I have to comment on this story.
Apparently, some students from the Tulane University Law School had a party at a children's museum in New Orleans. One exhibit at the museum is dedicated to Mr. Rogers, and featured a pair of the famous sneakers that he tied at the beginning of every show. Someone from the law school attending the party smashed the plexiglass case and stole one of the sneakers. After an appeal from the dean of the school, the sneaker was returned; it was found tied to a pipe under a sink in the women's room.
Who would do something like that to Mr. Rogers?
This kind of thing happened once before, when Mr. Rogers was still alive. He drove an old Chevy Impala for years, and one day, it was stolen from its spot on the street near the TV station where he was filming. The story of the theft got out, and was all over the news. Two days later, the car was parked in the exact spot where it was stolen, with a note: "If we'd known it was yours, we never would have taken it."
That's more like it.
I have to admit, I was never a Mr. Rogers fan when I was a kid. I don't know why -- I just never connected with him. But then, after Isabel and I were married but before we had kids, we heard an interview with him on the radio. He was discussing a book of letters that people had written to him. (He was a great letter writer, and kept up corresponence with some people for years, even if he'd never met them.) One story he told during the interview just killed me: it was from the mother of a small girl who was being treated for cancer. The girl needed frequent scans to check on her progress, and hated being trapped in the scanning tube, where she needed to keep still. (I know now just was she was going through.) For a little kid, even just two minutes of keeping still seemed like an eternity. But her mom figured out that it took two minutes to sing the theme song to Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, and so mom would get on the microphone that the technician uses to give instructions to the patient, and she and her daughter would sing the song together. When it was done, the little girl's scan was done.
And then, of course, I had my own kids, and I became a bigger fan. Peter was a Mr. Rogers fan. He liked that Mr. Rogers talked to him.
And then I'd watch more, and I'd see him do stuff like this. He's just so cool.
And those sweaters he wore? His own mother knitted every one of them.
How could you not love this guy?
I'm kind of sorry I waited so long to enjoy him. He's really easy to make fun of, but we need more people like him.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
L and M
As I said in my last post, the Lymphoma and Myeloma Conference took place last weekend, and some of the information about the research that was presented at the conference is starting to trickle out. As I promised, I'll share it when I get it, so today I'm sharing. I'm mostly getting the information from people who were there and took notes, so there aren't really any links to the conference or to research reports just yet. I'm sure they'll be coming out eventually. But in the meantime, you'll have to trust me, just as I'm trusting my sources.
One presentation from the conference looked at levels of mortality in European NHL patients. The incidents of mortality are declining in the countries that were surveyed. They had steadily risen until about 1999, and they've been falling (slowly) ever since. While a cause isn't mentioned, I'm guessing it's because of the widespread use of Rituxin that began at roughly that time. Whatever the reason, that's good news -- treatments are working.
(I should probably remind you about statistics -- they're helpful in comparing treatments, but don't mean much in the big picture. Follicular NHL effects older people, so mortality rates don't necessarily mean that they died of lymphoma. Seearch for my earlier post on this topic if you want more.)
Another presentation (more relevent for me) had to do with when to begin treatment, asking if watching and waiting was still appropriate, given advances in immunochemotherapy (Rituxin + chemo) and RIT (Zevalin and Bexxar -- Rituxin laced with radiation, basically). The expert who led the discussion said that watch and wait still makes sense since some patients never need treatment, their lymphoma waxing and waning, but never causing enough problems to require other treatment. In addition, watching allows the doctor to keep track of the clinical behavior of the lymphoma (is it becoming more aggressive?) which will change the treatment that's required. So this is basically an endorsement of watching and waiting as an acceptable approach.
Another presenter looked at the National Lymphocare study, which surveyed 2,728 lymphoma patients. An interesting little nugget: Watching and waiting is most commonly used in the northeast, less so in other parts of the country. Looking at other data, it seems that there's some correlation between the use of watch and wait in the northeast and the fact that there are so many more cancer centers around here, so patients can more easily get second opinions.
Another bit from the Lymphocare study: the most common first treatment choice for follicular lymphoma is R-CHOP, a fairly aggressive chemotherapy. I didn't get much more on that fact, but it makes me wonder about my doctor (who is recommending a much less aggressive plan for treatment -- R-CHOP would be maybe the third or fourth choice down the road). I'm not disagreeing with what he's recommending; I'm just wondering if his less-aggressive approach is related to the northeastern preference for watching and waiting.
