Stand Up 2 Cancer – It’s On Tonight
A sunny late summer day in Vancouver and with each turn into the bowels of the Gordon and Leslie Diamond Medical Centre, my heart wheezes in escalating terror and I lose the threads of a conversation with my friend.
For any of us who have made it to the other side, we know that Survivorship Is Not A Phase. It comes with PTSD worthy flashbacks and cloying terror of the power a routine scan has to re-start our nightmare.
Yesterday, I found myself back inside the building where I met my oncology surgeon and first heard the words chemotherapy and double mastectomy bolted with a hyphen to my last name. As I lay on the ultrasound table, my mind flashed through images from 2009 and 2010 and the panic I keep stored in the bottom of my suitcase catapulted up my windpipe.
Thankfully, by the time I wiped the last of the warm ultrasound jelly off my abdomen and my feet made contact with the shining floor, I reminded myself of the futility of holding on to the fear. Then, I said a prayer for clear scans and the opportunity to keep living the hell out of my life.
As one of the 28M cancer survivors around the globe, I wish I didn’t have to look over my shoulder while trying to outrun the fear. I’m sick of cancer’s iron fist and her smug smile as she threatens to extinguish the flame on another life.
It’s time to Stand Up To Cancer and you can join me in doing that tonight. All you have to do is turn on any major television station and consider donating a few dollars in exchange for some Friday night entertainment. Look for programming to start at 5pm (PST)/8pm (EST). Every single dollar raised by StandUpToCancer will go towards collaborative cancer research.
In North America, we come together to raise money after natural disasters wipe out entire communities. Tonight, it’s time to come together to save the lives of 28M survivors around the globe and the lives of our yet-to-be-diagnosed friends and family. Will you join me in standing up?
Read more about why Stand Up To Cancer is different and check out the details from their website below:
About the Stand Up To Cancer Initiative
Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) — a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), a 501(c)3 charitable organization — raises funds to hasten the pace of groundbreaking translational research that can get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives. In the fall of 2007, a group of women whose lives have all been affected by cancer in profound ways began working together to marshal the resources of the media and entertainment industries in the fight against this disease.
STAND UP TO CANCER RETURNS TO PRIME TIME WITH THIRD ONE-HOUSE FUNDRAISING SPECIAL
PRODUCED BY GWYENTH PALTROW and JOEL GALLEN
COMMERCIAL-FREE SIMULTANEOUSLY ON ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC AND HBO, HBO Latino, BIO, LFM (Lifetime Movie Network), Logo, MLB Network, mun2, Palladia and VH1
8:00 PM ET AND PT / 7:00 PM CT
Terri,
Interesting that you’ve labeled cancer as a “her.” I call it “evil.” Loving your hairy, audacious dream for 2013! I call that “loving role model.” Did you know I wrote about SU2C this week, too?
XOXOXO,
Brenda
I know – I was thinking of the Wicked Witch of the West
Thanks for the support on #Delhi2013. Loving Role Model. Perfect:) Loved your post on SU2C. T xoxo
You and Brenda are so in sync. SU2C rocks. It really does. xox
Thanks Jan – I couldn’t agree more:)
Love the Wicked Witch visual!!