November 14, 2006

Hold it right there.....

Whether it is at our recent golf tournament or at last night's poker event, I continue to be overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of friends and strangers.

Thirty two players attended our first 'Texas Hold 'em' event last night at Johnny's Tavern here in Overland Park. I was a little concerned leading up to the start of the event. We didn't request an RSVP. In fact, by yesterday afternoon, I was stressing a bit...picturing myself sitting at a table with the other members of the FLHW Board playing poker. Don't get me wrong, the Board is an exceptional group of people, I was just hoping we would have a great turnout for the event!

Never, ever doubt the willingness and desire of others to help out. Due to last night's event, we will be increasing our donation to the Prostate Cancer foundation by an additional $1,500! This amount will also be matched, dollar for dollar. This brings the total donation, with matched funds to $3,000 for poker, $40,000 for golf and a grand total of $43,000!

In the last week there have been a number of stories in the news regarding innovative treatments being tested with success as well as existing clinical trials that continue to show great promise. Being able to support the Prostate Cancer Foundation and knowing these funds are supporting these very trials encourages us to be strong and have hope that better options are in our future.

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One thing I don’t talk about too often is that the treatment choices regarding PC are not really concrete. In my case, it's pretty straight forward, as there are limited options at this time, but in other cases, particularly those that are caught early, one could go see ten doctors, five would recommend surgery, five radiation. There are just no absolutes. Every case is different. I offer words of advise to those newly diagnosed, regardless of the stage...do your research and get as many opinions as you need to before you are comfortable with your treatment protocal. Because there are not absolutes in PC treatment, follow your intuition. It has not failed us yet!

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Please add RT to your prayer list. He's a friend/co-worker that was recently diagnosed with PC. It was caught early but, but there are still decisions to be made. He is currently contemplating surgery or radiation treatments as mentioned above. Once again, please add him to your prayer list. I've added him to mine!

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