In February 2001, Sam and Matthew’s father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. For five years he fought to live, then passed away when Sam was 10 and Matthew was 8. Their mother says, “Living with and losing a parent to cancer is something no child should ever have to experience.”
Three years later, the boys’ mother discovered Camp Kesem. She didn’t know much about the camp, but knew that the boys needed to be with other kids who “got” what they were going through.
At first Sam and Matthew were reluctant to join in. But within 30 minutes they were laughing and playing with the other kids—reveling in the energy that the counselors created. When they saw their mother still standing nearby, one of them asked “why are you still here?” She says she “did the little happy dance and got in my car.”
On the surface, Camp Kesem looks like any overnight summer camp – days filled with skits, songs, sports, and tie-dying t-shirts. But the camp, a national non-profit organization that provides free, week-long overnight camps for children of cancer patients, is anything but typical.
This AMAZING TED Talk by Dr. David Agus is just another example of great people making strides in cancer research and prevention. It truly provides hope to all of us that a cure is attainable in our lifetime. Please take the time to watch this and leave your comments below. Also, please share this with others, as it is without a doubt an "Idea worth Spreading".
Traditionally, David Agus explains, cancer treatments have had a short-sighted focus on the offending individual cells. He suggests a new, cross-disciplinary approach, using atypical drugs, computer modeling and protein analysis to treat and analyze the whole body.
More about the Author: David Agus
David Agus is a medical doctor and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Southern California. However, he is also the founder of a couple of game-changing medical initiatives. In 2006, he co-founded Navigenics with Dietrich Stephan, Ph.D., to form a company that would provide people with their individual genetic information, allowing them to act on any predispositions to disease that they might have and prevent onset. He also founded Oncology.com which was the largest cancer Internet resource and community.
So we recently received a few Facebook, Twitter and Blog comments from the i[2]y team giving us an earful about why the “I’m Too Young For This! Cancer Foundation” was not included in our blog post about Cancer and Social Media. Soon after that, I personally received a message from Mathew Zachary (i[2]y’s Founder) bringing this same striking fact to my attention.
One would have thought I hacked onto their website and shut it down…lol…getting a message directly from their Founder, it must have been a code red alert at the i[2]y headquarters!
However, no code red…but that’s just how seriously these guys take their mission…and THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!!!
We love and appreciate this kind of passion!! It’s organizations like “I’m too young for this!” who aren’t afraid to speak up and make some noise…that’s why these guys are pervading the interwebs and making an extremely large impact on the cancer community. For those of you teens and young adults who aren’t familiar, www.I2Y.org is a website you need to bookmark immediately!
Just had a little inspiration thrown our way from our old friend Steph and figured we’d share! It’s called LifeBook and was originally posted here. There’s some great rules to live by…enjoy!
Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants, and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Make time for prayer and reflection
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2009.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
When was the last time you walked into your local pharmacy and had a genuine and meaningful conversation with your pharmacist? Most of us don’t have this type of relationship with our pharmacist, where they take a vested interest in our health and go the extra mile. I believe it is important to have this level of care… and this is where my good friend Lois Adams and the one of a kind Freedom Pharmacy team comes in. Freedom Pharmacy and Wellness Center have been providing specialty retail pharmacy services since 1984. What makes them so unique is their passion to “provide top quality pharmaceutical products and services as part of a complete ‘Circle of Care’ for each patient.”
Their exclusive service, ‘Circle of Care,’ treats patients as a team effort consisting of a pharmacist, a physician, a nurse and reimbursement specialist. Freedom Pharmacy strongly believes that people with chronic diseases obtain the greatest benefit when all caregivers involved communicate with each other on a consistent basis…which as an ex-cancer patient, I know is crucial to getting quality care! Heck, I’m going to go ahead and say communication is paramount in all aspects of life and health.