300 to 1 or Don't Be a Cow

September 10, 2007

When I started Texas A&M University in the fall of 1978, the formerly all-male university had grown and changed enough that the ratio of men to women had fallen to 3 to 1. My simple eighteen-year-old thinking concluded that the odds weren't that bad. It meant that my dating share was three guys and probably more, since some female student might have already settled down with their true "one" and released their other two back into circulation and other women might not have had the ambition or skill to attract their three. The more I thought about it, the better the odds got. By this way of thinking, things would just get better and better if the ratio went to 30 to 1 or even 300 to 1.

These days, when I hear 1 in 300, all I can think of is the childhood cancer statistic: one in three hundred children in the U.S. will develop cancer before they reach adulthood. That always reminds me of another grim statistic. I read that each and every day of the year--Sunday through Saturday, Spring, Winter, Summer, Fall--a whole classroom of children will hear the cancer diagnosis. Frankly, I always imagined that meant twenty or so children per day. I was horribly wrong. The truly grim reality is based on a classroom size of 35. (If you are thinking you hope your child gets to be in Erin's class since she already has cancer. . .that's not the way statistics work.)

This month, September, is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month around the country and in Brazos County. If you do nothing else all month, you should do something to spread the word and help the cause. Here are some ideas:

• visit a pediatric cancer patient's website (here is a good place to go: Kids Cancer Crusade), and leave a word of encouragement;
• donate to Alex's Lemonade Stand (supports all pediatric cancer), or better yet, make plans to hold a lemonade stand yourself;
• give up your lunch and send what you would have spent to Lunch for Life to (supports neuroblastoma research). Ask your friends and co-workers to do the same;
• Support these dads (by going to Loneliest Road) who are riding their bikes coast to coast to raise money and awareness for Neuroblastoma treatment and research;
  
• Write your Senators and Representative and ask them to support the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act of 2007 (S. 911 and H.R. 1553) and to help get it out of committee and onto the floor of the chambers this month (this will authorize $150 million for research over the next five years);
• Watch this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGS4yE5v9rM) and brain storm ways you can help;
  
• Stop by the CureSearch website and read about even more things you can do to help in the fight against childhood cancer.

Thank you to all who have already helped in this cause. Every bit you do makes a difference. When I was a child, everyone I knew who had cancer died. We didn't even say the "C" word. Today, because of heightened awareness and a better flow of research dollars, many can be saved. Nevertheless, it will take millions to find a true CURE.

SOME FACTS ABOUT PEDIATRIC CANCER:

Childhood cancer is the number one disease killer in children.

Neuroblastoma is the most common cancer in infancy.

Neuroblastoma is the most common extra cranial solid tumor cancer in
children.

Every 16 hours a child with neuroblastoma dies.

There is no known cure for relapsed neuroblastoma.

Nearly 70% of those children first diagnosed with neuroblastoma have disease that has already metastasized or spread to other parts of the body. When disease has spread at diagnosis and a child is over the age of 2, there is less than a 30% chance of survival.

Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in the US and it
kills more children per year than cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy,
asthma and AIDS combined.

There are 15 children diagnosed with cancer for every one child diagnosed
with pediatric AIDS. Yet, the U.S. invests approximately $595,000 for
research per victim of pediatric AIDS and only $20,000 for each victim of
childhood cancer.

The National Cancer Institute's (NCI) federal budget was $4.6 billion. Of
that, breast cancer received 12%, prostate cancer received 7%, and all 12 major groups of pediatric cancers combined received less than 3%.

The American Cancer spends less than 70 cents of each 100 dollars raised on childhood cancer.

I'll close with an Erin story and a video. On Labor Day, Erin's team played in a tournament in Austin. At halftime of one of the game, their trainer gave them a lecture about their hard headedness. He pointed out that they continued to dribble the ball straight into their opponents, like they were expecting them to move out of the way. He told them they reminded him of cows. He proceeded to dribble the ball straight into a post and then continue to bump his head, his shoulders, his knees, and his feet into the post, while mooing loudly.

Later that night I came across the girls in the hall of the hotel and shot this quick video:




Now it's your turn to decide: are you going to be a cow and continue what you have always done, or are you going to change something, do something, help in some way?