As you may already know, FabGrandpa had squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue, an oral cancer, back in 2001. In January of 2011, he will be a 10 Year Survivor! Because I am so thankful that he made it through the treatment and has been cancer free for 10 years, I am going to be holding an auction to raise money for The Oral Cancer Foundation.
FabGrandpa has been after me for quite some time to chuck some of the weight we I have accumulated in our RV by getting rid of stuff. I can’t think of a better way to do it than this—he gets happy because I am sending things out the door, I get to raise money for a cause I believe in, and ALL of Y’ALL win because you are now more aware of oral cancers and how to get screened for them. Here are some facts about Oral Cancer:
1. Mouth cancer will be newly diagnosed in about 100 new individuals each day in the US alone
2. A person dies from oral cancer every hour of every day
3. When found at early stages of development, oral cancers have an 80 to 90 % survival rate
4. Of those 36,000 newly diagnosed individuals, only slightly more than half will be alive in 5 years
Oral Cancers are serious business! FabGrandpa and I have been very lucky—his cancer was found quite early because it was on the front part of his tongue and was very visible. He went to the dentist one day for some routine dental work, and was told to go to an oral surgeon immediately for a biopsy. My friend Donna’s husband, Michael H. Yeaw, wasn’t as lucky though.
Donna writes:
“My husband Michael was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma the winter of 2001. He noticed an innocuous swollen lymph node in his neck. No pain, just the swelling. In many cases this is the first sign of head neck cancer and unfortunately the cancer is usually well advanced by then. After it didn’t decrease in size, his surgeon opted to remove it. Cancer of the tonsils…and so our three year journey began.
Surgery followed by radiation gave us two years of remission before it recurred again. Most recurrences of head neck cancer occur in the first two years. The odds were against us. The diagnosis was inoperable, terminal.
Mike continued to live life to the fullest, even taking his only long distance motorcycle trip. http://www.ridemyown.com/articles/personal/froggy_notsogreattrip.shtml
He fought a good fight all the way, always maintaining a positive attitude and reminding me that life is for the living. That is what I continue to do in his honor.
You can read our whole story and see photos of the radiation, feeding tube and prosthetic device he had to use at http://www.myprimeyears.com/hnc/ourjourney1.shtml”
And here is the information about the auction:
1. I’ll be listing an item a week for 10 weeks for my 10 Auctions For 10 Years Of Survival fundraiser for The Oral Cancer Foundation. Each item will be posted here on my blog with a post title of “10 For 10” and the name of the item along with pictures and a description of the item up for bids. Please note, most of these items are gently used, with the exception of the RVQ bbq grill that has never been out of the box, and the backpack that I made.
2. You can bid on the item featured that week by leaving a comment with a dollar amount you are willing to pay for the item.
3. Each item auction will be open for one week. At the end of the week, the highest bidder will be the winner of the item.
4. The winner will pay shipping from Alabama zip code 36744. The auction will be open to international bidders because whoever the winner is will be responsible for the shipping charges to them from me.
5. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to The Oral Cancer Foundation in January, 2011 to commemorate FabGrandpa’s, James M. Eidson, 10 years of survival, and in honor of Michael H. Yeaw.
6. I will accept payment via Paypal, or by money order or personal check. Checks must clear the bank before I ship the item.
7. To see what will be up for auction, click here.
If you’d like to help me out by publicizing my auction, you can tweet it, post about it on your blog, or post it on Facebook. There won’t be any prize for doing that, but it WILL share the awareness of Oral Cancer and could just save someone’s life!
For more information on Oral Cancer:
Association of Cancer Online Resources
Love Is A Journey—Couples Facing Cancer
National Cancer Institute
American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
Ask for an oral cancer screening
A Video of an Oral Cancer Screening
If you’ve read this far, and would like to receive a button or a sticker to promote Oral Cancer Awareness, I have 20 buttons and 30 stickers, and I will send them out to the first 50 people who ask for them. Just email me at fabgrandma @ gmail.com to get yours.
Want to make a donation? Any amount will be accepted though the paypal button here:
Cancer is a horrible thing. I’m so glad he is doing great and is a survivor. My mom is a breast cancer survivor of 4 years, but now dealing with thyroid cancer. We sure need a cure for this soon. I wish I could help and donate but we are having so many medical issues in our family right now, but I will tweet and share this on facebook for you. Thanks for bringing awareness!
Great piece Karen and a very good cause. Cause I like Jim and am sure glad he’s here to celebrate 10 years.
My links are out there.
Congrats on 10 years! That is really wonderful! So is the auction you are holding, I hope it’s a success.
Wow, that is really encouraging, and such a great cause. I worry about this actually because my husband uses tobacco… he’s going to quit soon but it’s already been quite awhile. I love that you’re doing this!