Be A Quitter This Thanksgiving

Hi everyone! It’s lung cancer awareness month! As you all head home for Thanksgiving, take a second to learn about another November holiday I bet you didn’t know too much about.

This past Thursday (November 19th) was the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smoke Out - a day dedicated to encouraging people to quit smoking. The day was started by Arthur P Mullaney in Randolph, Massachusetts in 1970. He asked people to give up smoking for a day and donate the money they saved to a local school’s scholarship fund. Since then, the idea has grown into a nationwide event celebrated with rallies, parades, and quitting information.

Did you know?

- Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women and responsible for 28% of all cancer deaths in the US

- 1 in 5 US adults smoke cigarettes regularly.

- Compared to non-smokers, the risk of developing lung cancer is 23x higher in male smokers and 13x higher in female smokers.

- 1 in 3 cancer-related deaths is caused by smoking.

As you can see from these statistics, lung cancer is no joke. The good news is that quitting smoking does not have to be confined to just one day a year. The American Cancer Society offers a variety of resources to help people quit smoking including a guide to quitting and phone and web based support. Visit www.cancer.org to learn more!

P.S. Thanksgiving is a great time to ask family members you don’t normally see for Relay donations. Everyone is in the giving spirit and will be more than willing to support your cause! Good luck and happy thanksgiving!

RelayLOVE, 

Marisa

Mission Monday...No-Shave November

Hello Relay friends! Happy Monday! It's officially November which means I mustache you a question. How much do you know about No-Shave November? Many of us have heard of the phenomenon before and perhaps a few of you guys have participated before.

  

It all begin in 2009 with a small town in Illinois and the Hill family. After having lost their father to colon cancer in 2007, they decided to find a creative way to make a difference in the fight against cancer. The original mindset was to create a celebration of hair. Many cancer patients lose their hair as a result of chemotherapy, so the family decided that instead of shaving or cutting their hair, they would let it go and donate the money saved from razors or hair appointments to a cancer organization. The first few years, it was tremendously successful which inspired the family to continue the growth. They launched the online campaign and began pairing with major cancer fundraising organizations, like the American Cancer Society. 

Now, millions of people sign up to take part every year. While fundraising and donations are still a major goal of the organization, they also have also expanded the focus to include a discussion as to why people are suddenly embracing the mustaches and beards.  And this is when the discussion of cancer can really take off. It's about spreading the word about ways to prevent cancer. About new treatments that have been discover. About current break through research. And most importantly, about how we have all been personally affected by it - a way to create a support system within an entire community. Although it primarily focuses on men's health and testicular cancer, it donates proceeds to organizations including St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and American Cancer Society (to which they have donated over $1.4 million!)

So as the Hill family says, "We believe that together, anything is possible, and we'll get closer to eradicating cancer one whisker at a time!" So be brave, be bold, be hairy - and ask someone about their mustache! 

Happy No-Shave November!

RelayLOVE, 

Maria 

Mission Monday: Look Good...Feel Better

      One of the most devastating effects of cancer can be something outside of the physical tole the chemotherapy, radiation, and other treatments - people watch their body begin to change without their control. They may undergo hair loss or a mastectomy. Learning to adjust and become comfortable and confident with these new changes can be a challenge for many men and women. 

I remember working with a veterinarian the summer between my first and second year of colleges who was facing breast cancer for the second time. She made the decision to have a mastectomy because she knew it was the best way to combat the disease - but this did not make the decision any easier. She is one of the most confident and strong women I have met - and watching her struggle not only to make the decision but how to cope afterwards broke my heart. But she, like many other men and women, are incredibly strong and have an amazing support system through programs like Look Good...Feel Better. 

Look Good...Feel Better was established in 1989 by the Personal Care Products Council with the goal of teaching men and women how to use make-up, wigs, nail polish, and other beauty products to build up their confidence following any cancer treatments.  The organization trains hairstylists, wig experts, estheticians ("a person who is knowledgeable about the nature and appreciation of beauty, especially in art" for those of you like me who had know idea what that meant), make up artists, and other cosmetology professors and makes them readily available to cancer patients in salons. So basically a beauty salon? How cool is that?  

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words so does that make a video worth 10,000? I'd say so.  To understand the full grasp and importance of this program check out this video about Brenda. She's 51 years old, so roughly the same age as most our parents, and facing bilateral breast cancer.  Such a simple thing like make-up and a wig can make such a difference. For you girls out there, think about how fun it was to dress up for prom (or prah-em as my high school called it)?! 

