Tune In on September 5th to STAND UP!

Tune in on September 5th at 8pm on ABC, NBC & CBS for a truly amazing event! Stand Up 2 Cancer is a relatively new website and fundraising organization raising money and connecting top cancer researchers across the world to find a cure, we need a cure in our lifetime.

The numbers are astronomical how many people we lose each day. Just today I was sitting in the lobby of my oncologists office and found myself tearing up looking at the number of people in the room. Sitting next to me and my hubbie was a young girl in her 20's with a friend by her side. Our eyes met on several occasions and I knew the look on her face all too well. She was scared out of her mind.. I wanted to just go over, give her a hug and let her know it will all be ok, but that might have been a bit crazy, huh. So instead I smiled at her, I think we exchanged supportive hugs just through those brief looks, it was a beautiful moment.

My new oncologist came from Greece, then NYC, then Philly - now San Francisco and gave me hope. He again explained that my type of lymphoma is the most aggressive - Burkitt's Lymphoma and multiplies and spreads quickly. However, it also responds well to chemotherapy and I was reassured that even if it comes back there are other newer medicines I could fight it with.

Today my LDH levels were fine and everything seemed ok from my exam, but the doctor wants me to do a PET/CT scan which is the true test of what's going on in your body. It's a combination of a CT scan along with a PET scan which provides your care provider with 3D images of your body and any abnormal activity going on.

If my PET/CT comes back that I am cancer free, which I am praying it will - then I will officially have been cancer free for 5 months. My doctor explained that usually once you've been in remission for over a year, you stand a good chance of it not coming back, so I just need to stay cancer free seven more months.

After going through treatments that are so traumatic in so many ways; losing your hair, body hair, going neutropenic and rushed to the hospital, fevers in excess of 104 degrees really leaves you feeling like a wounded soldier coming out of battle. You spend a solid 3-4 months of your life fighting for your life and then suddenly you are healed and sent back into the world. I still cry regularly and love when I see someone or can talk to someone who's gone through something similar.

I've received a number of inspiring e-mails from my blog about friend and loved ones going through treatment or recent cancer diagnosis and how they find inspiration in my blog. I find inspiration in the people around me and my only advice to anyone is to think about all you have to live for, all the people around you that you love and want to have much more time with. It makes you appreciate the relationships you have in your life.

I recently received an e-mail from a girl named Tara (also my younger sisters name) in LA who went through cervix cancer this past fall. She is working with Stand Up 2 Cancer to create a web campaign. She thanked me for my story and asked if I would like to be included in the project. I am all about getting the message out there and of course wanted to participate.

The task: "I STAND FOR..." - you fill in the rest. This is a hard question when you think about it - what's important, what message do you want to send out to people. I've attached the two pics I sent for use in the campaign and will post the campaign as soon as I have it... But I ask all of you - POST to my blog, please... Let me know what you stand for - I'd love to hear your thinking on this same subject. Love to you all - I look forward to hearing from you.