Webcasts, season 2

Betsy de Parry, NHL survivor and writer, has brought back her lymphoma webcast series. Looks like a great lineup.

Betsy is kind of an NHL goddess (though she probably wouldn't call herself that), having written a great book on her NHL experience, then having been the subject of a short film; she's now writing a blog for her hometown paper's website (which I haven't had time to look at yet, so I'll link to it after I get a chance to do some reading). And I don't just like her because her grandmother was a McEachern....

Last year, Betsy hosted a series of webcasts on lymphoma-related topics, and now she's back with a new series. Two webcasts have already been posted and archived: one on "mapping the journey," letting new patients know what's ahead for them (and reminding veterans of where we've been and what we might still need); the second on "participating in your care," focusing on how to be an active patient.

"Participating in Your Care" is very good, and features a couple of cancer gods in their own right: Kairol Rosenthal, the go-to person for young adult cancer patients (those in their 20s and 30s -- I was 40 years and 6 months when I was diagnosed, so offically past the "young" stage) and Lynne Lane, who founded the group "Voices of Survivors," which lets survivors tell their stories and provide some inspration and hope for current patients. The two of them have a lot of very important things to say. Listen yourself for the details. I'm all about taking some control over your cancer and its treatment, so it was a great webcast for me.

I'm looking forward to the other webcasts. The RadioImmunoTherapy show should be great, given Betsy's vocal advocacy of RIT, which saved her life. But of course, it's the Indolent Lymphomas show that I really want to hear about most. I always learn something new.

Thanks, Betsy. Nice job, as usual.