millionaire anniversary

The game show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, is preparing for its 10th anniversary celebration and I was invited to rejoin its other past contestants in the audience for a taping next month. My appearance on the show seems so long ago. It was back in 2004.

I emailed the show back telling them that I could attend one of the tapings in late July.

in the news

U.S. Leaves Iraqi District Where Anger Lingers

In a Coup in Honduras, Ghosts of Past U.S. Policies

Obama is Choosing to be Weak

There is More to City Life than Convenience

upcoming lymphoma forum

The Lymphoma Research Foundation and the Lymphoma Foundation Canada will co-host the 14th Annual North American Educational Forum on Lymphoma from October 23rd - 25th in Brooklyn, New York.

Click for more information.

in the news

E-Mail Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress

Moving To and From New York City

To Improve Public Health, City Urges Use of Stairs

bascove @ the arsenal

One of my favorite contemporary artists, Bascove, has an exhibition of her Central Park bridges at the Arsenal Gallery on 64th and Fifth Avenue. Titled A Walk in the Park, this art exhibition will begin on Thursday, June 18th and run through August 13th. I look forward to checking it out soon.

In addition to capturing the bridges of Central Park in her signature dreamy style, she is perhaps most famous for painting New York City's other bridges - both the famous and marginalized (such as my Harlem River spans).







She's one of the most creative interpreters of this town's cityscape that I know. A true master.

Stone and Steel, which is a mesmerizing pictorial and literary journey that pays homage to New York City's bridges, remains one of my favorite and most inspiring art books. It's a gem. Anyone interested in New York City, I'm sure, will enjoy this book.

Tonight I found out that she'll be at an event in late July at the Arsenal. I hope to make it.

a new found hodgkin's blog

I just found the blog of fellow Hodger, Stuart, who is 170 days post-transplant. Check out his site called LymphBlog.

in the news

Remembering 'Meet the Press' Host Tim Russert

American Sikhs Run Billion-Dollar Security Firm

The New York City Subway: Grown Up and Remade

guest blogger: kairol rosenthal

Until today, I had never had a guest post on my blog. But I'm delighted to break the trend and introduce healthcare blogger and writer, Kairol Rosenthal. She's the author of the newly released book, Everything Changes: The Insider's Guide to Cancer In Your 20s and 30s.

Life Beyond Treatment

By Kairol Rosenthal

I was diagnosed with cancer at 27. After treatment, I ditched my hospital gown and hit the road. Traveling from the Big Apple to the Bible Belt, I recorded one-on-one conversations with 25 young adult cancer survivors who confessed to me experiences they had never told anyone else.

I was surprised by how many patients said that the hardest part of their cancer experience was life after treatment. Here’s a snippet of my conversation with Geoff Luttrell, a twenty-something survivor interviewed in my book Everything Changes: The Insider’s Guide to Cancer in Your 20s and 30s.

“When you have cancer and you wake up every morning, man, you know what’s happening: chemo, scans, IVs, the whole protocol. Everything else just falls away. There’s no confusion. Life was perfectly clear on chemo. A lot of people recovering from cancer talk about trying to live life like there’s no tomorrow, but you have to work, you have to go grocery shopping, you can’t just walk around 24/7 thinking, I have to make the best of it because I could die in the next five minutes. It’s not realistic.”

Like Geoff, I wanted to be realistic about how to deal with the directionless fray my life had become after treatment. Through my own trial and error, and while talking to other patients for my book Everything Changes, I learned some lessons that made the transition back into daily life just it a bit easier.

After treatment, be kind to yourself. Take it slowly. You don’t have to dive back into life where you left off. In fact you can’t, because life has moved ahead since you were last in it. Step slowly into your life, taking time to learn about what you want from other people and from yourself.

The entire world will want to know how you’re doing. Create a standard yet honest reply – an elevator line, that will educate them about what you are facing, such as, “I’m glad that treatment is over, but it’s pretty common to feel fatigue for a while, so I’m still recovering.”

When I traveled to Alabama, I met Tracy, a 37-year-old breast cancer patient who said, “Some people think that after an experience like cancer, if you are not smiling and doing cartwheels every day, then you’re just sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself. I am grateful to be alive, but I have good days and bad days just like I did before cancer. I also believe you can’t help yourself if you deny that you have suffered.”

