My Total So Far: $2131

Walking with Jane Team Total: $3022

Greater Fall River Relay Total: $48,424.13

Midnight $24-in-24 Hours Final Update

It’s over. Other than a two and a half hour break to run a Greater Fall River Relay for Life Captains’ Meeting, I’ve pretty much been tied to this chair since 8 a.m.

I’d hoped to launch a Pinterest Page today, as well as a Youtube presence but just keeping up with what I had in front of me was more than enough. Bouncing from one social networking platform to the next was pretty enervating. Once I calm down I think I will get a good night’s sleep.

We raised $1290 over those 16 hours. Twenty-three individuals made monetary contributions, two organizations did likewise, and two new people signed on to our team for the next push.

Those donations had a big impact on where we are financially. My personal total increased from $610 this morning to $2131 tonight at close of business. That places me second among all Greater Fall River Relay individual fundraisers.

The team made heady progress today as well. We started the day in eighth place overall. Tonight we are in third with a total of $3022. That earns us a bronze medal with 58 days left before Relay. We are still behind where we need to be to reach our $20,000 goal, but I feel a lot better about that than I did this morning.

We still have lots of fundraising to do. We will continue to try to raise money online, though nowhere nearly as intensively as we did today. Our focus will now turn to three events.

A week from now we will be making final preparations for our Second Annual Walking with Jane Pasta Supper at Westport High School on May 2 from 5-7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. If you want tickets you can call me at 508-674-0279 or email me at walkingwithjane@gmail.com. You can also mail us a check made out to Walking with Jane, P.O. Box 9721, Fall River, MA 02720 for the number of tickets you want. Put Pasta Supper in the memo line so I will know which event you are putting your money in for.

One month later, June 2, we hold our Second Annual Walking with Jane Yard and Craft Sale at the Westport Grange. Sites are $25 and you can reserve one by contacting me at any of the addresses above. If you send a check, puyt yard sale in the memo line.

Finally, we will be doing fundraisers at the Greater Fall River Relay for Life June 21-22 at Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River. Come walk with us that night.

All three of these events will benefit our Walking with Jane Relay for Life team.

Of course we will also continue to work to raise money for the Jimmy Fund Marathon Walk September 8. I will walk to Boston again this year from Hopkinton along the route of the Boston marathon. We have  a number of events in the planning stages for that event for this summer. Stay tuned.

We are looking for additional team members for both Relay and the Marathon Walk, so let me know if you are interested.

And so I’ll say good night now. Thank you to all of you who took part in today’s efforts–and to all of you who will take part in the next.

11:30 p.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

No change in much of anything the last half hour, though the ACS team total finally caught up with everything else. This is your last call to take advantage of the matching funds offer. I’ll be back at midnight to wrap things up with final totals.

11 p.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

With an hour to go before midnight–and 45 minutes before the dollar-for-dollar match expires, 23 people and two organizations have made contributions so far today totaling $866.

Thanks this hour to Daniel Leach- St. Germain, Jennifer Honsa and Laurie Fernandes for their contributions to the cause.

And thanks, as well, to all of you who have gone out of your way today to offer encouragement and share all these posts we have written today for Twitter, for Facebook, for tumblr and for here. We could not have done this without you. I’ve written well over 4000 words so far today.

There is still time to make a contribution before the 11:45 p.m. matching deadline and the midnight final deadline for contributions for the $24-in-24-Hours Greater Fall River Challenge ends.

10 p.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

We’ve raised close to $200 in the last 60 minutes. Thanks to Michelle Sieman, Meg Flanagan, Chari Swist,Coyne and Powers Insurance Agency, and Sue Welch in addition to some anonymous donors for their help in moving us forward.

You can help us keep the momentum going by making a donation right now. We have just an hour and a half before our $2000 matching offer expires. We still have $1510 of that fund we could claim tonight. But only with your help.

I’ve outlined over the course of the day many of the things ACS does to help patients, their families, and researchers in the fight against cancer. You can help with all of those things just by making a contribution tonight. And if you make that contribution before 11:45 p.m. it will be doubled up to a total of $1510.

Thanks to all of you who have helped out so far today. I’ve been at this since 8 a.m. this morning. Less than two hours to go. I could use a Jerry Lewis ending.

9 p.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

And we’re back live after a highly successful Relay Captains’ Meeting.

