Stop talking and start doing
A slightly fatigued Patient #1 is in Washington D.C. for the Society For Immunotherapy in Cancer (SITC) annual conference held on Friday and Saturday. There's a big patient immunotherapy forum – for melanoma, leukemia, lung, and genitourinary cancers – happening here tomorrow morning in National Harbor, MD (just outside of Alexandria, VA). If you have (or know someone who has) one of those cancers, click the link above, make the trip to DC, and be a part of the discussion. Patient knowledge and awareness is the first step in finding the right, or the next, treatment.
Now for the madness that led up to SITC's conference:
Thursday night, I got to be a small part of the 3rd Annual Melanoma Research Foundation Wings of Hope Gala at Philly's Downtown Club. ABC6 News Anchor Brian Taff emceed the evening, and I presented Patient Courage Awards to Phyllis Schantz and, posthumously, Paul Skibinski, whose art and poetry you'll be reading about in a blog in the very near future. The event (and the copious amount of Cescaphe catering) was a success, and the goal of raising $15,000 through the auction fell just a bit short last night – you can still help, though. Text 41444 with MRFGALA then put a space, your pledge, and your name (i.e. MRFGALA 100 T.J. Sharpe).
I'm so grateful to the MRF and the Susan Fazio Foundation for including me this year in the planning of the event. I'm looking forward to getting more family, friends, and readers there next year. If you haven't yet met Joe, Chris, Cara or Mike Fazio, you should sign up now for next year's event (or the late spring golf tournament) and introduce yourself to this fantastic family. They are carrying on their wife/mother's legacy and helping eradicate melanoma one event at a time. After I ran the Tough Mudder last year, Chris told me it inspired him to do one, too, and he's keeping his word on Saturday (if a tweaked knee cooperates) while continuing to raise money for melanoma research.
On Wednesday I was able to attend a Merck-sponsored American Cancer Society fundraiser in Washington D.C. with some of their Capitol Hill team. Somehow they thought bringing my college buddy and I would be a GOOD idea; it goes to show how old we've gotten when we were done by 10 p.m. (under strict "reminder" from his wife on "how far we've come" from our college/Hoboken-days shenanigans).
All this back and forth put me on trains from NYC to DC on Wednesday, then DC to Philly on Thursday afternoon and back to DC on Thursday night. Yea – I am a little tired, and have been asked (by a certain Mom), "Why do all this?"
Well, cancer isn't stopping just because there was a conference earlier this week, or because I had to hop on a late-night train back to DC. Every hour, someone dies of melanoma; in the time between getting on Amtrak and getting to the SITC conference, that would be 9 people who didn't get a long-term survival, who don't help host melanoma fundraisers, who cannot learn and share the latest in cancer research. And that is just melanoma; worldwide, the latest number seems to be around 930 people. Per hour. Dead of cancer. That number fills Citizens Bank Park in just over two days. If the population of Philadelphia began dying at that rate, the entire city would be gone in four and a half years.
The last session at Partnering For Cures in New York involved short talks, across multiple diseases and healthcare areas, that all addressed the topic "Stop Talking and Start Doing Something: What Will You Do To Accelerate Cures?". After listening to some great presentations, including Dr. Jedd Wolchuk and my good friend Jeff Rowbottom, the session ended with a moving talk by Will Reeve ("Superman's son") and Rob Summers, a former major league baseball prospect who was paralyzed from the chest down by a hit and run driver. Hearing Rob describe an epidural stimulator giving him the opportunity to stand up and walk over to the doctor who said "You'll never walk again" reminded me how so many others face physical and emotional challenges that put mine in the proper perspective.
You can watch the highlights of Partnering For Cures on their YouTube channel. The very last video includes Will and Rob's bit (at 1:23:50). Their talk lasts a little over 10 minutes. Ask yourself, "What will you do?" After listening to it, there was no doubt I knew what I had to do – I had get off the train in DC at 1:30 a.m. and get to SITC in less than seven hours later. Seven deceased melanoma patients and 6,500 other cancer patients who lost their battle overnight demand that respect and diligence by those of us blessed with the gift of time and ability to rise this morning and DO something.
T.J. Sharpe shares his fight against Stage 4 Melanoma in the Patient #1 blog. Read more »