R-CHOP (a combination of Rituxin and four chemotherapy drugs) has also been shown to lessen the chances of transformation (about 30% of follicular NHL patients will have their lymphoma transform to something more aggressive), so there's that consideration. On the other hand, Dr. R's plan is to hold off R-CHOP so that it's available in case there is some transformation, so the benefits will be there anyway.
That's the tough part of staying informed: so darn many choices, and none of them have definitive answers. Still, I'd rather go into a conversation with my doctor with a sense of what he's talking about than just going in blindly and trusting his choices. I still need to trust his choices, but at least I can know enough to ask the questions that will get him to justify those choices.
In the meantime, I'm still feeling OK, and that's what matters.
. This point made by Dr. Leonard. Also based on the National Lymphocare Study, n = 2,728: * Initial observation (w&w / expectant management) is most commonly used in the NorthEast US, less so in other regions of the country. * W&W is more commonly recommended in areas of the country where multiple centers exist - where the patient can more readily get second expert opinions. (hypothesis)* Also, from this study the current trend is to use CHOP-R as first therapy for FL when treatment is indicated.
One presentation from the conference looked at levels of mortality in European NHL patients. The incidents of mortality are declining in the countries that were surveyed. They had steadily risen until about 1999, and they've been falling (slowly) ever since. While a cause isn't mentioned, I'm guessing it's because of the widespread use of Rituxin that began at roughly that time. Whatever the reason, that's good news -- treatments are working.
(I should probably remind you about statistics -- they're helpful in comparing treatments, but don't mean much in the big picture. Follicular NHL effects older people, so mortality rates don't necessarily mean that they died of lymphoma. Seearch for my earlier post on this topic if you want more.)
Another presentation (more relevent for me) had to do with when to begin treatment, asking if watching and waiting was still appropriate, given advances in immunochemotherapy (Rituxin + chemo) and RIT (Zevalin and Bexxar -- Rituxin laced with radiation, basically). The expert who led the discussion said that watch and wait still makes sense since some patients never need treatment, their lymphoma waxing and waning, but never causing enough problems to require other treatment. In addition, watching allows the doctor to keep track of the clinical behavior of the lymphoma (is it becoming more aggressive?) which will change the treatment that's required. So this is basically an endorsement of watching and waiting as an acceptable approach.
Another presenter looked at the National Lymphocare study, which surveyed 2,728 lymphoma patients. An interesting little nugget: Watching and waiting is most commonly used in the northeast, less so in other parts of the country. Looking at other data, it seems that there's some correlation between the use of watch and wait in the northeast and the fact that there are so many more cancer centers around here, so patients can more easily get second opinions.
Another bit from the Lymphocare study: the most common first treatment choice for follicular lymphoma is R-CHOP, a fairly aggressive chemotherapy. I didn't get much more on that fact, but it makes me wonder about my doctor (who is recommending a much less aggressive plan for treatment -- R-CHOP would be maybe the third or fourth choice down the road). I'm not disagreeing with what he's recommending; I'm just wondering if his less-aggressive approach is related to the northeastern preference for watching and waiting.
R-CHOP (a combination of Rituxin and four chemotherapy drugs) has also been shown to lessen the chances of transformation (about 30% of follicular NHL patients will have their lymphoma transform to something more aggressive), so there's that consideration. On the other hand, Dr. R's plan is to hold off R-CHOP so that it's available in case there is some transformation, so the benefits will be there anyway.
That's the tough part of staying informed: so darn many choices, and none of them have definitive answers. Still, I'd rather go into a conversation with my doctor with a sense of what he's talking about than just going in blindly and trusting his choices. I still need to trust his choices, but at least I can know enough to ask the questions that will get him to justify those choices.
In the meantime, I'm still feeling OK, and that's what matters.
