for research, the groundbreaking treatments that have emerged, and the tens of thousands of lives that are being saved as a result) is that people are no longer embarrassed to talk about boobs.

I have participated in many breast cancer race events in New York City, and I remember the last time seeing a group of women walking the race course wearing hats in the shape of bared breasts - yes, naked boobs, nipples and all. How great is that?

Part of me is envious of this movement, I have to say. Only because colon cancer is my own personal cause, to which I owe my life's greatest heartbreak, and I want people talking about butts the way they talk about breasts. I think this is happening, slowly but (I hope) surely. The Colon Cancer Alliance is starting a race event called the Undy 5000, in which participants are encouraged to run/walk in their underwear. I think this is pretty genius and I hope the event will go far in getting people comfortable talking about butts and cancer. The less fear we have in addressing these topics, the more empowered we become.

But back to boobs.

Bathsheba's Breast, by James S. Olson, was the second book in my cancer curriculum. Compared to One in Three, this read was a little harsh. If Adam Wishart had been holding my hand as I tiptoed into the acquisition of some solid knowledge about this disease, then Olson threw me into an ice bath. That's not to say I did not enjoy the book - in fact I learned a great deal from it - but it was a toughie.

Reading this book, especially as a woman, felt at times like having a male doctor with little bedside manner. Olson talks about horrible breast tumors and surgeries as if discussing a baseball game. It's gruesome stuff and he makes no apologies for that. That being said, it also gives what I have to trust is a realistic account of the toll this disease took on women hundreds (and, indeed, thousands) of years ago, which is key to truly grasping how far we have come in treating cancer. I just had to read the book in smallish doses because of its graphic nature. But ultimately, Olson sets an example for the rest of us to not be afraid to talk about cancer.

In fact, the book begins with a discussion of his own cancer - a sarcoma in his arm that recurred while researching and writing Bathsheba's Breast. Olson lost his left arm to cancer, and says, "Although I know nothing of what it is like to lose a breast, I do understand... the anxiety of confronting one's own mortality, and the trauma of saying goodbye to a body part."

Heavy stuff. And in the interest of small doses, I will continue the review tomorrow...

Cancer Quote Friday!

As we greet another fabulous Friday, with brains fried by the week and flitting toward the weekend, it is my pleasure to offer someone else's wisdom for your consideration.*

"Cancer is a stubborn disease, revealing its secrets grudgingly, and scientific progress is measured in inches, or better yet, in extra days survived. In a country conditioned to extraordinary success - to conquering the wilderness, to winning wars, to putting men on the moon - a country where most people count on getting their own way, cancer's intransigence bears witness to human frailty. "

- James S. Olson, Bathsheba's Breast: Women, Cancer, and History

Book review coming next week!

*Read: I may or may not be feeling too lazy to write my own post. I think I will stick with this theme for Fridays from now on...

Another Fabulous Website: CaringBridge

I feel like I've been posting a lot about websites lately, but there are so many great free resources out there to help people, I can't help but get excited. This whole "Web 2.0" movement, as I am coming to understand it, has the potential to do such great things and enrich people's lives. It brings out the best in good people who sit at their computers wanting to do good things for the world. Who can argue with that?

Case in point: CaringBridge. It seems as if this website has been around for about 10 years, and I sorely wish I had known about it when my stepdad was sick. The site (and the non-profit organization that runs it) provides free websites to "support and connect loved ones during critical illness, treatment and recovery." Whether the critical time stems from a cancer diagnosis, a car accident, a complicated pregnancy, or anything similarly serious, this site allows for the creation of an interactive website with features including an online journal/blog, guestbook, photo gallery, an online communities so that the families on CaringBridge can reach out to each other.

When my stepdad John was sick, I remember sending out mass email after mass email, adjusting each email depending on the group to which it was sent - my mom's family, my dad's family, my college friends, my coworkers, my mom's colleagues. I didn't mind doing it, but there were many other things I could have been doing with that precious time. It would have been amazing to be able to have a website where we could post just once to update everyone, and be able to show John the guestbook entries written in support of him.

