Archive for November, 2011

Beth Ida Stern

We Live In A World Filled With Promise

November 23rd, 2011 - by Beth Ida Stern

We live in a world filled with promise.

For every loss, as wrenching and nonsensical as it is, there is advancement.

We live in a time when we can communicate around the globe with the touch of a button, connect with long-lost loved ones in minutes, and can identify the body’s smallest components with technology that our parents couldn’t even imagine.

All of this to say that we are closer than ever to understanding and defeating cancer. For those of us impacted so deeply by this disease (and who isn’t?), this means that there is hope. There are so many things for which to be thankful. We know so much more about how cancer works – and how it doesn’t – than at any other point in history, and we’re using this knowledge to make real progress.

Now that doesn’t mean that any of us can rest on our laurels. Especially with lung cancer, we have lots of work to do.

But this Lung Cancer Awareness Month, I’ve seen lung cancer mentioned more than ever before, with stories in the national and local media and survivors and caretakers raising their voices in unison. We ARE making progress and we ARE gaining visibility. The millions of us affected by this disease are mobilizing and using our collective voices (and we are LOUD) to say ENOUGH. Enough of the lack of funding. Enough of the stigma. And enough of the impact on our families. We’re mad as hell and we’re not taking it any more. And we’re NOT.

So, this Thanksgiving, be thankful. Be hopeful. We are making progress. We are joining forces. And we are getting closer to a world in which we can turn our attention to other battles, a world in which cancer no longer needs or deserves so much of our time and energy.

Keep up the fight. Never give up.

Much love,

Beth Ida Stern

Beth was the executive director of LUNGevity until 2010 when she relocated to California and began her career as Senior Director of Development for City of Hope.

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Katie Brown

A Little Hope This Thanksgiving

November 23rd, 2011 - by Katie Brown

It’s the day before Thanksgiving and like thousands of other people in America, I’m trying to finish my work and tie up loose ends.  Some things are straight-forward but then I also work with patients and with families, and there’s nothing ever straight-forward about that.

One family had lost their mother and spouse to lung cancer just a few days ago.  Many more are having the first Thanksgiving without their loved ones.  Others are struggling thru difficult treatments.  They are hurting and in a lot of pain.  They all need support.  How do you tie that up, turn off the light and have a turkey dinner the next day?  You just can’t- unless you have Hope.

I wanted to write a thankful and hope-filled article today to commemorate the Thanksgiving holiday but I have to be honest with you, I struggled for the right words.  In the midst of so much-I struggled to find my hope.

Then I remembered what my friend Connie used to say.

Be still.  Listen for it.  It will come.

And slowly it did.

When I was very still I could hear laughter coming from the other room.  The sound of a little girl playing with her pet shop toys, two tiny dogs playing tug of war with their doggy toy, birds chirping outside on this sunny clear day, are all peaceful sounds of life.  And where there is life, there is hope.

Almost on cue my message alert went off and I received incoming messages from Paulette and Kasey.  I had asked my followers earlier in the day what they were thankful for this year and they had both replied at the exact same time.

These are the messages they wrote to me:

_________________________________________________

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks and I’m so very thankful for my life.

I’m thankful for my family doctor who decided to do a chest x-ray on me in

2009 and found my lung cancer when it was in an early stage.

I’m thankful for the surgeon who took the cancer (and almost a whole lung) from my body.

I’m thankful for the oncologist who gave me chemo to hopefully prevent the cancer from coming back and who keeps a good watch on me.

I’m thankful for LUNGevity, which I found soon after my diagnosis, because the wonderful people there gave me hope and support and still do.

But most of all I’m thankful for my daughter and my husband who was my caregiver and still takes very good care of me.

Lung cancer brought us closer together than ever before.

In three months we’ll be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.  ~ Paulette Thatcher

_________________________________________________

In the fall of 2004 I had NO hope and looking forward to no future.

I was told I would be gone before spring.

It was then I found Lung Cancer Support Community. Through that website I found HOPE and survival.

I am most thankful to that little girl for creating that website. If not for that, I would not be celebrating this Thanksgiving with wonderful family and friends. Of course there are many other things I am most thankful for – none of which comes anywhere close, however.

So……….thank you Katie and LUNGevity.

You dole out HOPE and HELP every single day! ~ Kasey Long

_________________________________________________

HOPE.

For those of you who may be struggling this year, there might not be a lot you feel hopeful about or thankful for and that’s OK.

But if you’re looking to give thanks, here are just a few things we can be thankful for:

We can be thankful for the experience, the memories, the laughter and the pain that shapes us all throughout our lives. That’s how I feel about my experience with lung cancer, celebrating these holidays without my parents will always be hard. But with research and more treatment options, there will be less people like me losing their loved ones to lung cancer.

We can be thankful for the people around us who want to help but may not know how. We should let them help us. We should let them lift us up and lean on them during difficult times.  That’s what friends do.

We can be thankful for mindless television that entertains and makes us laugh when we really don’t want to. Laughter truly is great medicine.

We can be thankful for the purring cat or those puppy dog eyes that keep us company. They listen to us vent and rant and they never talk back!

We can be thankful that if anyone is experiencing lung cancer in anyway, with LUNGevity they never have to experience it alone.

There is power in numbers.  We are here for you.

We can be thankful for life- our own and the lives of others surviving this disease.

Thank you Paulette and Kasey for inspiring me and giving me hope today.

Happy, peaceful Thanksgiving wishes everyone!

WE are thankful for YOU.

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Your Help Can Make This Fight Less Frightening

November 14th, 2011 - by admin

by Rhonda Garman

I’m Rhonda, and I’m on Charlie’s team for the LUNGevity “No Show Bowl” event this month.

