The Cancer Fight

The Cancer Fight is using Blogger.com to post new and exciting blogs more frequently. We have not been too happy with the limitations of our last blog provider, and we are moving to a more accessible interface. No worries! the blogs you've come to know and expect will still be here! We have only changed our blog provider. The Cancer Fight's Home will always be the same!

Over time, the address of this blog will be incorporated into our site's domain. Since we are only playing with this idea, we are going to wait to do so. Eventually, the URL of this blog will change to something like www.TheCancerFight.org/Blog."

Until this day, please come by our beta blog center to check it out and leave feedback!

Starting on October 1st, The Cancer Fight will be hosting a contest for those on campus at UW-Whitewater. While near Hyland and the UC, check-in on Facebook once a day to "The Cancer Fight" to vote for the "Cancer Charity of the Month". The month of October will be for Livestrong. We will hold a contest for two more charities in the following months. November will be Susan G. Komen Foundation Month, and December is all about The Macc Fund. At the end of the semester, the percentage of the total check-ins for a charity means the percentage of our profits that will go there. Be sure to spread the word!

"What if I do not have a smartphone?" .... Easy! When you attend our bi-weekly meetings every Tuesday at 8pm in Hyland 1307, you can check-in in-person. These check-ins will count as 15 votes (people with smartphones who have already checked-in can do this as well for extra voting)!

In total, your votes can really add up. Either way, each of these selected charities will receive a healthy donation from The Cancer Fight, but it’s up to the students of UW-Whitewater to decide how much!

Official Contest Details Here

The Cancer Fight Organization has been very active these last couple of weeks! With our first meeting last Tuesday, where we had a wonderful turnout, we welcomed everyone to the group and talked over plans for the year. This week was full of awesome happenings. I was interviewed for the Royal Purple (our university's newspaper), and had a photo shoot a few days later.

Wednesday is our Involvement Fair, where organizations all over campus set up a booth to promote their groups' presence. You can very well bet The Cancer Fight will be among those people! We plan to provide brochures from Livestrong, pamphlets regarding our organization, and membership flyers as well. We may have other fun things in store as well! Our main goal is to attract more members on campus, so we can full-heartedly bring the cancer awareness and support we aim for! I will certainly post an update about the fair as it happens tomorrow.

In other news, The Cancer Fight's expansion onto multiple social mediums is really taking off! Most of you know about our Facebook page; but recently I have been revamping the page to include some cool new features. Its new domain name is www.facebook.com/TheCancerFight . And I invite you to go check it out, and if you want, "like" us to hear more up-to-date posts regarding each week's play-by-play's. That's all from me for now. I am writing this while waiting for my chemistry class to start! It is shaping up to be a very busy semester - and likely year - for me. With 18 credits, two jobs, and starting up this organization, I have a lot on my plate to contend with. However, I am very confident in the mission of this organization, and I know that this will be a very good addition to the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater community!

Until next time,

Mark Liederbach

This past Thursday was quite a humbling day. I was invited to the Greendale High School Theatre Department picnic. It was really nice to see a lot of my theatre friends there – many of whom I had not seen since I began the treatment process. At this event, many traditions are celebrated. Senior roles such as The Notebook – a book of traditions, duties, and guides to making the Greendale Theatre as special as it is – are passed on to the next generation of senior leadership. I also had the opportunity to see who won such awards as “Crew Member of the Year”, “Best Dancer”, “Best Singer”, and “Thespian of the Year”.

Perhaps the most amazing part was near the end of the event. Notebook-Holders Sara Weiss and Carly Gaeth spoke to the group. They talked about how the theatre family is a very close group that is always there to support each other. They mentioned that if someone were to need assistance for some kind of tragic circumstance, the theatre is there to lend their support; be it through compassion, a very large “Get Well” card, hugs, and in this case, financial aid. Over the course of this show season, the cast and crew had donated a little extra money out-of-pocket to raise funds in support of my situation. It was an enormously kind gesture for them to do so. Never in my wildest imagination did I expect the amount they had put forth. The Greendale Theatre family raised $700 towards the support of my charity, The Cancer Fight Organization, and in honor of other local and national cancer funds! I was blown away! The generosity of this act was simply astounding.

When I was in high school, theatre was a place that I knew I could let go of my fears, be comfortable around people, and learn life lessons that – and believe me when I say this – are useful for the rest of your life. I always remembered how the GHS Theatre shaped me, gave me the strength and will-power, and taught me how to be a good human being. I met friends that I couldn’t imagine life without. To know that they have done something like this for me only empowers these opinions. I will not forget this gesture, and I can only hope that one day, I can repay the GHS Theatre for their kindness and their unending support. THANK YOU GREENDALE THEATRE!

Mark L

Today, I ventured back out to Whitewater to pick up the keys to my new apartment! I also spent the time taking inventory of the condition of the place. I am officially moving in on Monday. I will be staying out there to work at the dining hall over the summer. I am very excited for the drastic increase in space from the dorm room!

Over the past few days, I have been remodeling the website, little by little. So far, I have updated the Contact tab to include a fancy embedded map, as well as plug-ins for both the Facebook and Twitter accounts related to The Cancer Fight Organization. On a related note, The Cancer Fight is now on Twitter! We are already being followed by Live STRONG. I am looking forward to expanding The Cancer Fight Organization to all corners of social networking. (If you would like to see the Twitter account, see the Contact page).