Thank you to Brandon Cardoza, Nina Santos, Rae Brinkmeyer, Tracy Medeiros, Sam Texeira, and Hanna Silva, all of whom made donaions to the cause while I had to be away.

While I’ve been away from the machinery $124 has come in, raising our official total for today to $526. With the matching money, that comes to $831, but that will not be official until 11:45 tonight when we will close the matching so that our anonymous donor can match those funds before we turn into a pumpkin patch at midnight. That puts us at $1136 total raised by me so far for Relay. Our team total is $2002 and the Relay total is $47,071.13.

We still have $1695 in matching funds on the table at this point that are unclaimed. We can’t access that money without raising an equal amount. We have three hours and three minutes to do that in, so now would be a good time to make a contribution.

5:15 p.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

Jennifer Leonardo and Melanie Leiter have just made donations to our $24-in-24 hours campaign. Those donations–as well as all the other donations received so far today will be matched by an anonymous donor–up to $2000 total.
http://main.acsevents.org/goto/hproudfoot

4:50 p.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

OK, This was going to be the 5 p.m. deal, but Kerri has forced my hand ten minutes early. I have a donor who has agreed to match all Walking with Jane donations made to my Relay page today–with the exception of the WES donation that they already matched–up to $2000.

That means your donation will essentially double if you donate today before midnight.

And if you already donated, don’t worry. You’re covered, too.

Can we do this?

4:30 p.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

Thanks this hour to Beth-Ann Donovan and Jake Menard who have joined the list of people who have donated to our efforts today. I’m hoping by 6 p.m. we will have my total to $1000.

Seven and a half hours left–and a long way to go still. Thanks to all of you who have spread the word, 960 people have been invited. Hoping they will all show up for at least a little while tonight for some part of this Social Mediathon–I may decide eventually on a spelling for that. We haven’t raised a ton of money but I’ve learned a number of things so far–and expect I will learn some more between now and midnight. http://main.acsevents.org/goto/hproudfoot is where you go to make a donation.

3:15 p.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

Becky Martins has made a donation to move us forward.

Another thing ACS does with the money you donate is maintain a 24-hour cancer information phone line at 800-227-2345. That’s an easy number to remember. And it is always there when you need information about your cancer and your treatment issues. So you really should join with the students at Westport Elementary, Jane Dufault, Danielle Dias, and Becky Martins in supporting this effort.

Or you could join Dan Albernaz and Remi Soule on or Walking with Jane Relay team. They just signed on today. If you are local, you should, too.

2:00 p.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

 

It’s been a busy hour. I’ve written an agenda, made some FB posts, talked to people on our Walking with Jane Relay team and tweeted a couple things out.

I also remembered that I have not mentioned a couple of other things ACS does that make a real difference in the lives of both cancer patients and caregivers.

Information is hugely important at every stage of the disease. I remember the day we got Jane’s diagnosis. Even ACS did not have much on their site about it. But that site, cancer.org, has grown a great deal since those days–and even a so-called minor cancer–gets pretty solid support there now.

The steady expansion of that site gives cancer patients of all stripes the information they need if they are going to be active participants in their own treatments. Jane and I were lucky. We had great doctors who were willing–and able–to take the time to explain to us what every treatment and option meant. But not every doctor is that patient.

I’ve been writing for a long time. I know how hard it is to take something as complicated as cancer is and make it simple enough for the average layman to understand. That kind of writing is time-consuming–and if you are paying someone to do it, that ability does not come cheap.

That’s why what we are doing today with the Greater Fall River Relay is so important–why it is important every day. There are patients out there who need the help only our dollars can provide. If you can help today, please do. Go to our page right now and make whatever donation you can afford. You’ll help support patients in so many important ways above and beyond the research side of things.

1:00 p.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

Danielle Dias has joined those making a donation so far today. Dan Albernaz has joined our Relay for Life team.

Nearly 800 people have been invited so far to join this party. If each donated just $10 we would raise about $8000 today from my efforts alone. That would put our Relay over $50,000–well on our way to our $285,000 goal.

If you can help, now would be a good time to do so. We need to raise $100 an hour between now and midnight to reach my personal goal of $2000. We can do this–but only with your help.

 

12:15 p.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

Thank you to Jane Dufault who has made a donation this morning. The totals above reflect those changes for my fundraising and for Walking with Jane.

