CONNECTIONS / SNIPPETS

Celebrating Survival

Personnel at Baptist Medical Center’s Hederman Cancer Center in Jackson, Miss., help survivors place their handprints on a banner to commemorate National Cancer Survivors Day on June 3. More than 200 survivors from across the state participated in the Jackson event and left their handprints on displays inside the cafeteria. Photo by Rick Guy/The Clarion-Ledger

Opera singer and colon cancer survivor Connie Shakalis and her husband enjoy a National Cancer Survivors Day celebration June 10 hosted by Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York. Shakalis wrote lyrics titled “Had a Routine Colonoscopy” and with her husband, Gus, sang the piece to the tune of “Caro Nome” from the Verdi opera Rigoletto. The improvised aria ends, “Bad things happen when you don’t expect ’em, but there’s light at the end of the rectum!” Click here for full lyrics.       Photo by Rick Filiano

Angel is a Centerfold

Breast cancer survivor and retired librarian Bobbie DeCoster of Kenmore, Wash., is one of 12 models for the 2008 Angel Care Calendar, a fundraiser for the Angel Care Breast Cancer Foundation, which provides emotional support to newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. For details on obtaining a calendar, visit www.angelcarefoundation.org.

Photo by Gail Wodzin/Gail Wodzin Photography

Concerts, Conferences & Cuisine

> The Carcinoid Cancer Awareness Network Medical Conference will be held at the University of Michigan on Aug. 25. The mission of CCAN is to spread awareness of carcinoid cancers. Visit www.carcinoidawareness.org and www.carcinoid.org.

> The Ulman Fund has scheduled 2007 Iron Girl events across the U.S. Last year, Iron Girl participants raised more than $50,000 to benefit young adults touched by cancer. During September, events are being held in Boston, Seattle and Bloomington, Minn. See www.ulmanfund.org.

> The National Brain Tumor Foundation hosts the Angel Adventure Walk fundraising event to bring together anyone whose life has been touched by brain tumors. All proceeds from the event go to support brain tumor research and patient services at the foundation. Events will be held in cities across the U.S. from September through November, beginning Sept. 8 in Portland. See www.braintumor.org/contribute/angel_adventure.

> The National Children’s Cancer Society hosts the 11th annual Wheels in Motion Car Show on Sept. 9 in St. Louis, a fundraiser during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. See www.nationalchildrenscancersociety.org.

> Children’s Cause Cancer Advocacy holds Rise To Action workshops and conferences for young adult survivors of childhood cancer. RTA is aimed at educating survivors of childhood cancer about many issues specific to them, with sessions on fertility concerns, late effects and follow-up care, health insurance, psychosocial issues and advocacy. The next RTA workshop/conference is Oct. 6-7 in New York. See http://childrenscause.org/library/sidebar_story_Rise_to_Action_general.shtml.

> The Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association hosts the 10th International Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Conference in San Francisco Oct. 19-21. See www.thyca.org.

La Vie en Pink

Photo by Diane Bondareff

The Young Survival Coalition will host this year’s York Tour de Pink fundraising event from Sept. 28 through Oct. 1. Proceeds will benefit the YSC and raise awareness of issues unique to young women with breast cancer. Last year the four-day fundraising ride from Hershey, Pa., to New York City raised more than $200,000.

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