On a final note, The Two Week Fundraising Dash is doing great! We have raised about $585 to the Organization’s creation! This money will go right to use, as we are already drafting events for next fall. I cannot thank everyone who has supported me and this organization enough for their gracious help!

Mark L

Today and tomorrow are move-out days here at the dorms. It has been one wild academic year, and a lot has come and gone since August. Overall I think that my experiences this year – albeit rather inconvenient – helped me become a better person as a result. When I think about all of the good things that move out of this dorm with me, I think about my better perspective on life and a new meaning of will-power and mental strength. I remember this website, which to this day helps me cope with my situation, and now is providing (to-date) $800 to various cancer charities (including The Cancer Fight, which I will certainly discuss in a moment!). I remember my two very kind professors who were so understanding of my circumstance and helped me stay in school in spring. I also remember all of the amazing people both through this website and all over who have given gracious support to me in what I consider the most difficult period of my life I have had. Words can simply not express my thanks to you!

In early June, I will be moving into what will be my housing for the next academic year, which is an off-campus apartment.  This space will be a lot bigger than the dorm I currently live in, and will provide a nice and quiet place to focus on my schoolwork and this organization from.  I am very excited about this new living arrangment, and cannot wait!  Naturally, because I am moving in over the summer, I will be working all summer.  This is something I am happy to do, because as a result of the treatment this past semester, I was not able to work for most of spring.  So this additional work will be a very good thing for me. 

Okay, now, as previously stated, I would now like to say some words about The Cancer Fight Organization and something amazing going on. On Tuesday, we started a “2-week fundraising dash”, which is intended to rally some money together for the start of the UWW organization. And with a goal of $1000 dollars set for August (and only three days into the event), we have already added another $400 to the amount there now. The total now being $535! The fact that this support happened and the short amount of time it took to do so was absolutely astonishing! This money is going to be such a great investment in what is shaping into a very influential group in the fight against cancer. Already we have been planning some cool things and are really taking shape. Just last night, our official Organization Constitution was drafted and ratified, making our group an established organization (there is actually video of the signing, which I will post on the site very soon). Just as I said in the previous paragraph, the art of human communication does not hold the capacity to thank you enough for your continuing support thus far! 11 days left in our dash!

Mark L

The next two weeks are going to be a very interesting one. This week, my brother Erik came back from Kazakhstan. It’s the first time I have seen him in-person since this whole ordeal began. I am really happy to be able to spend time with him (and also look forward to time with my niece!).

I am slowly but surely starting to see some hairs poking through the top of my head!  To me, this is a true sign that things CAN come back from this disease.  Though I have liked the salute to my "Annie" days, I am ready to feel the soft newborn hairs growing back.  My medicing is currently a very low amount compared to what I have previously been on.  I take four pills per night for my blood clots, which is about 20 short of my previous dosages during this treatment!  I guess the next nice thing that would happen is to maybe feel some spring air finally blow upon my bare head?  I would not mind that, mother nature.

I have been trying to figure out what to follow the last post with. That essay took about three months to write. So theoretically in order to top that piece, I might have a post ready by July (just kidding!). I spent a lot of time thinking about where to take this blog after treatment. I am determined to keep the site running for a lot of reasons – such as I will always have a place to go should (God forbid) this has some sort of reoccurrence; but there are many other reasons. I remember the whole situation as being THE MOST challenging experience of my life. Never before has something taken not only a physical toll on my body, but also a mental strain as well. I think about others who are continuing this agonizing journey, and how the littlest things given to me during this time really helped (if not saved) me. . I have on the site a “Donations” page – which people can give money towards various charities listed there, or be directed to their websites to learn more about them. And as I sit here at the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, where clubs and organizations thrive, an idea occurred. Starting in May, I – along with Nicole, Jordan (my friend/roommate), and John (our neighbor) – am starting The Cancer Fight Organization. Its objective is to run fundraisers, spread the awareness of cancer, and organize events for charity. I’ve put a lot of thought into this program, and I think that this is the next steps I need to take in my life. I do not consider my journey to be complete yet – I may have finished chemo, but there is still a long road to follow. I want to spread what I have learned from first-hand experience with this monster, and also lend a helping hand to those still being beaten by it.

This organization will always be here to support those fighters. This has a lot of potential to truly make a significant difference among the community. It may not be the first cancer charity, but there is certainly no competitive spirit in this venture. This non-profit group will work with other charities and partner with them to raise money and awareness of all types of cancer.

As for the website, I have no intentions of either closing it or stop blogging my personal journey. This idea is more of an add-on concept to the site. There is already the “Donations” page – which to date has raised about $300 to LiveSTRONG, Susan G. Komen, and the MACC Fund – and I know that more support is out there somewhere. From what I have experienced, I feel very strongly that this fight is not one to fight alone, nor is it one that should destroy lives. Cancer patients face a number of different challenges; this includes physical, emotional, and financial oppositions. I can attest to all of these. Our fundraising ideas range from t-shirt sales to community events. Outreach might include things like visits to local high schools to talk about cancer; making homemade food to bring to oncology clinics for chemotherapy patients; and creating informational packets for people to find different types of support and aid in their journey. Between the four of us who are beginning this organization, I think a lot of good can come out of this.

Thank you for bearing with my thoughts and propositions. I am very curious to hear what your feedback is on our idea!

Mark L