Relay for life

 In June of 2006 I was told I had cancer and two months later I walked my first and last survivor lap at the A.C.S. Relay for Life. I have participated in the relay each year since but I have not walked the survivor lap. I doubt I ever will. I wrote about the relay last year on healingwell.com and for those of you who read that post, I am afraid this will be much the same. The message won't change until the sentiment does.
   Forty years ago President Richard Nixon declared war on cancer. I remember all the made for television movies back then where the star had cancer and always died at the end of the movie. A lot has changed in the last forty years but not nearly enough. There have been victories but we cannot claim victory. People are still dying of this lousy disease. It hurts the worst when it is a child. Nevertheless it hurts when family's lose loved ones and when children lose parents. I tire of the poisons that pharmaceutical companies pump into the veins of those who hope that the poison will grant them a few more weeks or months. In many ways Big -Pharma is no better than the pusher on the street. Cancer patients are addicted to their drugs and they know it and they charge dearly for them. In this war on cancer when did the victim become the enemy. Nixon declared war on the cancer not on the cancer patients.
    This year as in years past my band will play at the relay. This year I will be the guest speaker for the luminary. I will then walk the luminary lap and see the names of all those who are fighting for their lives or have fought and lost. It sickens me. Still I will walk. I will walk because this is my 8th relay and if 8 years in a survivor shirt can give a fellow patient a grain of hope then that is enough. This year as in past years the word hope will turn into the word cure. Talk is cheap. Words mean nothing without action. When do we get past the hope and move on to the cure?
   Last year I had the privilege of meeting a group of people from a bio-tech company who are different.

The people who make Provenge have a motto. Patient first. They care about people. Their commitment has renewed my faith. My blog is not a promo for Dendreon. I just like to call it as I see it. I believe that because of Provenge therapy I am going to be at many more relays. Todd