The myth of normal
You’d think that after eight years, Jane’s death wouldn’t hurt anymore; that the memory of watching her inject herself every morning and evening with octreotide would have faded; that I wouldn’t have to fight my way out of bed anymore.
I’ll keep riding and walking and making donations…
The truth is something else. You don’t lose a husband or a wife without pain, without creating difficult memories, without taking long term emotional damage. You learn to cope, but you never really get over it—never really get back to normal.
Why I help
People ask me why I’m still fighting to help find answers to NET cancer eight years after any answer we find would do Jane any good. My answer is simple: I don’t want anyone else to go through what Jane went through—and what I continue to go through. I want the day we have cures not only for NET cancer—but for all cancers.
You don’t lose a husband or a wife without pain…
I’m not a rich man. My wife and I were both school teachers. Our students mattered more than our paychecks—more than our retirement. I don’t drive a fancy car or live in a gated community. I can’t write checks the size I’d like to support NET cancer research. I do what I can. I walk the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk; I ride part of the Pan Mass Challenge; I organize events; I donate what my budget allows.
Any donation will help
That’s what I ask you to do—what you can. You don’t have to walk 26.2 miles or get on a bike for 50 miles or more. You don’t have to write a check for $10,000 or $1000 or $100. If all you can come up with is $10, that will help more than you can imagine. And if you can do more, I won’t say no. NET cancer isn’t a well-heeled cancer. We still measure what we have for research in millions, not hundreds of millions or billions.
We’ve made some progress. We’re better at diagnosing the disease than we were. We’ve discovered the disease is not as rare as people thought—it’s now the second most prevalent form of gastrointestinal cancer. We’ve found some drugs that slow the course of the disease and ease patients’ symptoms. We have some hopeful leads developed in part thanks to research Walking with Jane has funded through donations like yours.
Help fund a cure
But we still have no cure. Until we do, I’ll keep riding and walking and making donations and writing letters like this one in hopes of inspiring people like you to join us by contributing what they can.
We’ve made some progress.
I really do want to stand at Jane’s grave and tell her, “NET cancer is dead. Your life—and your death—helped kill it.”
Please do what you can to make that happen.
Pax et lux,Harry Proudfoot
Chairman, Walking with Jane
The first $2500 in donations to both my Ride and my Walk will be matched by an anonymous donor, for a total of $5000.
You can click on either the PMC or Jimmy Fund Walk to donate to support either my Ride or my Walk. Every penny from every donation at either goes to support NET cancer research.