. This point made by Dr. Leonard. Also based on the National Lymphocare Study, n = 2,728: * Initial observation (w&w / expectant management) is most commonly used in the NorthEast US, less so in other regions of the country. * W&W is more commonly recommended in areas of the country where multiple centers exist - where the patient can more readily get second expert opinions. (hypothesis)* Also, from this study the current trend is to use CHOP-R as first therapy for FL when treatment is indicated.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Conference and Trials
At last -- my laptop is fixed. Wireless is working OK, printer drivers are downloaded and functional. Amazing what a week of limited technology will do for you. (What it might do is make you appreciate living a non-technological life, understanding how bad it is for you to be so reliant on computers for your work, communication, and entertainment. Unfvortunately, it didn't work that way for me, and I have little appreciation for that non-tech life. I'm glad to have my computer back. So glad I'm going to spend the next half hour on YouTube watching videos of babies laughing. Just because I can.)
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OK, I'm back. I love laughing baby videos. Like this one.
*************
This past weekend, the Lymphoma and Myeloma Conference took place in New York City. It was attended by one of the support group members named Karl, whose wife has follicular NHL, and who works as a medical writer, so he's an excellent source of information for us. (He founded and runs a site called Lymphomation.org; if you're ever looking for a great beginning source of information about lymphoma, that's is the place to start.)
Karl gave us a quick overview this morning of the conference. Apparently, there were presentations from researchers on a number of very promising lymphoma treatments, but they are still in the early stages of clinical trials. According to Karl, the number of lymphoma patients willing to be a part of clinical trials is very small, which has always been part of what has held back lymphoma research. The FDA needs evidence that tretaments are both effective and safe, and a small trial of 10 or 20 patients usually isn't enough for them to give an OK.
I've talked to Dr. R about my willingness to participate in a trial, and he's fine with that. There's a great, fairly new website sponsored by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society called TrialCheck that makes it much easier to search for available trials; you used to need to go to a government site and sift through the trials one by one. You enter information about yourself, your disease, and where you live, and it gives you a list of current trials, with the travel distance for each one.
My joining a clinical trial is kind of restricted by a couple of things. First, while Yale (10 minutes away) has researchers that study Lymphoma, they specialize in stem cell transplants, which isn't something I'll likely need to deal with for a long time. So participating in a trial that's so convenient will probably not happen. There's Dana-Farber in Boston, and Sloan-Kettering in NYC, but at the moment there's really nothing promising there.
And that's the other problem: there are very few trials for people with fNHL who have not yet been treated. I think it's because the expectation is that the first treatment will be followed up with at least one more, so the focus is on making the second and third treatments really count.
If you're thinking that a clinical trial is a bad thing -- it's not. I know I always get the impression that a treatment in trial is something "experimental," and that always has for me the implication that things are desperate -- that conventional treatments arenb't working. But it's not really like that. Any trials I would be in would be phase III, with a reasonable chance of safety and success.
Clinical trials are conducted in three phases. A phase I trial is meant only to measure side effects and safety. (If you've ever seen ads in the back of alternative newspapers promising $500 for participating in research, it's probably a phase I trial -- the participants don't have to have lymphoma, they just have to be willing to "explore the unknown" and risk whatever side effects are possible.) Phase II trials are very small, and the participants have lymphoma. Phase II trials give researchers a sense of whether or not the treatment will work. Phase III are the biggies, with lots of participants -- enough to show that the treatment, and not something random, is the cause of the improvement.
Phase III trials are usually conducted as dual-arm studies, which means they are comparing the new treatment to one that is already known. So they'll take, say, 100 patients and give 50 the new treatment, and the other 50 something like Rituxin, and then they'll compare the success of the two groups. So the second group isn't going untreated or given a placebo -- that would be unethical.
Anyway, I look at TrialCheck every now and then to see if there's something interesting close by. I'm mostly happy to watch and wait, but every now and then I get antsy, and I think I'd rather do something than nothing. I feel a very strong connection to the lymphoma community, and if participating in a trial would help some of the thousands of people with lymphoma, that's just a bonus.
I'm sure that there will be some publicity in the next few weeks about some of the presentations at the Lymphoma and Myeloma Conference. I'll pass along those that seem interesting.
*************
OK, I'm back. I love laughing baby videos. Like this one.
*************
This past weekend, the Lymphoma and Myeloma Conference took place in New York City. It was attended by one of the support group members named Karl, whose wife has follicular NHL, and who works as a medical writer, so he's an excellent source of information for us. (He founded and runs a site called Lymphomation.org; if you're ever looking for a great beginning source of information about lymphoma, that's is the place to start.)