Charlie is my dad.

In many ways Dad and I are a lot alike. For instance, neither of us likes to inconvenience people or ask anyone for help. We’re independent to the point of stubbornness. Both of us would try most anything short of the absurd to solve a problem before we’d admit defeat.

But a little more than a year ago, Dad was caught off-guard.

It wasn’t the bladder cancer. He’d just been through a second surgery to remove cancer from his bladder, and he was awaiting results from post-op scans. Preliminary reports from his surgeon had been promising.

On this August day, Dad would visit his family doctor for a follow-up. Routine day, routine visit; Dad grabbed the grocery list on his way out and went to the doctor.

I live three and one-half hours away from my parents, but I knew the report from Dad’s post-op scans would come back soon, and it was time for me to visit anyway. But there was certainly no need for Mom or me to go with Dad to the family doctor.

So alone he went. That’s another thing Dad and I have in common: There are times when, other things being equal, we’d prefer to be alone.

Here’s the thing: There’s a vast, deafeningly silent, and lonely difference between being alone and feeling alone. Just ask a man who thought he was going for a ten-minute follow-up visit with his family doctor, but who ended up being referred to an oncologist. Not as further treatment for the existing bladder cancer, but because the PRE-op X-ray taken before his bladder cancer surgery showed spots on both his lungs.

The image of my independent, inventive, in-control dad dealing with this devastating news all alone haunts me every day. How he had to quiet the fear enough to gather and retain information; how he must have struggled inside his mind to try and solve things before accepting the news; and how he worked out during the ten-minute drive home how to break the news to a wife and daughter.

It breaks my heart to see Dad’s helplessness against this disease. Lung cancer still kills more people per year than the next four leading cancer killers COMBINED. No one fights it without help. But with your help, the fight can be made less frightening.

That’s why we have this team. For Dad, and all those other lung cancer patients out there — and for everyone who has ever been, or ever will be, touched by this disease.

If you can help — with your donations, by joining Charlie’s Vols and raising money, or by telling people about this event and about Lung Cancer Awareness Month — you will be changing lives.

I am grateful to you for reading this, donating, spreading the word, or anything you are willing to do.

So is Dad.

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Juhi Kunde

Holiday Clutter

November 10th, 2011 - by Juhi Kunde

This is a busy time of year. Last week, I was scrambling to scoop up post-Halloween décor at a steep discount. Now that I’m equipped with a glass mosaic jack-o-lantern and two black cat serving trays, I am turning my attention to the end of the month.

Thanksgiving is looming large. This year I’d like to scour the internet to find a delicious apple pie recipe that is also sugar-free – after all, it is important to impress our guests (especially the diabetic ones).

And Christmas is right around the corner. The catalogs are filling my mailbox like eggnog in a Santa pitcher, so I know there is major shopping in my future. And I can’t forget the baking. Last year, I used my tried-and-true recipes; so this year I’ll need to get creative. After all, I cannot serve a repeat of last year’s goodies; people will think I’m a one-note baker!

On a more personal note, we have family birthdays and anniversaries piling up until the end of the year. This is includes our five-year wedding anniversary and my husband’s fortieth birthday. In fact, things have gotten so busy, that my husband and I have agreed never to have a baby between October and December – we are pretty sure our calendar will give up and hurry to a pub in Ireland to console itself.

Of course, November is also Lung Cancer Awareness Month – where does lung cancer awareness fit into all this hectic holiday noise? Well, there are 21 events supporting LUNGevity’s fight against lung cancer this month. These amazing events are nationwide, ranging from Los Angeles to Atlanta, and they are certainly helping to keep lung cancer awareness on the forefront of people’s minds.

The Breathe Deep Bay Area event already happened this year but I still want to keep LUNGevity in my thoughts during the holidays. So, I plan to send out LUNGevity’s stunning holiday e-cards to some folks on my gift list.

After all, it is up to us LUNGevity supporters to make sure that, like a check on Christmas morning, lung cancer awareness doesn’t get lost in all the clutter.

For information on LUNGevity Events click here



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LUNGevity Advocate Matt Ellefson

November 9th, 2011 - by admin

I was first touched by cancer on December 31, 2009 when I was diagnosed with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.  Without treatments, I was given 8 months to live.  With treatments, I was facing a five year survival rate of 5%.  Since I was a non-smoker and have always lived a healthy and fit lifestyle, it was a complete shock to me and my family.  You never really appreciate how blessed you are with family, friends, and accomplishments until the day you realize that it can all be taken away from you.

After completing 5 months of aggressive treatments, my cancer went into remission.  On August 31, 2011, I was touched by cancer for a second time with a recurrence in lymph nodes located in my chest. Today I continue to fight with the help of God and a new treatment plan.  I may have cancer, but cancer doesn’t have me.

On February 19, 2012, I will run in my first ever half marathon in Austin, TX with Team LIVESTRONG.  I live life under my own terms and remain focused on my strong faith in God and the things I love most: family, friends and helping those affected by cancer.

Matt EllefsonI am actively involved with the Lance Armstrong Foundation as a LIVESTRONG Leader and Imerman’s Angels as a Mentor Angel. I am also actively involved in my local church Cancer Life Group and call on patients at our local hospitals.
I initiated LIVESTRONG at School in Sioux Falls, SD with our first pilot project beginning in January 2012 and I am currently working with the Avera Cancer Institute (where my local oncologist resides) by keeping a patient journal with the goal of elevating the level of patient care and resources provided.

I have also recently become a LUNGevity Life Line Support Partner, offering support to those who have been diagnosed with lung cancer.

I love life, I love my life and I have a lot to live for.

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