I am taking a break from NET cancer work today to work on cancer in general. Today is our annual $24-in24 Hours Relay for Life of Greater Fall River Challenge. I am doing an online social media-thon that I have been working on most of the morning.

People sometimes ask why I work with the American Cancer Society as well as with various NET cancer groups. And I will admit my energies sometimes seem stretched a bit thin.

But I worry about more than NET cancer. This winter, I lost a neighbor to a brain tumor, a former student—a mere 30 years-old—to complications from uterine cancer, and a teaching mentor to colon cancer. I also learned an old friend I had not heard from in some years has seemingly fought off chordoma—a rare form of spinal cancer.

We’ve made progress on cancer but we are still a long way from an easy cure for any of them. ACS helps supply the money for some of the research but plays a more important role with patient and family support services.

Keeping a positive attitude is important when you are fighting cancer. But that is hard to do when your hair is falling out and you look and feel like hell. ACS programs help people find wigs and scarves and learn to use make-up more effectively. When you look good, you feel better.

Patient support is at the core of the American Cancer Society’s mission–and there is nothing more important for a cancer patient than having family close by when they are undergoing treatment. The ACS sponsors Hope Lodges across the country so families can stay close to patients without spending an arm and a leg.

Sometimes getting to treatments can be difficult. ACS provides transportation to major cancer centers across the country. And getting information about what you are facing is as close as a phone call a few clicks of the mouse.

To a cancer patient, these things can be just as important as research—and all of them cost money.

So June 21-22 I’ll be up for 30+ hours walking in circles and doing all I can to make our Relay in Fall River a success. Cancer never sleeps, so neither will I.

You can help by going to my Relay for Life fundraising page and making a donation. If you do it today you’ll be helping us with our $24-in-24-Hours Campaign. Walking with Jane raised over $2600 last year in this one effort. Help us beat that number this year.

 

11:00 a.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

Keeping a positive attitude is important when you are fighting cancer. But that is hard to do when your hair is falling out and you look and feel like hell. ACS programs help people find wigs and scarves and learn to use make-up more effectively. When you look good, you feel better. Help support patient support from ACS with a donation today to our Walking with Jane Relay for Life team.

10:09 a.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

Things have been too quiet the last hour or so, so here is another reason for you to donate to this effort today.

Patient support is at the core of the American Cancer Society’s mission–and there is nothing more important for a cancer patient than having family close by when they are undergoing treatment. The ACS sponsors Hope Lodges across the country so families can stay close to patients without spending an arm and a leg.

That’s another reason to support our $24-in-24-Hours Campaign today. Do it now.
http://main.acsevents.org/goto/hproudfoot

8:45 a.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

Thank you to the Westport Elementary School students, staff, and PTO for their $221 donation to kick off our fundraising efforts in today’s $24-in-24 Hours Challenge. I’ve already updated the total below. I’ll add a ticker above shortly so you can easily see where we are.

Last year the American Cancer Society spent $1 million on NET cancer research. That’s about 20 percent of all the money spent on NET cancer last year. It’s one reason I do Relay For Life to support their efforts. Today is Greater fall River’s Annual 24-in-24 Hours Challenge. Please help Walking with Jane’s Relay team with a donation today.

8:14 a.m. $24-in-24 Hours Update

Good morning and welcome to the $24-in-24-Hours Challenge of the Relay For Life of Greater Fall River. I’ll be live blogging through this post over the course of the day.

Today’s goal is pretty simple: see how many times we can raise $24 online for our Relay June 21-22 and Bishop Connolly in Fall River. I’ll be posting reasons you should support our team in that event from now until midnight–with a brief break while I go chair a Relay Captains’ Meeting.

I’ll be live blogging through this post over the course of the day.

My personal goal for today is to raise enough money to reach my $2000 goal for this year. I’ve already made a good start on that: to this point I’ve raised $831. But I am really hoping our Relay team can make a big push today as well. So far our team has raised just over $1400 toward our $20,000 goal.

So think of this as a Social Media-a-thon. I’ll be posting here, on walkingwithjane.org, sending emails, tweeting, and, if all goes well, launching at least two other Walking with Jane social media sites over the course of the day.

It should be an interesting day. So let’s get this party started. You can help kick-start this campaign right now. Just go to my fundraising page–posted below–and make a donation. Any amount will help.

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/hproudfoot

What can make a comic cry?