Karl gave us a quick overview this morning of the conference. Apparently, there were presentations from researchers on a number of very promising lymphoma treatments, but they are still in the early stages of clinical trials. According to Karl, the number of lymphoma patients willing to be a part of clinical trials is very small, which has always been part of what has held back lymphoma research. The FDA needs evidence that tretaments are both effective and safe, and a small trial of 10 or 20 patients usually isn't enough for them to give an OK.
I've talked to Dr. R about my willingness to participate in a trial, and he's fine with that. There's a great, fairly new website sponsored by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society called TrialCheck that makes it much easier to search for available trials; you used to need to go to a government site and sift through the trials one by one. You enter information about yourself, your disease, and where you live, and it gives you a list of current trials, with the travel distance for each one.
My joining a clinical trial is kind of restricted by a couple of things. First, while Yale (10 minutes away) has researchers that study Lymphoma, they specialize in stem cell transplants, which isn't something I'll likely need to deal with for a long time. So participating in a trial that's so convenient will probably not happen. There's Dana-Farber in Boston, and Sloan-Kettering in NYC, but at the moment there's really nothing promising there.
And that's the other problem: there are very few trials for people with fNHL who have not yet been treated. I think it's because the expectation is that the first treatment will be followed up with at least one more, so the focus is on making the second and third treatments really count.
If you're thinking that a clinical trial is a bad thing -- it's not. I know I always get the impression that a treatment in trial is something "experimental," and that always has for me the implication that things are desperate -- that conventional treatments arenb't working. But it's not really like that. Any trials I would be in would be phase III, with a reasonable chance of safety and success.
Clinical trials are conducted in three phases. A phase I trial is meant only to measure side effects and safety. (If you've ever seen ads in the back of alternative newspapers promising $500 for participating in research, it's probably a phase I trial -- the participants don't have to have lymphoma, they just have to be willing to "explore the unknown" and risk whatever side effects are possible.) Phase II trials are very small, and the participants have lymphoma. Phase II trials give researchers a sense of whether or not the treatment will work. Phase III are the biggies, with lots of participants -- enough to show that the treatment, and not something random, is the cause of the improvement.
Phase III trials are usually conducted as dual-arm studies, which means they are comparing the new treatment to one that is already known. So they'll take, say, 100 patients and give 50 the new treatment, and the other 50 something like Rituxin, and then they'll compare the success of the two groups. So the second group isn't going untreated or given a placebo -- that would be unethical.
Anyway, I look at TrialCheck every now and then to see if there's something interesting close by. I'm mostly happy to watch and wait, but every now and then I get antsy, and I think I'd rather do something than nothing. I feel a very strong connection to the lymphoma community, and if participating in a trial would help some of the thousands of people with lymphoma, that's just a bonus.
I'm sure that there will be some publicity in the next few weeks about some of the presentations at the Lymphoma and Myeloma Conference. I'll pass along those that seem interesting.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
9 Months
Yesterday was my Nine Month Anniversary -- I was diagnosed on January 15.
It's been an interesting nine months. Some days it feels like it's been forever. Other days like it was just yesterday that I got the call from the doctor.
Which is strange. A colleague asked me yesterday how everything was going (it's still kind of rare for people to ask me how I'm feeling), and I gave him the update: Still stable. He said he couldn't imagine having to go through it, or something like that. I told him that it's gotten easier.
Which is true. I'm not as active with the support group these days. I still check in every day, sometimes two or three times. But there seems less urgency now. I know so much more, so I'm not following people in the group who are, say, going through a particular treatment, because I have a pretty good idea already of how it's likely to go. People post about new research, which I read, but I'm less apt to spend a couple of hours googling it on my own after that. There's just less of a sense of desperation, I guess.
Which is good. But the flip side of that, as I've worried about before, is complacency. I don't want to slip out of my vigilance. I don't want anyone else to, either. I'm mostly afraid it will be too much of a shock if (when) things do get more aggressive.
Anyway -- happy anniversary to me. And many more.
*************
I have a new laptop, but the wireless is messed up, which makes it kind of useless. I'm anticipating continued difficulties finding the time to post. Stay tuned.