Well, if it couldn't happen for us, I'm glad that 100,000 other families (!!!) have used this service, and I hope that this organization continues to thrive.

To donate to CaringBridge, click here.

LIVESTRONG Indeed

As far as I'm concerned, the Lance Armstrong Foundation can basically do no wrong. I deeply admire how Lance has embraced his survivorship and committed himself to helping others through their cancer journeys. Now, the LAF has launched LIVESTRONG.com, a health, fitness and lifestyle site.

This site is fantastic! It includes a variety of articles on every topic you can imagine. You can register with the site to engage in its online community, set goals (or, as they call them, "dares") for yourself, and track your progress. The Dares include everything from "Drink more water" to "Spend time with family" to "Complete a triathalon."

There is also a section called "The Daily Plate" which offers nutritional information for specific foods, an online food diary, and interactive feedback. So cool!

So while this site (and thus, this post) is not directly cancer-related, I am all for *free* resources that help you, as my friend Sarah says (courtesy of Oprah), "live your best life." This is the one shot we get, and this is the one body we get, so we need to pamper ourselves in health, life, and love.

First Attempt at the Big Cancer Picture

So I just spent way too much time this afternoon creating a cancer timeline in Microsoft Paint that is really hard to read. Oops. But I am going to publish it anyway! This was my understanding of what I am calling the Big Cancer Picture (how it started, how treatments began and have developed, the roots of cancer advocacy, etc.) after reading

One in Three. So, get out your microscope, and without further adieu...

P.S. It's legible if you click on it! Cheers!

SU2C on Facebook!

If you are getting as into Stand Up To Cancer as I am...

And you are on Facebook...

Become a fan of Stand Up To Cancer on Facebook! Woohoo!

Back to work! (A Book Review)

Ok, it's been awhile since I've hit the books - well, cancer books at least. I've taken a slight vacay from the heavy reading and have been thoroughly enjoying Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger (See? I'm not just a nerd, I'm also a girl!) but as my school year approaches there is still a lot I need to learn.

So to get myself back in the mood, I'll post a couple reviews of books I've read this year. I am eager to hear if anyone out there has also read these books, so please leave your comments!

First up: One in Three: A Son's Journey into the History and Science of Cancer by Adam Wishart.

Frankly, I could not have kicked off my quest to learn about cancer with a better book for me. I had just moved to the UK from New York City, and lo and behold, Wishart is a British TV producer. I felt right at home, both in my new home and in my new book.

Wishart masterfully weaves together anecdotes of his father's cancer battle with his own fearless quest to learn about the documented history of the disease that was slowly breaking down his father's body. His ultimate take on the whole thing is this:

"We need desperately, therefore, to learn how to talk about cancer and to regard it no longer as a painful taboo. There is an urgent need to do so, because each of us will one day be touched by the disease, as one in three people will be diagnosed with it within their lifetimes. It is time to understand that cancer is becoming a disease to live with rather than only die from."

Word!

I couldn't have said it better myself.

After reading this book I felt like I had a very good understanding of the basic history of cancer - when it was first documented (a malignant tumor scar on the jawbone of Homo erectus?!); how treatments began and (thankfully) have progressed over hundreds of years; cells, radiation, and chemo - oh my! And also Nixon's "War on Cancer," alternative medicine, genetics, the latest advances in treatment and the movement towards "living with cancer" instead of dying from it. Phew! Glad someone else has done all that research so I don't have to. I'll just read your books, thank you very much.

Needless to say, I was excited to find a kindred spirit in my first foray into cancer lit. I even emailed Adam to tell him as much. He never replied, but I am determined to not let that affect my feelings for this book. I am profoundly grateful for its existence and hope to be able to both teach about cancer and encourage others to approach the disease as fearlessly as Wishart exemplifies for us all.

SUTV

Ok so I have been poring over the Stand Up To Cancer website and I am loving every bit of it! It has been a long time since a cancer initiative has gotten me so riled up.

There are some fabulous clips, both serious and not-so-serious, in the SUTV section of the website.

So far my faves are the PSA and the Daily Show cast. A to the Mazing.

