Help us vote for Zach! A story of courage......

Hello loyal readers!

This is another post for my friend Leah!

If you could, read the following and then go vote for Zach! Hope he wins this!! Good luck Zach!

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Hey Everyone!!! It's me Leah and I really need your help...

This is personal...it's a chance to help my friend, Zach DeRidder of Lyons NY win a dream. Zach has liver cancer at only 23 years old...and has lost sooo much to the disease including his memory, his health and his livelihood---BUT not his spirit.

His video is A FINALIST in the LANCE ARMSTRONG video contest!!! Zach has outlived all doctor's predictions and this is his shot at something very special, perhaps even meeting his hero.

Zach is up against 9 other finalists, but one of the entry finalists who is way ahead of him right now (even though I feel this guy's story is not nearly as compelling). This is because this man happens to be a high powered exec with a network of contacts. But I believe in the underdog---and I believe that strangers who care can help the underdog win...but you have to keep passing this on. It's simple to vote and I promise you will love watching Zach's amazing video.

Though you may not know Zach trust me... winning this would mean more to Zach than anyone else in this contest.

Please help my cancer triathlete friend win a bike signed by Lance Armstrong! Watch his story and see why...then YOU can vote as much as once a day (every day until September 21st)Mhallstr4 is the registration name of the entry for Zach.

1. Email this message to everyone you know.
2. Vote for Zach's video (mhallstr4) on this website once a day through Sunday, Sept 21: http://www.livestrong.com/contest/youtube-share-your-story/

Cancer vs. Ashlee Simpson

I have to vent here, so bear with me.

First, I want everyone to take a look in the mirror.

You see that person? That's you! And I'm talking to you in this instance.

How many times have you gotten those silly chain emails at work and you send it off to your whole address book, knowing that half of them will hate that you forwarded it to them and the other half will antagonize their address books the same way you have done.

I am really sad at the way society has become lately. We're so focused on celebrities and their lives, and don't get me started on reality TV...Really that's reality??

The point is that we spend so much of our time focusing on frivolous things and we forget, at times, to stop and read something that may change someone's life.

But I digress!

I bring this up because a friend of mine that I consider a great inspiration (and I mean that!) wrote a piece that has had my brain going the past several days.

I emailed her and asked her permission to repost this to my blog. I'm also going to post a link to this on my Facebook. But in case you can't go to the link for it here:  http://www.new.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=41458840589 I'll go ahead and post it in it's entirety.

Leah, this was a great write!

Enjoy:

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Why you sign SeventyK... and leave Ashlee alone

 

I happened to catch a television segment just this morning that caught me off guard. It was a side-note on, of all people Ashlee Simpson....

The television announcer mentioned an online petition that began on the Internet to help remove Ashlee Simpson from the face of the pop music scene altogether. This peaked my curiosity and I found that such a petition not only existed, but has 418,000 signatures...a few hairs shy of half a million people.
SO TELL ME THIS...why are so many people eager to sign a meaningless petition to wipe out the scourge of saccharine punk pop??
If you're going to put your electronic John Hancock to something, slap it on something that truly has meaning.
I write this not in Ashlee's defense...let her fade out on her own. I don't care.
I write this because there is a petition YOU SHOULD BE SIGNING NOW.

Several months ago an amazing petition went up on the Internet called SEVENTY K. This document was constructed to speak up for the estimated 70,000 adolescents and young adults diagnosed with cancer in this country every year.

Just FYI...if you are diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 15-39 you fall into a statistical crevice.

• You don't benefit from the millions of dollars of research
• You may not receive the supports that other demographics receive
• and you fall into an age group whose survival rate has stagnated for thirty years!
  We are talking about a generation of cancer survivors that has been ignored until very recently. Why is your name not on there...showing solidarity?
  Sure, for the apathetic, cancer may not be your problem...but it's all of our problems if quality care and adequate supports are missing for an under-served group of Americans.
  If you're going to sign your name to something that has any semblance of meaning...this one should be your first stop.

Sign SeventyK
Tell your friends to sign SeventyK...
Sign SEVENTY K

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I wanted everyone to read this because I myself fall in to the category of people that need to look in the mirror at times.

The only reason that I signed that SeventyK is because it directly affected me and those around me.

But I have to honestly say that in most instances, if I had that email sent to me, I'd have probably put it to the recycle bin.

When you are affected by it your jump at every chance you can to make sure that others don't go thru the same thing you may have gone through. What we all have to realize is that this isn't our grandparents disease any more. It's ours now, we have to beat the odds and improve our quality of life. The only way to do that is to help sponsor ideas such as SeventyK.

I was even more inspired this evening to write this when I checked my email after work. It was an email from American Express announcing the Top 25 for their Members Project. Now, don't get me wrong, all 25 are very worthy of their bid to be in the Top 25, but as I look at that list, I see nothing at all in regards to cancer research or cancer advocacy.

So I guess, in the end, I just want to spread the word any way we can.

Send friends the link to my page, or to Leah's page directly (listed above). But let's stop spending our time focusing on celebrities and things that have no purpose at times, and take 2 minutes (or 5 for slow typer's) to sign SeventK! Heck, send them directly to SeventyK and skip my rant! Either way, share our passion with others! This is about quality of life! That, my friends, is very important, just ask our friends and family.

Stand Up 2 Cancer, tonight 8PM EST!

Tonight will be the telethon for raising money for cancer research, put on by Hollywood. The goal is to raise approximately $100 million dollars in an attempt to provide funding to cancer foundations.

We have a vested interest in this for 'I'm Too Young For This!' as we would like to get in on the funding for our organization.

I encourage all of you, friends and family, to tune in tonight, and if you can, make a small donation to this cause. You all know how much this means to me, and I think we are really going to make a difference with i[2]y!

Also, watch for the 'Stupid Cancer' t-shirst through out the crowd! Matthew Zachary (our founder) will be there with 3 guests and I am sure he'll be floating shirts around to whomever will wear one! I wonder if he'll get someone on stage to wear one? Hmmmmm!