16 Year Cancerversary!!!

It is official... today is my 16 Year Cancerversary!


Exactly 16 years ago today, I was confronted with a cancer diagnosis: specifically, acute myelomonocytic leukemia (AML- M4). After two induction courses of chemotherapy, intrathecal chemo, a bone marrow transplant, and numerous hospitalizations for infections, fevers, and treatment side effects, I earned the title of Cancer Survivor.


However, that didn't mean the battle was over. Rather, it was merely the beginning of a life-long mission to eradicate this disease.  Please help me with this incredibly worthwhile cause by donating to one of our nation's top cancer centers. Everyday, the researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute work on finding new treatment options.

Dr. Stegmaier and other DFCI researchers who have received
funding from the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team.

Not certain that cancer treatment is actually going to improve? Well just last week I met an up-and-coming Dana-Farber physician and researcher who is changing the treatment of pediatric cancers.  Dr. Kimberly Stegmaier's laboratory focuses on pediatric and other malignancies not well addressed by industry.  In order to overcome the limitations to traditional screening, Dr. Stegmaier and her colleagues received Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge funding initially in 2006 to develop a molecular genetic approach to screening, in which a gene expression signature serves as a surrogate for different biological states.  This technology has led to the discovery that ara-C, commonly used for acute leukemia, is effective in Ewings Sarcoma, a devastating childhood cancer; and that Gefitinib, initially used to treat a type of lung cancer, was also effective in acute leukemias - a completely unexpected finding.  Exciting new clinical trials for AML and Ewings sarcoma have also resulted from this research.


Today is not only a day to fight cancer but also a day to celebrate all of the wonderful things in your life.

Thanks for being a part of my life!

FIGHT CANCER HERE!!!