So, I went to California at the end of last week. (I've heard talk that my house will be looted if I talk about trips in advance on a blog. So there. I'm BACK and the door is locked. OK?) The trip was great and probably worthy of a dedicated blog post, but I don't think I have it in me tonight.
One thing that I found crazy though was that on the way there, on the plane, I watched a Lifetime-calibre feature film that was actually pretty good. OK, not great, but it was all about the issues I last blogged about.
And it starred Brendan Fraser. Don't snort!
I know, I know Brendan Freakin Fraser.
So anyway, Brendy and Harrison Ford (in an inspired, curmudgeonly performance-I imagine it's his true personality) really go at it to come up with a drug to save Brendan's kids. I won't give away the ending, but I bet you can guess what it is. And here's the best part...."Based on a True Story" And Felicity as the mom almost made up for Brendan.
It was just one of those times though when I was hammered by the same topic several times in the space of a few days and it starts to feel like a sign or something.
Despite the dismal nature of that Newsweek article, and the fact that the movie implied that you need about a trillion dollars of venture capital to get cures and treatments going for disease (and that was probably the part of the movie that was realistic), I still feel like The Chordoma Foundation is doing some innovative stuff and I'd like to help in my small way.
For one, it's in my own best interest to help. For two, I've been affected by the people I've read about and met. For three, there is no walk, marathon, yogurt lid, or ribbon to help. At least as far as I know. Because this is not one of those big cancers, it's tough to engage mass attention and support (and I totally get that). It's genuinely up to the community of people directly (and I mean directly) affected to help. And I am better placed to help than some of the people who are not doing as well with this disease.
I am not quite sure where to start. I have some ideas, but am totally new to this. I think it could be fun though.
AMS, Did you know that you are fewer degrees of seperation from that movie than you know? Did you know that our friend Br Pea actually worked with the guy that Brendan Frickin' Fraser's character is based on?
ReplyDeleteI think you should have a fund raiser at the DeCordova. The DeCordova Chordoma Extravanganza. It's like a tongue-twister.
Seriously though, you are a good person for trying to give back.
I spelled separation incorrectly. (Did you know that "Spelt" is an excepted form of "Spelled?" That's how we used to say it in Greenfield. For serious.
ReplyDeleteNeal, what the heck does Br Pea mean?
ReplyDeleteYes somehow there is a big boston link in that movie. Was it good - I have avoided it as I assume it will be a big cryfest for me. I bet one way you can help which has nothing to do with money is write and tell anyone, any pharma or company executive (even the maker of that cheap walgreens fan in your proton room) president who you are and the impact they had on you and how what they do makes a difference for you.
ReplyDeleteSometimes human motivation, a feeling of being needed can win over money.... Although money is nice too, but since we don't have lots of it.... I think knowing you make a difference and that it is appreciated & worthwhile can make the biggest difference.
Hi! It has been great to see that you are doing well....I have been thinking about you. Have you talked to my sister recently?! Big plans for the next few years....ANYWAY....if this helps in any way to maybe give a little hope that there will be some sort of advancement in the treatment of chordomas....I work as a specialist for Life Technologies and actually my direct product line is all about signal transduction and how these pathways which can be activated or de-activated according to many things, lead to the progression of many different kinds of cancers. Without getting too into it, you probably know the PI3K/AKT/TSC1/TSC2/mTOR pathway is active or "turned on" in many chordoma cases...so a drug that can inhibit or block this pathway from being activated can in theory stop the progression of the disease. I can honestly say that the targets in this pathway are the most widely studied targets in all of the major industrial and academic research labs which we support. I would say that about 75% of my product line is linked in someway to this pathway. Now, the trouble is getting these pharmaceuticals through all of the research stages and trials and FDA approval and finally into the market....but I am confident that we will see some results.
ReplyDelete