Cookiesforkidscancer.org

Speaking of Christmas gifts and lethargy--brain lethargy, that is--I keep forgetting to tell/remind you all to buy cookies for people! I am not the biggest fan of the site name--cookies for kids cancer, it sounds like we are cheer leaders for cancer, but really we are raising money for neuroblastoma research. Lifesaving--possibly my life--new treatments that can't get funding from the usual sources because there aren't enough of us patients (cute as we all may be) to make any promise of future profits for bigPharma. So it is left to those of us actually fighting this disease in ourselves or our families to raise the money to save ourselves. Fucked up, right? But this little group, called Band of Parents--go to bandofparents.org for other fun gift ideas--managed to raise a million dollars in the last year to catapult a humanized version of the mouse-cell torture, I mean treatment, that kept me clean for two years. The new version will help more kids because there won't be an issue with developing, essentially, an allergy to the cells because they're from humans, not some other species. It also appears it will be more effective. And it's coming to a cancerward near you by the fall of 2009!

That is, IF you all go buy some cookies for kids cancer. I bought some last year, and they are delicious. I gave to my co-workers at the Union to thank them for all of their support. This year I might just take my friend Sam's lead and buy them for myself. I won't lie, they aren't cheap, but almost all of the money goes toward research, and it's not any more expensive than getting cookies delivered commercially. Plus, it's tax deductible. So there you have it, no excuses, GO BUY COOKIES!!