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

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.

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

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?

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

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

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