That's the important message behind this and all of the American Cancer Society's programs - these are real programs affecting real people. While Relay and ACS are national programs that are run by thousands of people, the goal is to benefit individuals - people's moms, dads, sisters, brothers, children. And to show them that they are heard, supported, and loved by an incredible number of people. 

With RelayLOVE,

Maria Wnorowski

Mission Monday: Reach to Recovery

"How I ached to talk to another woman who had the same experience and come through it, and so counsel, and reassure, and understand. But so such woman was available!"

Flashback to 1952 and to a woman named Terese Lasser. Like too many women many of us know, she was currently battling breast cancer. Lasser says she felt that the physical aspect of breast cancer was only half the battle - the mental and emotional tole it took was devastating. Determined that no woman should ever feel the same way she did, she took it upon herself to be a resource to other local women facing breast cancer as well. 

And so to kickoff our Mission Monday series and also in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we are starting with Reach To Recovery. Reach to Recovery is one of the many services offered by the 

American Cancer Society to cancer patients and their families. Reach to Recovery is a mentoring program for potential, current, and post-breast cancer patients. While medical staff provide an amazing team to help battle the disease, finding mental and emotional support can be a challenge for many patients.

It is designed to offers these people a mentor - someone who has personally been in the same shoes as the people. They, like Lasser did, know what is it like to go through the diagnosis, chemotherapy, radiation, and so much more. They have climbed the same mountains, faced the same news, and pondered the same decisions - and now, as survivors, they can offer support and be a shoulder to lean on for these women and men. 

The volunteers are available in person or through the phone, by day or by night, to both the patient as well as their family. They are trained to offer emotional support and advice on issues on everything from an initial diagnosis to the decision of a mastectomy to the excitement and joy of receiving an all-clear diagnosis. Sometimes, having someone in the non-medical world can be just what a patient needs. When things seem the hardest, sometimes just having someone to talk to and can say they have been there is just what someone needs. 

And so, 63 years late, Reach to Recovery is a flourishing program - available to both men and women in all 50 states and multiple countries. All striving to be a community and support system for those that need it, and to serve as a reminder that cancer does not define anyone - just because someone needs a hand-up does not mean they are any weaker than the cancer, if anything it means we are bigger because of our ability to join together and stand to it. 

Through the American Cancer Society's Reach to Recovery program, cancer survivor Valarie Jansen, right, has been providing one-on-one support to Brenda Davis, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and again in 2008. 
http://blog.mlive.com/kalamazoo_gazette_extra/2008/10/pairing_patients_with_survivor.html

"For more information about this program or any other programs, please contact the American Cancer Society at 1-800-277-2345  or visit cancer.org

With RELAYlove, 

(your favorite blog manger) 

Maria Wnorowski

Mission Monday: The Movement

Rewind to May of 1985 in Tucoma, Washington. Meet Dr. Gordon Klatt, a colorectal specialist and running enthusiast with a desire to change something. Moderately involved in his local American Cancer Society, Dr. Klatt sought a way to bring more community awareness to the society and give them a way to get more involved.He started by running and walking the track at Baker Stadium for 24 hours which totaled 83 miles (that would be slightly more than running a marathon 3 times). While he circled the track, friends and family could donate $25 to go along with him. Within the course of that year, he raised $27,000, got over 300 friends, family members, and cancer patients involved, and got the ball rolling for what would soon be Relay for Life. 

Fast forward 30 years and Relay for Life is now the largest non-profit cancer fundraising group in the world. Relay takes place in many communities throughout the United States and has also started to have a number of events in other countries including South Africa, Japan, Ireland, and Australia. It has become a huge community movement that ties families, students, survivors, doctors, and so many more together. But in addition to all the fun, Relay for Life is about so much more. The money raised goes out to many organizations and research opportunities and is used to create a cancer free future.  

This year, the Relay for Life Blog at UVA will be having weekly Mission Monday posts. Each highlight a different aspect of what the money earned through Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society goes to. Just a little sneak peek, you will learn more about the Hope Lodge which hosts families and patients currently undergoing treatments. Or Road to Recovery which provides rides to and from treatments for patients. Or Look Good...Feel Better which is all about providing women with opportunities to pick up on little beauty tips - from scarves to wigs - to make chemotherapy more fun.Or about all of the amazing research going on across the world - from top labs in Europe to break through discoveries that have been happening here in our backyard at the UVA Medical School. So starting next Monday, but ready to learn just way Relay is so amazing (in addition to the wonderful people of course).

With Relay Love,

Maria