Happy Birthday Conan!

I am more than a few days late on the HB, but that's because I struggled to find the words for what I wanted to say.

Conan celebrated his 40th birthday earlier this month.  One of the American Cancer Society's slogans in recent years has been about creating a world with more birthdays.  

Here is one more birthday.  It has been close to six years since Conan's initial surgery.  His chemotherapy pill was first approved about 15 years ago.  My father-in-law's brain tumor was discovered before temodar was available.  The best the doctors had in treatments at the time didn't work and he died less than 6 months after his diagnosis.

Because of the hard work of many scientists and doctors, as well as cancer patients willing to take a chance, and people willing to donate money to promote research Conan is with us today. Lately I have been thinking about the perseverance it takes for there to be people, medicines, and machines to treat them. All the doctors, nurses and technicians that he has seen in the last six years all had to spend time, money and great effort to get to a place where they can help others.  Donors have sent millions of dollars so UIHC can build a place to administer treatments and look for new and better treatments. Researchers have spent decades developing safer ways to deliver radiation to tumors and look for new medicines that will be more effective.

So take a moment to be thankful for the birthdays around you. Take moment to mourn the ones that didn't happen. Take time to thank someone you know has helped you or someone else. And take more time to help someone - be it in time, money, or effort - you never know how much you can do until you try.