Need I remind you? Cancer sucks!!

On Thursday evening I sent an email blast as a combination hello and personal update to a very wide distribution of family, friends, and past/present co-workers. The response has been tremendous and in many ways has been exactly the spiritual boost that I needed and that there can never be too much of. I have received emails literally from around the world and my fundraising total for the Philly LiveSTRONG Challenge event jumped quickly to $1,800.

I truly feel the love. Every email and donation that I received, some from people that I haven’t seen or talked with in decades, has put a smile on my face and some have moved me to tears. Thank you all.

As one might also expect when sending an email to so many people I also received some replies that contained some news that only confirmed cancer as being the epidemic that it is. While I have been battling cancer so too have some of my friends and others have only received their diagnosis recently and are just beginning their battle. My reaction each time I read this was “cancer sucks!!!” (along with some other expletives).

The icing on the cake for this weekend came when I just read Jennifer Goodman Linn’s blog entry. You may remember my blog entries in February regarding my participation in the Cycle for Survival event. Well, Jen and her husband David are creators of this amazing event and it raised over $4.7 million for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center this year. Jen has been battling a rare form of abdominal cancer for the past 6 years and has experienced both the highest of highs as well as crushing lows throughout her battle. Her CT scan last week revealed that her cancer is no longer responding to the chemotherapy protocol that she has been on and they are now scrambling to set a new plan of attack. I only spoke with Jen for 5 minutes back in February and I really wish that everyone could have that same 5 minutes. She’s an amazingly positive and upbeat person and speaks publicly about having a fearless attitude to life. Her message really hit home with me (www.youfearless.com).

Please keep Jen and everyone else that you know that is dealing with cancer in your thoughts and prayers. And remember too that the good karma of reaching out to express support or to simply say hello, even via email or text message, really does go a long way.