Support NET research on Giving Tuesday
I’m taking a break today from the heavy emotional work of the caregiving series. Instead, I want to talk about something equally important. I want to see the day when series like that no longer have meaning. Tomorrow, Giving Tuesday, is our opportunity to help things in that direction.
…every dollar counts.
Words and prayers won’t bring us a NET cancer cure. Only knowledge will do that. And knowledge comes at a price. It takes years to become a doctor. It takes years to acquire the skills and habits of mind a researcher must have. Those people have bills to pay and children to feed just like anyone else. They can’t work for free.
Research isn’t cheap
They can’t find the new knowledge that will lead to a cure without lab space and equipment to do it with. That space and equipment needs heating and cooling and maintaining and cleaning. All of it costs money–money we don’t have–and won’t have–without your support.
They can’t work for free.
Neither government nor pharmaceutical companies pay for basic research. That’s reality. Drug companies only become interested when they smell nearly immediate profits. Governments don’t like spending money on experiments that may fail. Every fundamental breakthrough comes directly from charitable donations.
The starving orphan
NET cancer is an orphan no one wants to adopt. We live on the table scraps left after the dog finishes with them. We have no celebrity spokesperson, no cute poster-child, no regular presence on media of any kind that people pay attention to. And we share a zebra mascot with hundreds of other destitute, abandoned children.
All of it costs money…
Tomorrow, on Giving Tuesday, I’ll write checks to support literal orphans. I’ll write checks to support literal homeless people, literal hungry people. But I’ll also write additional–and substantial–checks to groups doing NET cancer research. I hope you will do likewise by making a donation–online or by mail–either to your local NET cancer center or to one of the organizations and funds below.
Places to donate
The Walking with Jane Dybowski Fund for NET Cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is part of 3-in-3: The Campaign to Cure NET Cancer. I will personally match the first $1000 in donations to either page today (11/28) and tomorrow (11/29). This money supports research on NET cancer at Dana-Farber’s Program in Neuroendocrine and Carcinoid Tumors.
The NET Research Foundation funds research into NET cancer not only in the US, but also around the world. They also support patient conferences that help raise awareness and supply patients with the latest information. In addition, they fund conferences that bring researchers together to talk about what they are discovering.
NET cancer is an orphan no one wants to adopt.
The Carcinoid Cancer Foundation is the oldest foundation working on NET cancer. Their website is the best place for new patients to find the full range of information they need on their NET cancer journey. They also do patient conferences similar to the NET RF, but in different regions.
The Healing NET Foundation provides a range of online resources for patients, including a book on NET cancer and support groups. They host a monthly conversation with one of the leading doctors in the field on their Facebook page, Dr. Liu’s Zebras.
Overseas and local
Internationally, you can’t do better than support the NET Patient Foundation. They have a full array of support groups and information. They also support research.
There are many other regional and international groups also worthy of your support this Giving Tuesday. It doesn’t matter to me where you make your donation. It only matters that you do. In NET cancer research, every dollar counts.
