The LifeLab update

Hello dear readers. I wanted to let you all know that I am no longer raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and will not be updating this blog in the future. However, I will be continuing to blog on The LifeLab's website and will be raising money for cancer survivorship programs there. Please redirect your browsers for updates.

Thank you so much for your support!

Getting Fancy!

Well, my non-profit, The New York LifeLab has a brand-spanking new, fancy-type online donation system set up now. We are so excited, things are really taking off. The LifeLab is poised to launch in the Fall, and will be the first organization of its type in this country to offer comprehensive support services and programs specifically to young adult cancer survivors. I am really proud. :)

Check out our new donations page: Here.

Thank you for your support!

Congrats Lance! + Bonus survey

Wow. It has been awhile. I have been very busy with my non-profit, The New York LifeLab. But I just had to pop in to acknowledge Lance's great accomplishment. A huge inspiration to all of us who are struggling to regain our fitness. Yay Lance. :)

And on the non-profit front, I would really appreciate it if any of you young adult (20s-30ish) survivors out there in readerville would participate in a short, anonymous online survey. It is to assess young adult survivors' interests in various program offerings - for use in connection with securing program funding.

Here is the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=504481232298. Please feel free to pass it along to others.

Thank you for your continuing support!

Some Words from Steve Jobs

I am preparing to transfer my blogging to a new blog I am setting up at The LifeLab site. It's not up yet, but I will link as soon as I get it finished. This is the one year anniversary(ish) of this blog, and it feels like time to devote all of my efforts to my new project, which shall include my blogging entries.

I wanted to share a quote I found in a speech given by Steve Jobs at the Stanford commencement ceremony last month. Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and given only a few months to live, but his cancer turned out to be operable and now he is fine. After "looking into the abyss" (which is what I call the experience that most cancer survivors have encountered when faced with their mortality prematurely), here is what he had to say:

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be
trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's
thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They
somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is
secondary.

In my experience, this sentiment is shared by many survivors, yet often we become a little bit stuck getting to that place. One of the principal goals of my non-profit is to give survivors guidance hearing their inner voice, following it, and creating that "dream" life. Just in case you were wondering what I've been doing the past year or so. :)

Click here to visit The New York LifeLab.

The LifeLab

As many of you know, I have been working diligently for over a year to get my own non-profit, The New York LifeLab off the ground. Well, the fruits of my labor are starting to pay off. We now have 501(c)(3) status, partnerships with among the best cancer support organizations in the city, and things are really starting to take off!

I believe I posted about this before, but The LifeLab is all about helping young adult survivors (20s and 30s) in the "re-entry" period after treatment. Our objective is to help survivors examine their lives after cancer and give them tools to get on with the job of living without cancer - via counseling, psychosocial support, an internship program, and lots of other really innovative and cool projects (if I don't say so myself. :)

We will be launching fully in the fall. For now, please visit our website - www.nylifelab.org for more info (and if you are interested in making a tax-deductible donation, you can do that there too, which would be wonderful!)

Lots of love,
Jodi

LiveStrong Day

Just returned from an incredible day in DC where I got to participate as a cancer survivor advocate for The LAF. My head is still spinning from the trip, but here is the press release to give you some more information until I'm back to post details. Know that your donations are being put to use to do some really important work!


WEAR YELLOW, LIVE STRONG ON JUNE 8
Lance Armstrong Foundation to Raise Awareness in Washington, D.C.,
Asks Advocates Across U.S. to Wear Yellow to Support People Living with Cancer


AUSTIN, Texas - June 6, 2005 - On Wednesday, June 8, Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) advocates will be in Washington, D.C., to meet with Members of Congress and their staffs, asking for their commitment to eliminating cancer death and suffering by 2015 and to providing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cancer survivorship programs with critical resources to help people with cancer live strong.

LAF volunteers and staff will encourage their Members of Congress to sign the 2015 Letter in support of the Bush Administration's goal of eliminating cancer death and suffering by the year 2015, which was established by the National Cancer Institute.

In addition, LAF advocates will encourage legislators to support the CDC's Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, which aims to reduce cancer incidence, morbidity and mortality through prevention, early detection, treatment, rehabilitation and palliation, as well as the National Cancer Survivorship Resource Center, which helps people with cancer address the physical, emotional and practical challenges of their survivorship experience.

The LAF is asking all Americans to wear yellow on June 8 to show support for the advocates on Capitol Hill and all people living with cancer. For Lance, yellow is the color of hope, courage, inspiration and perseverance - as well as the color of the leader's jersey in the Tour de France. On June 8, LAF staff, board members, supporters, cancer survivors and advocates across the country will wear yellow to raise awareness for the 10 million Americans living with cancer today.

Supporters can wear a yellow item of clothing or purchase a $1 yellow LIVESTRONG wristband. As a tribute to Lance Armstrong's inspirational fight against cancer and his historic attempt at a sixth Tour de France win last year, the LAF and Nike launched the Wear Yellow Live Strong campaign in 2004. To date, more than 48 million wristbands have been sold. All proceeds support the LAF's advocacy, education, public health and research programs.


2005 LAF Fundraising goal: $30,000
Raised to date: $1,455

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THE LANCE ARMSTRONG FOUNDATION

Get Well Soon Kylie!

Yes, I'm still here....just really, really busy and tired. You all are so lucky that I'm a Gawker addict. It has just been reported by BBC News that Kylie Minogue has been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. Wishing Kylie a quick recovery...

That Feeling

I had forgotten "that feeling" until I had it today and remembered I had the same feeling at the same instant last year. The first warm day of the year and it all comes flooding back: the smell, the stickiness, the energy in the air...all project me back to summer 2003 and being on treatment. I almost got sick when I walked outside today and it didn't occur to me why...until I remembered "that feeling." And then of course it made perfect sense.