I made a comedian cry last week before our Zebra Comedy Night at the Elks Lodge in New Bedford. Jane’s NET cancer story–even in small doses–does that to people. Twenty-eight months after her death it still does it to me.

I don’t walk for Jane–I walk with her.

After the show, he asked me what keeps me going in this fight. No one has ever asked me that question before–though it is a good question. Part of the answer has to do with wanting revenge for Jane’s death and all the years together we lost as a result. But there is more to it than that.

NET cancer can

I watched Jane die. She fought heroically from the day she was told she most likely had cancer to the day they told us there was nothing more they could do for her. I watched the debilitating effects of the NET cancer endgame claim her mobility, her patience, her pride, her self-control–everything that made Jane, Jane.

I walk, I write, I plead, I beg.

I helped the nurses change her bedding every time she lost control of her bowels, helped them bathe her, and stood vigil day after day and night after night. I lost 20 pounds and countless hours of sleep in the 28 days she was in the hospital losing her life.

The unheard terror of NET cancer

We tried everything there was to try but it was not enough to stop the light in her eyes from going out. And when she died, it was in my arms. There is no more hopeless feeling in the world than to hold the still body of the one you love, knowing it will never move again–that it cannot return your embrace.

NET cancer is just one more cancer in the pantheon.

Four people died last week in the Boston Marathon bombings and their aftermath. For a week it crowded nearly everything else off the pages of the newspapers and the airwaves. Even the explosion in West, Texas that killed 16 and leveled a town had difficulty finding room in America’s consciousness.

Two-hundred-thirty-one families lost a loved one to NET cancer last week. By the end of this week another 231 families will do the same.

NET cancer not front page news

This will not be front page news. The nation will not mobilize battalions of police and National Guardsmen to hunt down this mass murderer that will claim 12,000 lives this year alone. NET cancer is not a terrorist. It is not even perceived as a major public health issue. It is just one more cancer in the pantheon.

Two-hundred-thirty-one families lost a loved one to NET cancer last week.

But for those 33 people NET cancer kills every day, for their families and loved ones, the burden is just as heavy–and just as senseless.

The empty chair

I don’t know what it feels like to die of NET cancer–I can only imagine what Jane went through within that shrinking body. But I know what it feels like to be the one left behind; I know what it is to come home to an empty house; I know what it is to awaken in an empty bed; I know what it is to find a hummingbird’s nest and not have the person who would appreciate it most be there to share it.

I watched Jane die.

So I walk, I write, I plead, I beg. I have touched a grief so profound I cannot bear the thought of another tasting its vileness.

Walking with Jane

I don’t walk for Jane–I walk with her. I walk with her to try to save others the pain and humiliation she went through. I walk with her to prevent others from experiencing the grinding loneliness that is the life of a widow or widower after the death of their love.

 I made a comedian cry last week…

We walk to end NET cancer for the 33, for the 231, for the 12,000–and for all those who die from it without knowing they had it.

That’s what keeps me going.

Beyond cancer

This is not a day to write about cancer. Neither was yesterday. There is too much pain in Boston. There is too much pain in my heart.

But for today, we will weep and we will mourn.

People ran yesterday. They ran to celebrate. They ran for pride. They ran for hope. They ran for love. Some ran to raise money for cancer research, for domestic violence programs, for local hospitals–for dozens of other worthy causes.

And suddenly people were running for their lives–and running to save the lives of others.

Into darkness

Dreams died yesterday. Nightmares began.

One young woman was a dancer. She lost her leg.

…a city of ideals that tries to live up to the image of the “city on a hill…”

An eight-year-old died–and all he might have been and done died with him. His mother and sister are seriously injured. His father had just crossed the finish line in triumph that changed instantly to tragedy.

Out of the darkness

The temptation is to focus entirely on the negative things–to wonder at our collective inhumanity.

 …our love and compassion will overwhelm those who would do evil.

But do not lose faith in humanity from this. Rather, let the actions of the people at the finish line rushing to help the injured underline the greatness of human kind. Think about the race officials using their lanyards as tourniquets, the runners running through the finish line and to the hospital to give blood, the doctors and nurses in the first aid tents rushing to the injured. That is humanity. The bombers are evil incarnate. But their evil is as nothing compared to the goodness of the vast majority.

The choice

We can let these events destroy us. We can barricade ourselves in our homes and decide no one is to be trusted. We can choose to focus  on our immediate friends and family–excluding all others from our lives–impoverishing ourselves as a result.

