I've been thinking about it ... 'threatening' ... wondering if I could actually do it. And now I've gone and done it. I've registered for the January 25th, 2009 Miami half-marathon in order to raise money for pancreatic cancer research.
I don't think anyone who knows me would consider me an athlete (they may actually be laughing just thinking about that concept ...), but ever since my mother died of pancreatic cancer nearly 5 years ago, I've wanted to do SOMETHING, and it turns out, this is the something.
For the longest time after her death, on top of being sad and shocked, I was pissed off ... with about the shittiest odds of any cancer out there, I soon discovered there had been little progress made with this disease in over 30 years. There's no early detection ... none (that's n-o-n-e, none), and by the time symptoms show up and the disease is diagnosed, it's usually too late to do anything about it. 75% of the people who get it are dead within 6 - 9 months.
My mother soldiered on as best she could through her last year, but it was one nasty-ass way to go. After she died, I found myself taking every incidence of pancreatic cancer in the public consciousness personally (patrick swayze, pavarotti), and suddenly I started hearing from other people (my father/my uncle/my friend/my sister) ... there were so many people out there like me who'd lost loved ones to this disease, and we all felt so helpless. I gave some money to the cause, but it always felt like a drop in the bucket when it was a sea-change that we needed.
Then, this past year I (and so many others) became acquainted with the story of Randy Pausch – the Carnegie Mellon professor, husband and father of 3 young children who delivered his inspirational 'Last Lecture' soon after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This man walked his talk like nobody's business (we cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand) and just days after being hospitalized for congestive heart failure and renal failure as a result of months of chemotherapy and diminishing heath, he rallied to Washington DC to advocate for more money for research funding. He wanted to call attention to the fact that even though pancreatic cancer kills as many as those who suffer with breast or lung cancer, it is way, way lower on the totem pole in terms of funding. Part of that reason, as Paush noted just months before he died, is that nobody survives long enough to take on the role of spokesperson/advocate for it. (we don't have a michael j. fox because people die too fast, he said.)
For those who read here with any regularity, you know that I followed Pausch's story closely and checked in on his personal website regularly for any hopeful news about his prognosis ... sadly, he lost the battle in late July. But through my regular check-ins, I learned about this marathon/fund-raiser, and in time, I couldn't figure out what was stopping me from doing it.
I'm doing this now because I can. OK, so I'm no athlete, but I can walk (the event is 'walker friendly'), and I'm actually shooting to run at least some of the course. I've been working to get myself in better shape this past year, and having a goal like this lights a fire under my work-outs. Me crossing the finish line is a big goal, and it will be a great achievement, but the real goal and the greatest achievement will be when one day a family hears "pancreatic cancer" and it will no longer be a death sentence ... there will be hope.
You know what's coming now, right? I'm asking for money. Yeah, yeah, I know the economy sucks and I probably couldn't think of a worse time to be asking, but even if you just give a buck ... and then let some of your peeps know about it, it'll help. If you tell two friends, and they tell two friends ... and so on and so on and so on (you know i love that old fabrege organics shampoo commercial )... those dollars will add up. It's social networking at its most brilliant.
No amount is too small (big gifts are good too!) ... just click here to go to my personal web-page on the PanCan Action network website and donate. (tax deductible, of course) One buck, five bucks, fifteen bucks, fifty bucks, five-hundred bucks; whatever you can afford ... I will be hugely grateful.
And please pass the word in the blog-o-sphere ... if you tell two friends, and they tell two friends ...
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