It's been an interesting nine months. Some days it feels like it's been forever. Other days like it was just yesterday that I got the call from the doctor.
Which is strange. A colleague asked me yesterday how everything was going (it's still kind of rare for people to ask me how I'm feeling), and I gave him the update: Still stable. He said he couldn't imagine having to go through it, or something like that. I told him that it's gotten easier.
Which is true. I'm not as active with the support group these days. I still check in every day, sometimes two or three times. But there seems less urgency now. I know so much more, so I'm not following people in the group who are, say, going through a particular treatment, because I have a pretty good idea already of how it's likely to go. People post about new research, which I read, but I'm less apt to spend a couple of hours googling it on my own after that. There's just less of a sense of desperation, I guess.
Which is good. But the flip side of that, as I've worried about before, is complacency. I don't want to slip out of my vigilance. I don't want anyone else to, either. I'm mostly afraid it will be too much of a shock if (when) things do get more aggressive.
Anyway -- happy anniversary to me. And many more.
*************
I have a new laptop, but the wireless is messed up, which makes it kind of useless. I'm anticipating continued difficulties finding the time to post. Stay tuned.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Still around
Sorry I haven't written -- my laptop was infected with a virus on Monday, and I'm just now getting it taken care of. It was my work computer, and sometimes the Info Tech people here get overwhelmed with things, but they actually took care of me very quickly, which I appreciated. Most of the data was savable, and I'm very good about backing things up. But it threw my world into complete turmoil. I rely far too much on my computer. So I'll update with something interesting soon.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Music Update
A couple of days ago, someone asked me how the kids were doing with their music. Thought I'd provide you all with an update.
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Peter is currently in rehearsals for Regional Band. As you may have read last spring, he had made All State Symphonic Band last year on alto sax, something unusual for a 5th grader. In the fall, there are 4 Regional Band concerts in the state, leading up to All State in the spring. So Peter participates in the Southern region. He did very well with the audition: he has the second chair out of 10 alto saxes; the first chair (that is, the one who had the best audition) is a friend from his school, an 8th grader. The fall concert is in a couple of weeks.
He really likes sax, and took to it very quickly. He's still playing piano, too, but sax seems to be winning his heart.
***************
John started clarinet this year. He's enjoying it a lot. He gets frustrated at times, but there really haven't been too many ear-splitting moments when he practices. (If you've ever heard a beginner play, say, "Jingle Bells" on the clarinet and have it not go well, you know what I mean. If you don't know, watch and listen. By the way, those aren't any kids that I know.)
John's dream, though, is to play oboe, and the band director told him the clarinet would be the best way to get there -- similar fingering, apparently. John is also still playing piano, and enjoying it.
****************
Catherine is also playing piano, and improving every week. She and I have our music lessons with the same teacher on Monday afternoons; she'll do her half hour on piano, then I'll have my half hour on guitar. I like it when Catherine goes first, so I can sneak in one more practice session before my lesson.
Catherine is also dancing. All the time. She has her class on Thursdays (ballet and tap), but we get nightly dance shows in the living room, often to a Miley Cyrus/Jonas Brothers/Cheetah Girls accompaniment. Yes, our house has become Disneyfied. If you don't know who those performers are, find your own darn videos. But do so at your own risk. You've been warned.
****************
And yes, I'm still playing guitar. And improving, I think. It's feeling more natural now, and I'm quite proud of myself for finally learning how to read music after 41 years. More importantly, I'm getting better at picking out notes without taking my eyes off of the sheet music. The chords are killing me, though. I love playing them -- they sound so cool -- but switching fingers in mid-song is really hard. I'm working on G, D7, C, G7, and the dreaded F, which requires unnatural finger positioning. But the best part is that Strudel likes to howl along with me when I play them.
(She also howls at the high notes on the sax and clarinet, plus the harmonica, should anyone play it in her presence. She's such a German -- not a peep when the kids are playing piano.)
******************
Finally, the kids' school announced on Friday that their annual play in the spring will be The Wizard of Oz. As a middle schooler (yikes! my child is a middle schooler!), Peter is eligible to audition. We watched the movie last night, and we asked Peter which part he thought he'd like to play. He said he'd go for the Tin Man, which I think would be fitting. The Tin Man has a tenderness about him (despite the lack of a heart) that Peter could pull off. But he'll be happy to play, saying, a tree that comes alive and throws apples at the Scarecrow.
