Re: Raising Money

[Guest guest]

LOTTIE, thank you for your kind words. You are such a wonderful supporter of

mine! I am involved in raising money for the LLS and in volunteering for several

of the programs they offer to patients and their families because I desperately

need to feel I am doing something to help. This is the only way I know how.

People helped ME when I needed it most--I'll never forget the feeling when I was

in the trial and it became obvious that STI 571 was going to be a miracle. It

felt like someone reaching down into the water and saving me from drowning. And

my Team in Training involvement--participating in marathons, fundraising and

serving as Mission Captain for my team--makes me feel strong and able. One step

at a time, we march closer to a cure; it sounds like a cliche, but it is exactly

what led to the major breakthrough in cancer research that Gleevec represents.

All the people who dedicated themselves to raising money for the LLS played a

part in that. To me, that is profound. I want to be a part of it too.

SUE, you are awesome. Thank you for your efforts on behalf of all cancer

patients. I know we have communicated privately, but I want the group to know

how much I respect what you are doing. People like you change the world. I enjoy

reading about all your clever fundraising techniques! You put so much creativity

and hard work into it and I admire you for that.

DOROTHY, I, too am on the Board of my Greater Los Angeles Chapter and what you

said was spot on. My chapter would WELCOME anyone raising money like Bobby did.

The key is to be in touch with one's local chapter of the LLS. Thank you,

Dorothy, for your dedication to helping us. You are playing a very important

part in effecting change for all of us cancer patients. Kudos to you!

In the beginning of the STI 571 trial a fellow CML patient posted words in an

online discussion group that I have never forgotten and I use them in the talks

I give because they speak to me so eloquently. This was when all of us who were

up to that point facing certain death and it was becoming a possibility that we

might be saved, " I feel like we are sitting on top of a mountain looking over at

the other side at that most precious state of being--alive and well and free of

fear. I dream of that day. " After 12 years, I AM alive and well and relatively

free of fear and it is indeed precious. I just want to help others get to the

other side of that mountain.

>

> Dear Sue in AU,

> It is truly amazing when you consider the power of you and Virginia who put so

much energy into raising money for LLS. Thank you both. You are right in your

assertions, you don't have to be a celebrity and you have both proved that. We

lack media attention in order to raise the kind of money we need for the " cure "

research. We do have some other members who give of their time and talents to

raise money and that is most commendable. The celebrity folks we have named

probably do not know anyone or lost someone from a blood cancer. If we knew

anyone who was a celebrity, then perhaps they could be approached with a plan in

hand to see if they would be willing to lend their names to the ticket. If

anyone knows a celebrity or has a plan for raising money, you have come to the

right place, we are all ears. Congratulations on being ask to talk to doctors

about your experience. That would cause me to sweat collar buttons. LOL

> FYI,

> Lottie Duthu

>

>