She’s right. Life after treatment is hard. Maybe you’re dealing with medical bills, adjusting to a missing a body part, or making sense of your work, love, or family life. Perhaps fear, anger, or sadness about your diagnosis or recurrence are smacking you in the face. Don’t pretend that everything is fine if it is not. Being real about how you feel helps relieve tension. Don’t worry - you won’t get stuck here forever. I’m living proof of this.

If you have gone through treatment, what was life like afterwards? What was the biggest challenge you faced and how did you deal with it? Are you surprised that so many people said life after treatment was the hardest part of cancer?

For candid stories, practical tips, and expert advice on 20 and 30-something cancer, check out my book Everything Changes: The Insider’s Guide to Cancer in Your 20s and 30s. Visit my blog http://everythingchangesbook.com/.

in the news

Protests Roil Tehran After Disputed Vote

Reverberations as Door Slams on Hope of Change

jasmina had her transplant!

Yesterday at Sloan-Kettering, Jasmina, the six-year old who found a suitable unrelated donor one month ago after an exhausting search, had her transplant.

Brave Jasmina Anema Upbeat after Undergoing Bone Marrow Transplant in Fight Against Leukemia

Wishing Jasmina an uneventful and cancer-free recovery!

the un-gala and the editor

I should be preparing for bed, but I'm typing this as I watch the Lakers and Magic duke it out in Orlando.

After finishing tutoring at about 8:40 yesterday evening, I headed to Taj Lounge in Chelsea for the 3rd annual Stupid Cancer Un-Gala. Well over 300 people attended this festive event celebrating young adult survivorship. It was wonderful catching up with friends and meeting others for the first time. Raffles for some impressive gifts were offered: VIP Colbert tickets, Yankees and Mets tickets, gift cards, a spa day, and lots more.

It's remarkable how i2y has grown to become one of if not the largest young adult advocacy organization in such a short time.

Late this morning, I had coffee (interestingly at Keko's where I practiced Arabic with its Tunisian barista) with an editor of a publishing company in Manhattan. It's the same company that emailed me expressing interest after reading my NYT essay.

No, there's no contract for a book deal. It was a very low-key but rewarding meeting in which I talked about my writing experience and where I'd like it to go. He shared some very interesting insights about the philosophy of his publishing company and the business of publishing in general. The editor reaffirmed his company's interest in my photography project and said if I ever decide that I'd like to try to turn it into a book, they'd like to help. So, we promised to remain in touch.

Regardless of what happens, it was very gracious of him to contact and then, treat me to coffee this morning. Just within that hour, I learned more about the intersection of these two worlds - writing and publishing - than I was aware of before. What was there to fear this morning? Nothing. Nothing but the opportunity to learn more.

'The Navajo teach their children that every morning when the sun comes up, it's a brand-new sun. It's born each morning, it lives for the duration of one day, and in the evening it passes on, never to return again. As soon as the children are old enough to understand, the adults take them out at dawn and they say, "The sun has only one day. You must live this day in a good way, so that the sun won't have wasted precious time."'
-Pema Chodron

summer reading

I suppose it's that time of year when we begin to hack away at that long list of books that sparked our fancy some time ago but for which we haven't found the time. I confess that until recently I wasn't reading as many books as I'd like. Newspapers, magazines, and the Internet monopolized my reading time for the most part. But things are changing (thankfully).

After many half-steps, about two weeks ago I finished The Myth of Continents: A Critique of Metageography by Martin Lewis and Karen Wigen, which was recommended to me by a professor in graduate school. It's a revealing and fascinating investigation of the underlying misconceptions, inaccuracies, and biases that are rooted deeply in our academic disciplines, in particular geography. These falsities, the authors argue, have resulted in our collective misunderstanding of the complexity and sophistication of world history and intercultural relations.

Soon afterwards, I started to read The Etiquette of Illness: What You Say When You Can't Find the Words by Susan Halpern as the subject for a future resource review for Sloan's newsletter, Bridges. For survivors and their families as well as anyone interested in the relationship between illness and interpersonal relations, this book is a gem. A survivor herself, Halpern offers a rich and thoughtful portrayal of how patients and their loved ones can struggle to express their needs clearly to each other during illness. Moreover, she provides a number of helpful suggestions that anyone can use to bridge the gap of loneliness and frustration that many people feel when confronted with a terrifying diagnosis, such as cancer.