It made me think of a job interview question that the VP at work was asked during his interview with what would eventually become his office staff: If you could be any character from the Wizard of Oz, which would you be? Frankly, I think it's a better personality test than the "Who is your Favorite Beatle?" stand-by.
So I asked the other two kids who they would want to be in the play (they're not eligible to be in it, but I thought I'd ask).
Miss Diva Catherine would want to be Dorothy, of course.
Animal Boy John? No, not the Cowardly Lion. John made fun of him through the whole movie. No, John chose something way more appropriate, and if you know him, you believe it.
John would be a Flying Monkey.
**************
Peter is currently in rehearsals for Regional Band. As you may have read last spring, he had made All State Symphonic Band last year on alto sax, something unusual for a 5th grader. In the fall, there are 4 Regional Band concerts in the state, leading up to All State in the spring. So Peter participates in the Southern region. He did very well with the audition: he has the second chair out of 10 alto saxes; the first chair (that is, the one who had the best audition) is a friend from his school, an 8th grader. The fall concert is in a couple of weeks.
He really likes sax, and took to it very quickly. He's still playing piano, too, but sax seems to be winning his heart.
***************
John started clarinet this year. He's enjoying it a lot. He gets frustrated at times, but there really haven't been too many ear-splitting moments when he practices. (If you've ever heard a beginner play, say, "Jingle Bells" on the clarinet and have it not go well, you know what I mean. If you don't know, watch and listen. By the way, those aren't any kids that I know.)
John's dream, though, is to play oboe, and the band director told him the clarinet would be the best way to get there -- similar fingering, apparently. John is also still playing piano, and enjoying it.
****************
Catherine is also playing piano, and improving every week. She and I have our music lessons with the same teacher on Monday afternoons; she'll do her half hour on piano, then I'll have my half hour on guitar. I like it when Catherine goes first, so I can sneak in one more practice session before my lesson.
Catherine is also dancing. All the time. She has her class on Thursdays (ballet and tap), but we get nightly dance shows in the living room, often to a Miley Cyrus/Jonas Brothers/Cheetah Girls accompaniment. Yes, our house has become Disneyfied. If you don't know who those performers are, find your own darn videos. But do so at your own risk. You've been warned.
****************
And yes, I'm still playing guitar. And improving, I think. It's feeling more natural now, and I'm quite proud of myself for finally learning how to read music after 41 years. More importantly, I'm getting better at picking out notes without taking my eyes off of the sheet music. The chords are killing me, though. I love playing them -- they sound so cool -- but switching fingers in mid-song is really hard. I'm working on G, D7, C, G7, and the dreaded F, which requires unnatural finger positioning. But the best part is that Strudel likes to howl along with me when I play them.
(She also howls at the high notes on the sax and clarinet, plus the harmonica, should anyone play it in her presence. She's such a German -- not a peep when the kids are playing piano.)
******************
Finally, the kids' school announced on Friday that their annual play in the spring will be The Wizard of Oz. As a middle schooler (yikes! my child is a middle schooler!), Peter is eligible to audition. We watched the movie last night, and we asked Peter which part he thought he'd like to play. He said he'd go for the Tin Man, which I think would be fitting. The Tin Man has a tenderness about him (despite the lack of a heart) that Peter could pull off. But he'll be happy to play, saying, a tree that comes alive and throws apples at the Scarecrow.
It made me think of a job interview question that the VP at work was asked during his interview with what would eventually become his office staff: If you could be any character from the Wizard of Oz, which would you be? Frankly, I think it's a better personality test than the "Who is your Favorite Beatle?" stand-by.
So I asked the other two kids who they would want to be in the play (they're not eligible to be in it, but I thought I'd ask).
Miss Diva Catherine would want to be Dorothy, of course.
Animal Boy John? No, not the Cowardly Lion. John made fun of him through the whole movie. No, John chose something way more appropriate, and if you know him, you believe it.
John would be a Flying Monkey.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Get Your Lymphoma Freak On
I thought the item below was great: Science majors ("Science Freaks") at the University of Texas at Arlington are auctioning themselves off to raise money for blood cancer research.
