Hi, Everybody!
This year I will be competing in the Dublin (Ireland) Marathon to raise money for cancer research. Seven years ago, I lost my fiance to a rare form of Lymphoma, which is why I participate in this insanity.
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is one of the few Not-For-Profits that will accept dontions from the adult entertainment industry, and so I urge you to donate generously.
If everyone on this board donated just $25, I would reach my goal in no time. Please read my fund-raising letter for this year and then dontate on-line at http://www.active.com/donate/tntil/InRicksMemory.
If you or somebody you loved was diagnosed with cancer, who would you turn to for help?
Why, your doctor of course! Doctors go to medical school for years and study their specialties for many more years, in order to know how best to treat us when we get sick. We trust our doctors, nurses, and other health care providers to help us when we are sick. It’s what they do, right?
What if your doctor didn’t know what to do to help you?
What if nobody knew what to do?
I’ll tell you what I did. I threw myself on the floor of my apartment and kicked and screamed and, at 28 years old, threw the worst tantrum I ever threw in my life.
You see, my fiancé Rick (You may have known him as Derek Scholl) had been recently diagnosed with a rare blood cancer, Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Days of research in the library, on line, and on the phone finally culminated in one simple statement. A kind but anonymous voice at Cancer Treatment Center confirmed what I had begun to suspect. It said,
“The trouble is, dear, nobody really knows enough about your fiancé’s disease. Nobody knows how to treat it.”
Nobody knew what to do, and I didn’t either. So I bawled. What would you have done?
That was in the summer of 1997. Mantle Cell Lymphoma had only recently been recognized as a disease in its own right, instead of a sub-species of some other Lymphoma. Now, almost a decade later, very little progress has been made. The 3300 MCL patients diagnosed each year are still being encouraged to try experimental and aggressive therapies as a first option.
Please help me keep a deathbed promise. This is very, very important.
On August 18, 1999, I made Rick a promise. “I swear to you, someday I will find a way to keep other families from going through this,” I told him. That night, the cancer won the battle.
Now I have found a way to keep my promise. I need your help. This October 30, I will walk 26.2 miles in the Dublin (Ireland) Marathon as part of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program. Besides participating in the marathon, I have also committed to raising $4500 to help fight lymphoma and other blood cancers. The funds I raise will be used to help find a cure and to improve the quality of life for patients and those who love them. Beyond raising funds, I am committed to training, walking and running hundreds of miles before I get to Ireland. This will be a big ordeal for me, but it is nothing compared to what cancer patients and their families go through every day
We can find a cure in this lifetime.
“The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.”
This is a straightforward mission statement, but we all know scientific research costs money. Please help me help the LLS. With proper funding, we can find a cure in this lifetime.
Rick once told me, “Any day I don’t learn something, I consider a wasted day.”
Please, let’s not waste any more days. Approximately every five minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer. Thus this year, approximately 114,530 new cases are expected.
What if you, personally, could help cure blood cancer?
Your contribution of $25, $50, $100, or whatever you can afford to give, will help researchers continue with their life-saving work. Your donation will help fund the research that can cure blood cancers in this lifetime. Your generous gift will help comfort patients and their families.
Join me in this fight; be part of my team. Return your check, payable to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, by June 21. This is so important, please don’t delay. I have provided you with a stamped, return envelope, so this will be very easy.
Thank you for your time and thank you in advance for your generous contribution. Together, we can find a cure.



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