I had been eying Khalil Gibran's The Prophet on my bookshelf for sometime. It used to belong to my nana, who passed away a few years ago. When we cleaned her apartment after her death, we chose a few special keepsakes by which to cherish her memory. Like me, she was a voracious seeker of information and so besides taking a few photographs, naturally I looked through her voluminous library to see what sparked my curiosity. The Prophet is one of several books that I have which were hers.

This very well-known work, which was first published in 1923, had a bit of a revival during the 1960s. It's a very charming text infused with great sensitivity about the human condition. Moreover, it clearly originates from the Christian experience and is quite reminiscent of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount though I think non-Christians and non-theists alike can find something of benefit.

You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

Following this interest for insightful reflections on humanity and its potential for goodness, I read another book that I had found on my nana's bookshelf: Mahatma: A Golden Treasury of Wisdom - Thoughts & Glimpses of Life. Published in India, the book was produced from a unique handmade paper. Nor more than 90 pages thick, Mahatma is a beautiful collection of some of the great civil rights leader's thoughts about human dignity, freedom, religion, economic parity, and other topics.

But through [the] realization of freedom of India I hope to realize and carry on the mission of the brotherhood of man. My patriotism is not an exclusive thing. It is all-embracing and I should reject that patriotism which sought to mount upon the distress or the exploitation of other nationalities. The Conception of my patriotism is nothing if it is not always, in every case without exception, consistent with the broadest good of humanity at large.

It was strange but remarkable holding these two books. Stroking their pages and examining the print, time and space were no more. I felt connected intimately with my beloved nana in quite a remarkable way. To feel humbled and enriched by the same inspiring words that I'm sure also boosted her spirit when she first read them is a sacred and beautiful experience to have.

Reading the loving note left by her friend on the face of this book's back jacket was quite special too. Again, time and space were no more.

Believe it or not, I have never read Jack London's Call of the Wild. I picked up a collection of his most famous short stories recently. Yesterday, I finished "To Build a Fire," which I read for the first time in high school. I enjoyed it greatly. This afternoon I started reading his magnum opus.

There are many more books that I want to get through this summer. This will be fun.

day +657

Yesterday's Rock & Run went incredibly well. I did have to take a nap when I returned home that afternoon. Though I didn't walk or run the 5K, I think the constant sun exposure tired me out by the end of the event. I imagine I wasn't alone.

Hundreds and hundreds of people showed up at Pier 84 on the Hudson River (just south of the U.S.S. Intrepid) on what was a picture perfect day. The forecast was the in low 80s with clear skies. Survivors and their family, friends, nurses, hospital all congregated in a festive spirit of activity and celebration for life.




The first-place winner of last year's 5k run and I had the honor of launching things off by blowing the starting horn of the race. After that I had spent the remainder of my time there socializing with my sister, friends, and others.

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise for me was seeing my high school track team participating in the 5K run. Someone at the high school informed the president of my NYT essay when it was published and he then contacted me. So, about three weeks ago I visited my high school for the first time in several years. I caught the new president up to speed with my life and involvement with MSKCC and afterward, I talked to a few of my old teachers. Reading about the Rock & Run on my blog, the president told me that he would try to get the track team involved.

When I arrived at Pier 84 Sunday morning, guess who had assembled at the front of the running pack eager to get started? My alma mater's high school track team. It was a humbling sight. Before the race started, I got the chance to introduce myself to them (mostly sophomores and juniors) and we took a few photos together.

Not surprisingly, a few of them finished in the top ten.

I don't know if Rock & Run raised more money or if more people attended than last year. I sure hope so. If the vibrant, spirited atmosphere was any sign of its success, then I'd have to guess yes. Regardless, however, it was quite wonderful seeing New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds celebrating together, hopeful about this new lease on life, and striving to ensure that others can also share the joy of life beyond cancer.

prepping for sunday

In preparation for this Sunday's Rock & Run, I continue to help spread the word about what is setting up to be a very exciting day by the Hudson River.

Last week, an article about my cancer journey and relationship with the Rock & Run was run in the Greenwich Village Gazette. The same piece was published in another local newspaper, Caribbean Life.

Today a different article ran in the New York Amsterdam News.

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Magazines & Newspape

upcoming lls teleconference

Learn more and/or register here for this free LLS teleconference about Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma on June 24th at 12:00-1:30 PM EST.