…do not lose faith in humanity from this.

Or we can continue to move forward with open hearts and open minds. We can choose to emulate the people who ran to the aid of others. If we do so, our love and compassion will overwhelm those who would do evil. They may have their small victories, but the final victory will be ours.

The wrong place, the wrong time

This morning, one of the doctors interviewed put it very well:

Dreams died yesterday. Nightmares began.

Boston is where the American Revolution began. It is where the idea of America–and what it means to be an American–was born. It is a city of learning, a city of compassion, a city of love. It is a city of imperfection–but it is also a city of ideals that tries to live up to the image of the “city on a hill” it aspires to.

We shall overcome

 

We will get through this. We will continue to strive for learning and patience and wisdom. No terrorist will change that. We simply will not allow it.

There is too much pain in Boston.

But for today, we will weep and we will mourn. And in September, we will walk.

 

Our first quarter NET cancer efforts

From the perspective of anyone not named Harry Proudfoot it would appear we are off to a really great first quarter in our 2013 NET cancer fundraising efforts. Through March 31 our various efforts raised nearly $7200 for the Jimmy Fund Marathon Walk and Relay For Life of Greater Fall River. Three days into April, 70 individuals and seven local businesses have made contributions ranging from $10 to $250.

 …help create a world in which no one deals with grief because of NET cancer.

And we have put into motion solid plans for three fundraisers in April, May, and June we can honestly hope will swell those numbers significantly, starting with the Zebra Comedy Night April 13 at the New Bedford Elks Lodge, proceeding to the Second Annual Pasta Supper at Westport High School on May 2, and finishing with the Second Annual Yard and Craft Sale at the Westport Grange Hall June 2. We have had a very successful direct mail campaign and begun a solid business sponsorship campaign for the Jimmy Fund Walk that takes place September 8.

NET cancer celebrations and failures

That we are significantly ahead of where we were a year ago at this point should be a cause for celebration–as should the fact April has gotten off with such a bang as to have pushed us to about $8500 for the year. But I had hoped for much more at this point.

…I had hoped we would reach $200,000 this year…

While sponsorships for our Walking with Jane Marathon Walk team are off to a great start, I have been very disappointed by the returns on our efforts to get businesses more involved with Relay for Life locally. In January and February I visited over 80 businesses, including banks, credit unions and all the manufacturing plants in the Fall River Industrial Park. The results were disappointing. To date, one business decided to form a team–and the silence from the rest has been deafening. I’ll be going out on the road again shortly to make further attempts, but my original goal of raising at least $20,000 for the Relay and the American Cancer Society seems increasingly unlikely.

Falling behind on NET cancer financial goals

My financial goal for the year is equally in jeopardy at this point. After generating just over $100,000 last year, I had hoped we would reach $200,000 this year, although my original five-year plan only called for $150,000 this year. But even that lower figure looks like an enormous stretch with a first quarter that did not reach its $20,000 goal.

I had hoped for much more at this point.

That we missed our team recruiting goals for both our Relay team and our Walk team also causes me great concern. By April 1 I wanted both teams to have 20 members on board. The Relay team is in better shape, with 10 members signed up and about another 10 ready to do so. But the Walk team has but two members–and facing a $40,000 team goal that is a thing to worry about.

NET cancer website languishes

This NET cancer website has languished somewhat in the last three months as well. Part of that is the amount of energy a direct mail campaign takes. Part of it is the fact I spent much of the month of March fighting my way through a particularly nasty chest cold. And part of it was four months of fighting through a particularly blue period in my ongoing struggle with grief. It is sometimes that struggle that keeps me working on all of this: I would truly like to help create a world in which no one deals with grief because of NET cancer.

…70 individuals and seven local businesses have made contributions…

Unfortunately, that world is still a distant dream as I write this. But it will remain a distant dream without all of us working to change that situation. We are ahead of where we were a year ago: This time last year we had raised less than $3000, I was the only person on our Walk team and our Relay team had but eight people signed up. And the Relay for Life of Greater Fall River in general was far behind where it is now as well.

Reducing NET cancer to a myth

Some day cancer will be a story we scare unruly children with–a tale no more real than Hansel and Gretal. And NET cancer–though it may be among the last to die–will be just as mythical. But that will only happen if we all keep doing all we can to bring those events to pass.