The best part is their rather low expectations: bidding for a date starts at $5, with a $2 cover to get into the auction, in hopes that they'll raise $500. No word on how cute the Freaks are, but you'd think there would be someone out there who would want to spend a little more than $5 for a couple of hours with someone who could help them pass Chem 101.
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Dates with science students auctioned for cancer research
Written by Bryan Bastible
Wednesday, 08 October 2008
Several organizations will get their “freak” on to battle Leukemia and Lymphoma.
For a $2 admission fee, anyone can help raise research money by bidding on a date with a “science freak.” The Science Constituency Council, the Medical Dental Preparatory Association, the Student National Medical Association and the Pre-Pharmacy Student Association joined to host the “Date a Science Freak” auction at 6 p.m. Friday at 108 University Hall. The money will go toward their $500 goal for the Light the Night walk for Leukemia and Lymphoma research at 5 p.m. Sunday.
This week, the organizations held fundraisers such as a car wash, a planetarium show and an information booth with hot dogs. Council president Marjana Sarker said they wanted to spread awareness about the walk, since acute myeloid leukemia is the No. 1 cause of infant deaths in the U.S. Leukemia, a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases, is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow. Lymphoma is a type of neoplasm, an abnormal build-up of cells, that originates in lymphocytes.
Sarker said people shouldn’t see science students as nerds.“Being a [science] freak is not a bad thing,” she said. “The name always makes people curious or laugh.” The event consists of a silent auction and a live auction; the minimum bid for each is $5. Twenty people have signed up to be auctioned off so far. Council vice president Darius Bonds said the live auction will be like an old dating show where audience members ask their potential date questions. “There’s no way to tell until people start bidding,” he said. “The more money we raise, the better.”
MDPA president Namrata Kohli signed up for the auction. “I just want to go out there, have fun and help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,” Kohli said. A mixer will be held for the “science freak” and their date after the auction. The council has not participated in Light the Night before, but the MDPA is no stranger to the event. “We wanted to start it again with a larger and broader crowd — inviting students from all colleges and departments,” Sarker said.
The best part is their rather low expectations: bidding for a date starts at $5, with a $2 cover to get into the auction, in hopes that they'll raise $500. No word on how cute the Freaks are, but you'd think there would be someone out there who would want to spend a little more than $5 for a couple of hours with someone who could help them pass Chem 101.
*****************************
Dates with science students auctioned for cancer research
Written by Bryan Bastible
Wednesday, 08 October 2008
Several organizations will get their “freak” on to battle Leukemia and Lymphoma.
For a $2 admission fee, anyone can help raise research money by bidding on a date with a “science freak.” The Science Constituency Council, the Medical Dental Preparatory Association, the Student National Medical Association and the Pre-Pharmacy Student Association joined to host the “Date a Science Freak” auction at 6 p.m. Friday at 108 University Hall. The money will go toward their $500 goal for the Light the Night walk for Leukemia and Lymphoma research at 5 p.m. Sunday.
This week, the organizations held fundraisers such as a car wash, a planetarium show and an information booth with hot dogs. Council president Marjana Sarker said they wanted to spread awareness about the walk, since acute myeloid leukemia is the No. 1 cause of infant deaths in the U.S. Leukemia, a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases, is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow. Lymphoma is a type of neoplasm, an abnormal build-up of cells, that originates in lymphocytes.
Sarker said people shouldn’t see science students as nerds.“Being a [science] freak is not a bad thing,” she said. “The name always makes people curious or laugh.” The event consists of a silent auction and a live auction; the minimum bid for each is $5. Twenty people have signed up to be auctioned off so far. Council vice president Darius Bonds said the live auction will be like an old dating show where audience members ask their potential date questions. “There’s no way to tell until people start bidding,” he said. “The more money we raise, the better.”
MDPA president Namrata Kohli signed up for the auction. “I just want to go out there, have fun and help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,” Kohli said. A mixer will be held for the “science freak” and their date after the auction. The council has not participated in Light the Night before, but the MDPA is no stranger to the event. “We wanted to start it again with a larger and broader crowd — inviting students from all colleges and departments,” Sarker said.
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