Saturday, September 1, 2007

I need to step away for a while

There has been much upheaval in my personal life in the past several weeks, and I'm finding I am unable to concentrate on anything but trying to put it back right side up. Thank you all for all of your tremendous support. I hope to see you soon. Keep up the fight.
Mike

Friday, August 17, 2007

For my Grandfather

My Grandfather Walter Buck lost his long battle with cancer early Thursday morning. He was a kind and generous man who we will all miss very much.

Mike

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Here's a simple idea!

One of my students, who I didn't think cared at all about this project, just emailed me with an idea. He said he's been trying to remember to log in to the Face the Sun site to help with the hits and see what's new, but sometimes forgets. So to solve that, he set the Face the Sun website as his homepage on his computor. Now whenever he starts up the computor, the website gets hit even when he's actually logging in to chat with friends or do something else... clever lad that Gavin! Every little bit counts.

Friday, August 10, 2007

New Friends, Part 5 -- I'm too young for this

Cancer survivor Matt Zachery launched an innovative website -- recently named on of Time Magazine's top 50 websites for 2007 -- called I'm too young for this. Hip, in your face and unapologetic Zachery's philosphy is get busy living. I couldn't agree more.

"Here's the deal—There are tons of awesome support services out there with programs just for adolescents and young adults and we're going to tell you about them because no one else does—not your doctor, your hospital...not even the mighty Internet. Why? We don't know. Frankly, we don't care. (It's not their fault, we suppose. Besides, who has the time to search? You've got cancer!)

We don't want you missing out on incredible opportunities like weekend spa retreats, online forums and blogs, social networks, camping excursions, fertility education, peer counseling, college scholarships, financial aid, happy hours and more! (Basically, all the things you never knew you always wanted—oh, and they're free!) What's more, many of the organizations who provide these services were founded by young adult survivors like you so they know what they're doing and can totally relate to what you're going through! So stop searching and start connecting with thousands of others just like you.

Now when you scream, "I'M TOO YOUNG FOR THIS!", at least you'll know you're not alone. (There's over a million of us in the US right now!) So welcome to your life + cancer; where remission is not a cure and survivorship is all the rage. Now get busy living!"

http://www.imtooyoungforthis.org

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Quarter million hits... and still climbing!

I wanted to let you know that we've surpassed 250,000 hits on our little website.... wow... what else can I say?

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Cool Face the Sun movie "stuff"

I've decided to take some of the advice being offered by many of you -- and why wouldn't I, you've been bang on so far -- and I've set up a CafePress Face the Sun store to allow people to show their support in another way. Take a look at all the cool stuff that's available on the site. I've started the store with the sunflower logo that I've been using to this point, but if there are some logos or designs that you think would be good, let me know. I'd be glad to consider them. The CafePress store can be found at http://www.cafepress.com/facethesunmovie Thanks so much for your continued support.
Mike

Friday, August 3, 2007

New Friends, Part 4 -- National Breast Cancer Foundation

I'm amazed how cancer organizations all over the world are showing their support for "Face the Sun." The most recent is the Texas based, National Breast Cancer Foundation.

The National Breast Cancer Foundation mission is to save lives by increasing awareness of breast cancer through education and by providing mammograms for those in need. Since its inception, NBCF has played a vital role in helping tens of thousands of women through educational programs and free mammograms. Because of the generous donations of both individuals and corporations, we have developed strong partnerships with medical facilities, associations and corporations across the country. We are grateful for their continued efforts in reaching out to save lives every day.

Visit their website today: http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Emails

I get so many great emails from around the world that I thought it would be good to share some of them with you. I'll post them as comments to this blog... I'm sure there's a better way to do it, but I don't know what it is... lol. Enjoy.
Mike

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Help -- we need personal breast cancer stories

You all know that one of the key storylines in Face the Sun revolves around Kathy being misdiagnosed because she's. "too young to get breast cancer."

Equally important to me is that it is the first feature film to look closely at breast cancer and its impact on families. Cancer doesn't strike in isolation. Everyone around the patient is impacted as well. And we want this story to highlight that.

Here'es where you come in. We want to know if the story we're telling is unique, or if the experience of Kathy Anderson mirrors that of other women around the world. We need you to tell us your stories. Please include things like; how old were you when you were first diagnosed? Did you discover it yourself? How did your doctor/the medical profession respond? How did your family and friends deal with the diagnosis? What types of treatments did you persue?

Please also add anything else that you think might be helpful in making sure this story is told the way it needs to be told -- with as much dignity and courage as the families who confront the illness everyday demonstrate. We owe them that.

Mike

Monday, July 30, 2007

New Friends, Part 3 -- CancerCreatives

One of the most energetuic people I've met on this journey has been Matt LeVeque of Haverton, PA. Matt's innovative website, CancerCreatives, was the very first US based website to offer support for Face the Sun, and for that I will always be grateful.

About Cancer Creatives & Matt LeVeque: Matt is himself a cancer survivor - Thyroid Cancer 1998 - and over the past 8 years he has been increasingly more involved with the cancer community by fundraising, volunteering his time and, most recently, lobbying on Capitol Hill for cancer survivorship rights, funding and action with the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Along the way he has come across various ways different groups raise funds and awareness in the fight against cancer. The most common are the walks, runs and bike rides. "Everyone has got 'em and everyone has participated- yours included. And not that there is anything wrong with the traditional events, but maybe if we are collectively more creative in raising cancer awareness, fundraising, etc. we might begin to find new and creative ways to be rid of this disease once and for all."