NET cancer problems at every level

Fighting NET cancer is difficult on every level imaginable. For patients, there is the constant round of injections and rising and falling hopes with every doctor’s visit and set of lab results. For primary care doctors there is the difficulty of trying to diagnose a disease you’ve been trained not to look for. For oncologists there is the limited set of treatments and the knowledge that for most patients all you can do is fight a delaying action in the hope a cure will be found before the patient reaches the critical stage where there is nothing left to do but manage the oncoming freight train of death.

Generating $200,000 this year would be another step forward.

For researchers there is the lack of funding for basic research or even–too often–for trials of promising therapies. NET cancer is a zebra–a supposedly rare disease–and that also makes it an orphan when it comes to the priorities of most drug companies and major research facilities.

Moving forward on NET cancer

When my wife Jane died of NET cancer December 10, 2010 I was emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted. Watching someone you love die–walking them to the end of that road–is like nothing else I have experienced in my life. I don’t know where the strength came from for me anymore than I know where the strength came from for her. I do remember thinking to myself the night before she died that somehow in the previous 28 days I had become an old man–or at least that I was walking like one.

For someone like me, $100,000 is a huge amount of money.

But I was also angry–and determined that I would complete the task we had both set out to do: to kill this disease–not just for Jane, but for everyone. I did not know how much more angry I would get as I began doing the background research I knew would need to be done before I could be of any use to anyone. I did not know how frustrating things would get. I just put my head down and started trying to move forward.

The root of the NET cancer research problem

I pretty quickly learned just how bad the funding and resources problem was–and knew that it was the root of most of the other problems in the NET cancer world. In a world driven by money and profit NET cancer could not compete. I set out to change that before I actually understood the way cancer funding works. A group of us put together a Relay for Life team called Walking with Jane. We knew the money we raised would not be focussed on NET cancer–in fact would largely be spent on things far removed from our central concern. But none of us knew anything about raising large sums of money–and it seemed a good place to learn that.

And I still had no idea what I was doing.

And we were very successful. That first year, despite having no idea what we were doing, we raised almost $4500. People on the planning committee for the local Relay decided that initial showing meant I’d be a good candidate to chair the whole event the next year. Beyond that, I discovered, it had bought us a seat at the table where the people at the national level would actually return my calls–which is how I was finally able to start unraveling just how poorly funded NET cancer actually is.

Building the NET cancer battle

It was a lot worse than I thought it was.

That summer I took all I had learned from Relay and poured it into raising money for the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk. I discovered–through the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation–that there was a way I could get the money I raised spent entirely on NET cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The only catch was either I had to raise $10,000 or join a team dedicated to NET cancer that would raise that amount–and Caring for Carcinoid just happened to have such a team. That summer I raised about the same amount for the Jimmy Fund Walk as our team had raised for the Relay for Life.

I just put my head down and started trying to move forward.

That fall, I set up the Walking with Jane Dybowski Fund for Neuroendocrine Cancer at DFCI, figured out how to generate another $25,000 for NET cancer research, had a friend help me find a lawyer to set up Walking with Jane as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and created, with the help of a former student, this website. And I still had no idea what I was doing.

NET cancer financial numbers

The truth is, I still don’t know what I am doing most of the time. Despite that, we found a way last year to more than double what we had generated the year before. Our Relay team created almost $10,000 for the American Cancer Society, my personal fundraising created almost $11,000 for our Marathon Walk team, which we had to rebuild almost from scratch from the year before. In total, we generated–through matching funds and direct donations to DFCI, Caring for Carcinoid, and ACS–just over $100,000.

Fighting NET cancer is difficult on every level imaginable.

For someone like me, $100,000 is a huge amount of money. It is $35,000 more than I made as a teacher in my best year ever. But in the world of cancer research–even in the world of NET cancer research–it does not amount to a significant amount. A single, small-scale Phase I trial of a new drug or treatment runs about $3 million. One conservative estimate puts the cost of finding a cure for NET cancer at $100 million. Given how much we have spent on breast cancer without being able to eliminate it–a disease we have little problem detecting–even ten times that amount strikes me as a fairly conservative estimate.

Starting points

But $100,000 is a start. Generating $200,000 this year would be another step forward. With the first quarter of the year just ended it is time to step back and see where we are in that effort. But that is a story for next time.