Troubling Numbers
- Each year globally, about 14 million people learn they have cancer, and 8 million die.
- In the United States an estimated 1.7 million new cases of cancer will emerge and nearly 585,000 people will die from the disease in the year 2015.
- 20.1 million people living in this country have been diagnosed with some form of cancer.
- Nearly 958,000 Americans are battling blood cancers today including leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.
I am raising funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) as a participant in their Team In Training program, and I’m asking you to help by making a donation to my fundraising campaign. Click the button below now to donate, or read on first to learn why this is so important to me. Thanks.
My Humble Request of You My Reason. My Story.
We all have a story of cancer. It’s touched every one of our lives without a doubt. Many of my closest family have died due to some form of cancer. My mother-in-law was cut down at the young age of 55 in less than six months time from an aggressive brain tumor. She went from line dancing and laughing one day to brain cancer the next—thrust into a losing battle, marked by surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and suffering. It was absolutely horrible—seeing her suffer, seeing my wife suffer as she watched her mother fight one day after the next until she couldn’t any longer. My father-in-law suffered more slowly over several years from the prostate cancer that eventually took his life. I watched him transform from a jovial, red-cheeked, portly fellow who loved to indulge in the many pleasures of life into an emaciated, ashen man with desperation in his eyes.
More recently, both of my own parents suffered and died within five months of one another from two different forms of cancer—my mother from breast cancer and my father from lung cancer. In both cases, the life was sucked from their bodies—slowly at first and then with increasing and relentless speed until there was nothing left. Well, we were left—with memories, pain, and the heart-breaking burden of trying to explain to my 8-year-old son why he would never see his grandma and grandpa again.
My story is not unique. I know this. My oldest friend recently lost his mother to lymphoma. She fought for years—successfully for a while, moving into remission, before it returned suddenly and claimed her life. I can see my friend’s pain now, as he tries to sort through feelings of confusion, loss, grief, and rage with his young family—with his two young children.
Cancer in all forms sucks. It sucks the life from people and hope from far too many families. Nobody should have to suffer this way, especially when a cure is possible. We should not have to see our loved ones suffer. Our mothers and fathers, our brothers and sisters, our spouses, our children, our dear friends—nobody should suffer at the hands of this terrible disease, and yet it afflicts us all. You know someone who has suffered from this disease, who may now be suffering. 20.1 million people in this country have been diagnosed with some form of cancer. This is unacceptable. What’s worse is that research suggests that one-third of all cancer deaths can be prevented if the necessary services and technologies are made available.
There is hope. While it’s true that money can’t buy everything, it can get us closer to a cure for cancer. That’s why when a friend asked me to join him in running this year’s Chicago Half Marathon to raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) as a participant in their Team In Training program, I said yes. I can do a small part in curing this disease. My goal is to raise $1,500 to help stamp out blood cancers. I am asking you now to please help me meet this fundraising goal, so together we can find a cure to blood cancers and take a step toward ridding the world of all cancers.
Please use the donate button in this e-mail to donate online quickly. You can also learn more about my progress by visiting my fundraising page. You will receive a confirmation of your donation by e-mail, and I will be notified as soon as you make your donation. Each donation helps accelerate finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.
On behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, thank you very much for your support. I greatly appreciate your generosity.
Thank you,
Michael McGuire
P.S. I would appreciate it if you would forward this e-mail to as many people as you can to encourage them to donate as well. Thanks again.