The Cancer Creatives Foundation was created to recognize unique, interesting and off-beat projects that educate and raise awareness towards the fight against cancer. If you have a cancer related project that raises awareness, funds or just because, send it for review and possible inclusion on this site.

http://www.cancercreatives.com

Sunday, July 29, 2007

New Friends: Part 2 -- Hope 4 Hooters

One of the great fundraising events that goes on is the life changing Weekend to End Breast Cancer. A number of the teams walking in this years event in Vancouver, have really gone out of their way to support the Face the Sun project. Hope 4 Hooters is well on their way to raising their target of $10,000 dollars. Here's their myspace self-description:

Well, we are Team "Hope 4 Hooters" if you haven't guessed. We are all registered with the endcancer.ca "weekend to end breast cancer" organization and are going to be participating in an amazing 2-day, 60 kilometre walk through the neighborhoods of Vancouver on august 17-19 2007. In order to do this, we must reach individual and team goals in terms of fundraising. All donations and proceeds of fundraisers go DIRECTLY to the BC Cancer Foundation and are used to help cover the costs of Breast Cancer research, education, services, and patient care. Our team consists of four members, two of which have already done the walk last year with amazing results and memories to last forever. It was an emotional and truly moving experience they say and are extremely proud to have gone through it together. These two members are the team's captain Alison, and Danielle. The two new recruits are Emilee and Tori. Together, we hope to raise $10,000 as a team for this very worthy cause. We would all appreciate your support in our journey.

Go to their web page and take a look at what they've put together. http//www.endcancer.ca/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=1203&team_id=25028 Well done ladies!

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Some amazing new friends!

I can't believe how many fabulous people are contacting us to show their support, not just for Face the Sun, but for the many thousands and thousands of voluteers and fundraisers who are out there every day working towards a cure. Over the next few days I'll be posting some of their stories and websites so you can seewhat I'm seeing; the world is full of great people, trying to cope and doing their part.

The first person I want you to meet is Judi Grove. She's from Tulsa, Oklahoma and is the co-founder of Breast Impressions, faced a breast cancer scare and learned about Keep A Breast Foundation on the Internet. She wanted to make a cast of her own breasts in case her diagnosis indicated a mastectomy was necessary. She needed the materials to do this, and contacted Nancy Coryell, owner of Anticipation Ultrasound Studio in Tulsa, OK. Judi and Nancy met, shared stories and the philosophy of the Keep A Breast Foundation. They knew there was a need to raise breast cancer awareness in Oklahoma. Together they started Breast Impressions .. Breast Impressions Casting! Go to www.breastimpressions.com and take a look at their outstanding work. Leave a note, tell them I sent you!

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Let me know you were here.

Don't be shy! Leave a comment here so that I know you were here, and so others know what you think of the project. Make sure you include where you're from. People have no idea how far and wide this has gone. I know because I get all of your great emails, but it's time to connect with with each other.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Breast Cancer study needs US volunteers

Is breast cancer caused by something women come in contact with at work, at home, in their communities or in the personal products they use? That’s what the Sister Study is trying to answer. The Sister Study needs 50,000 US based women whose sisters had breast cancer, to enroll now, to help discover the environmental and genetic causes of breast cancer. Conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Sister Study is committed to enrolling a diverse population of women to ensure the results represent and benefit all women. For more information visit www.sisterstudy.org or www.estudiodehermanas.org. Call toll-free 1-877-4SISTER. Deaf/Hard of Hearing call 1-866-TTY-4SIS.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Wow!

Thanks so much for your early work in getting the word out about the film. In the last three days you've helped generate some 12,000 more hits on the website, boosting the total hits to over 235,000!!! well done. We've got lots of time to keep pushing that total higher and higher. Remember, the higher the hits total, the clearer it will be to investors and distributors that they need to be involved with this film.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Weekend to End Breast Cancer

If you haven't signed up to experience this amazing weekend, you should. My wife has done it twice and she says it's nothing short of life changing. I want to know, who's walking this year? Who walked before? Post some of your most treasured memories of the walk. Help build the community by sharing moments that can inspire others to take up the challenge. Remember, every great journey begins with a single step, for some, your post may be it!

Get the word out!

One of the keys to the success of Face the Sun will be to use our internet and email links to spread the word about the film website, www.facethesunmovie.com. Any work that people can do in that regard would be greatly appreciated. The more hits we get on the website the clearer it is to investors that they need to be involved in supporting this project. Let me know what you think you can do to help spread the word.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Onward and upward!!!

After a couple of very frustrating months of starts and stops, we are back on the right track... and no that isn't a train coming towards us. Working closely with the great folks at Bay Film Studios in Maple Bay on Vancouver Island, we are moving ever closer to being able to start work on what will be a wonderful adventure. Many thanks to the thousands of you who have continued to email your support for Face the Sun. Some days it felt like it would have been easier to quit than go on, but your letters, cards and emails kept us going forward. Stay tuned for more news, and thank you all very much.
Mike