HUGE thanks 21 very special donors who helped me raise $1418 for vital cancer research during my #33for33 birthday campaign! When I first launched the campaign I had hoped to raise at least $165 on my birthday (33 gifts x $5, the cost of an average birthday card), and I had secretly hoped we could reach $333 raised in honor of turning 33. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined you would help me raise more than four times that amount! Plenty of you also took the time to share my posts, perform a random act of kindness, help someone in need, or even signed up to volunteer for a cause near and dear to you in my honor. Spreading love and giving back was my birthday wish, and boy did ya'll help that wish to come true! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
As I enjoyed my birthday festivities throughout this past weekend, it was not lost on me how simply reaching another year in our life is a present in and of itself. That is something I was vividly reminded of while I watched my incredible DFMC patient partner Darla whizzing around the room at her sixth birthday party this past summer (it was a roller skating party and yes, she did inform me that I would finish the marathon much quicker if I wore roller skates this year). While the gift table was overflowing with bags bearing Darla's favorite Disney princesses and Frozen characters, as I watched her loving parents Sherelle and Daryl look on - as well as countless family members - we all knew the real gift was seeing this happy, healthy little girl laughing without a care in the world beside which flavor cupcake to choose.
And yet, cancer has forever changed this family. To look at Darla you wouldn't know that she had spent hours at Dana-Farber undergoing treatment. You wouldn't know that every two months since being declared "cancer free" (not cured) last year, she has still had to have her blood tested every two months to ensure that her Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) has not returned - meaning that every two months her parents have had to wait with baited breath at the mercy of a simple test that has the power to turn their world upside down (thankfully after her last tests came back clear, the interval has been extended to every four months for the next seven, yes SEVEN, years of her life and then yearly after that). You wouldn't know that Darla's innocence was forever altered by this disease, as evidenced by the conversation we had while walking together for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society recently:
Erin (while explaining why it is good Darla doesn't reach out to pet dogs she doesn't know): Well you know how if I came up behind you and yelled "boo" you might jump and throw your arms out because you were scared? That's how dogs feel sometimes when people come up and pet them unexpectedly, only since their arms are down on the ground they may turn around with their face and that is why people sometimes get bitten by dogs. They aren't always trying to be mean, sometimes they are just scared.
Darla (pausing to consider what I just said): Oh, I see. So you mean they are just scared of me the way I am scared of cancer?
Darla's response literally stopped me in my tracks. Should this little girl be scared of dogs? Sure. Spiders? Sure. The dark? Most kids are. But cancer?!? No, she should not have to be scared of that. And yet, cancer is as much a part of her vocabulary and childhood as ice cream and barbies.
So why is this team and our mission so important to me? This is why. Because 100% of every single dollar raised goes directly funding the Barr program's cutting edge research which is getting us closer to the day where cancer is nothing to fear. And in honor of Darla, for today's Monday Motivation I would like to feature the work of Dr. David Weinstock who has twice received Barr program funding and was himself a DFMC runner/fundraiser in 2013 and 2014.
Barr Program Spotlight
Barr Investigator: Dr. David Weinstock, MD
Barr Project: Improving Treatment Potency - Identifying genes in leukemias and lymphomas that cause
resistance to treatment.
Although our current therapies cure about half of all patients with leukemia and lymphoma, the
other half fail treatment because their diseases become resistant to treatment. This often happens
as a result of genetic alterations in their leukemia and lymphoma cells. Barr funding in 2008-‘09
and 2013-‘14 has allowed David Weinstock, MD, to
use powerful new technologies to identify the genes that can cause this kind of resistance. Drugs
that inactivate these genes could prevent resistance and lead to cures in many more patients.
Thank you to Dr. Weinstock and his team for the tremendous work you are doing to get us one step closer to a world without cancer! And thank you to each of you for considering a gift in support of this important research to ensure kids like Darla have many more birthdays to celebrate!
At my DFMC Patient Partner Darla's 6th Birthday Party this summer
I am far from the best runner, but I get out there and go for it because I know that we are helping to save and change lives - that is why I started and that is why I keep going!