And I will freely admit that I think part of why I am so excited by SU2C (their clever little acronym) is that so many celebrities are involved - I love the combination of celebs and non-celebs in the PSA, for example. On the one hand, this initiative combines my two passions: cancer and pop culture. But on the more serious other hand, celebrities have incredible power to do good, and it truly warms my heart to see everyone from Tobey Maguire to Susan Sarandon to Lance Armstrong rallying for SU2C.

My fellow colon cancer advocate friends and I would always lament, somewhat morbidly I admit, that no hot, young celebrity has survived colon cancer. There are plenty of young people diagnosed every year, unfortunately. And there are plenty of celebrities who have been diagnosed with colorectal cancer (Carmen Marc Valvo, Joel Siegel, Farah Fawcett) too. But colon cancer does not have its Lance Armstrong or its Sheryl Crow or Cynthia Nixon.

So if colon cancer must continue to wait for the celebsurvivor who can take the cause into mainstream pop culture and make it a little more fabulous, at least plenty of celebrities have stepped up - sorry, stood up - for cancer through this amazing initiative.

As Tesco, a supermarket chain here in the UK, has as its motto, "Every little helps."

[Which I always think is missing a "bit"... but whatev. It gets the point across.]

Stand Up To Cancer

This is amazing!

I have just scratched the surface of this website, but WOW. On September 5, 2008, the US television networks ABC, CBS, and NBC are joining together to air a one-hour "interactive television special" that will hopefully raise gazillions of dollars for cancer research.

How cool that this unprecedented joint effort of the three major networks is focused on cancer. While there are plenty other causes out there that merit this kind of attention, of course I believe that cancer deserves it most, as it is a disease that does not discriminate, and attacks at random. While there are certain things we can do that can help ward off cancer, at the end of the day it affects us all somehow. I am thrilled that these networks have recognized the urgency of this cause. Kudos to the Entertainment Industry Foundation for making this happen.

Besides being a celebrity phonathon (ooh! I wonder who will be answering the phones! Makes me wish I were in the States... I will definitely be encouraging my friends and family to call in and donate), the special will also focus on the latest research and advances in conquering this disease.

This is fabulous. I am going back to the website right now to find out more!

The Interview

But back to my interview. The scholarship program is funded by a generous family whose wealth runs deep and wide (and I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be a recipient of a teeny bit of it!). One of the final questions in my interview, administered by a couple of big-wig staff members of the MBA program, was this:

"Say you receive this scholarship, and this family invests, oh, 30,000 quid in you. What will be the return on their investment?"

Yikes.

But I rallied. Made a charming comment about how it's too bad I would never get to meet them because they'll miss out on my fabulous personality (which, now that I think about it, was actually kind of a dumb thing to say. Uy yuy yuy.) - but then -

"Frankly? Cancer." [Ack! Not that the members of this family will get cancer - oops.] "Being a cancer advocate is not easy work. Devoting my life to working to eradicate a disease that has no cure, and that will affect everyone in the world in some way, and to which I have such a personal connection, is not an easy thing for me to do. Each time I read a book on cancer, I have to alternate with an easy beach read to decompress a bit -" [TMI. Damn.] "But there is great work to be done. There are lives to be touched, and changed, and improved, and I know that making those personal connections will sustain me throughout my career. I can think of nothing greater than helping to support those who are faced with cancer while educating others and working to eradicate the disease itself. I can think of nothing I would rather do. It's not an easy route, but I know there are great rewards in store."

Huh. Well, I can't say I nailed it. But I was me. And all I can do now is hope that fam decides to toss a little dough my way.

I'm back!

Yay.

So, today I interviewed for a huge-ass scholarship at the Uni where I will be starting my MBA in the fall. Leading up to this interview I had to do a lot of thinking about my volunteer work as a cancer advocate, among other things, and it was great to reconnect with that part of myself. I feel reinvigorated, and after what has been kind of a crazy time I am ready to get back into my cancer research (I always get a kick out of calling it that, because I could not be LESS of a scientist…) and thus will be posting more often starting… Now.