A Return to Blogging

This is not the way I would have chosen to return to blogging.

I love, as I say, “exaggerating for the sake of a better story”, and blogging gave me a podium for this ego-trip of mine. And then, I went Blogger MIA. I had too many ideas and no inspiration. But now my daughter needs me.  Julie is her own worst PR guy. 

The photo accompanying this post inspired me to get back on the stick. It is of my daughter Julie and her family, husband Anoop and daughter Emma, on a recent but rare night out of the house. They look pretty good, don’t they, albeit a little tired-looking? If you look closely, though, you can see the scar on Julie’s neck (from a recent surgery) and the sadness in Emma’s eyes.

Julie is battling cancer, with which she was re-diagnosed in October. (Her first bout was 8 years ago when she was 29 and Emma was two.) I want to digress here just briefly to say, do NOT make decisions about your care in a moment of panic! Without getting into a whole long diatribe about Julie’s experience over the past eight years, I will tell you to take a breath, take a moment, and get a third opinion. And Google the list of non-PC questions to ask your healthcare providers. This is no time to be worried about offending someone!

Anyway, back to Julie’s bad PR skills.

My daughter is a research “Nazi” and has put, literally, thousands of hours of research into cancer over the past eight years, staying prepared for the possible return of her cancer. Her treatment choices include options that are, let’s say, not ready for primetime in this country. (Although, we are now following behind other countries – including Canada – in pursuing these treatments and the Resident Doctor on Julie’s case said that this is “the key to the future treatment of cancer”.) We have FDA protocol to follow and sitting royalty (chemo) to de-thrown first, but Julie has no time for that.

So she started blogging about her story on different Funding sites. She writes about her latest research, her health updates, a bit about her family, and she asks for “your support” to raise enough funds for this new cancer treatment. Unfortunately – I think because she thinks she has to have advertising appeal, she is terrible conveying the weight of her need. She puts up her most appealing photos so people won’t cringe and turn away and she talks about the things she still does with her husband and her daughter. Which to some may be frivolous, but are her attempts to maintain a semblance of normalcy and to have as much joy as they still can have.

My daughter’s best option is a treatment called immunotherapy. It is not yet being offered as part of “the standard of care” for cancer in the U.S., but it will be. (It is finally being developed in research hospitals here, including Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. So despite the smiling photos, Julie needs this last ditch effort toward raising money to go where she can get this treatment.

Look again at this photo.

I won’t post the price tag here of our hoped-for treatment, but I am happy to answer any individual emails about this – it is much greater than Julie has posted on her site: marketingsusan.com@gmail.com. Please visit her site: https://www.gofundme.com/JulieLoveless I want to keep Julie in the Mommy Business for as long as possible. I, her mom, thank you.

(Sidebar. Julie recently posted an entry on Facebook, which I was told about but did not see – and have made the choice not to look at it, that offended many people. I would ask your understanding and compassion regarding this. She is dealing with cancer, tumors in her brain, profound fear, and many, many medications in her body. I don’t know how I would be dealing with this, but many people have decided they know how she should be able.)