Terminally Ill Friend Needs Help

[tirebob]

Hey all,

On January 2nd a friend of many of us in the tire industry locally (worked at one of our Calgary suppliers) was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Dan is a young guy (early 30's) and his wife is 8 months pregnant with their first child. The were able to get in and remove most of the tumor but will always grow back. The life expectancy for people with this type of cancer is 11 years if they can keep treatment up.

Other than the obvious trauma this causes, a major issue is that neither Dan nor his wife can work while all of this initial recovery is going on as his wife is ready to drop a baby soon, and Dan may never be 100% from the side effects of the brain surgery so his working life is not happening for a while.

Last week 32 of us got together and had a fund raising poker game and auction and managed to raise just over 5k for him and his future family, and there has also been a go fund me account set up for his young families future. I understand that money is tight these days, but if any of you can see it in your heart to spare a few bucks for this young family who's lives are now changed forever by cancer, it would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks for taking the time to read this...

http://metronews.ca/news/calgary/127...ruly-know-him/

http://www.gofundme.com/k7v8mc

[tirebob]

For some reason the Gofundme account seems to be having trouble accepting donations right now. Trying to figure it out...

[tirebob]

Donations are working again... Thanks for the generous donations so far!

[googe]

[vengie]

Donated, I can't imagine what they must be going through.

[01RedDX]

.

[OU812]

Originally posted by 01RedDX
There are promising new cures being developed with viruses modified to attack and destroy brain tumours.
One study using the measles virus has shown a 100% success rate with patients going into complete remission.
He just needs to hang in there.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innova...951545/?no-ist

http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-pr...y-glioblastoma

Will donate ASAP.

APologies for slightly off topic but why do these stories never seem to continue on? You see great potential and then there is never any follow through??

[Pacman]

Originally posted by OU812


APologies for slightly off topic but why do these stories never seem to continue on? You see great potential and then there is never any follow through??

It costs a lot of money to R&D, study, get approval and bring to market. Many times, along the way, they find they don't work as well as intended, there are side effects or interactions with other drugs which make them less desirable.

I spent many years selling biotech oncology drugs. I saw quite a few promising drugs in the pipeline get shelved for the above reasons. Some were in final phases of clinical trials which is discouraging.

On the positive side, the FDA and Health Canada are allowing drug companies with oncology drugs to gain "Fast Track" approval on some of these complex oncology drugs. That way, they are not bogged down in a 5 year approval process and don't have to jump through as many hoops. If they can show efficacy in a small number of human patients, they may get approval must faster than other classes of drugs. Then, any patient that gets the drug is monitored and data is collected.......almost like a clinical trial.

Sorry to read the bad news about your friend Bob. It sucks.

[Type_S1]

Very sorry to hear. If there's another poker game I'll be 100% in to join...throw the info up on beyond. 50% of pot goes to winners and 50% to the charity. I've hosted a few charity tournaments like this in the past and it's always successful. You should call around to a few restaurants that could host it and they may even be willing to split the liqour sale profits for the cause as well.

[tirebob]

Originally posted by Type_S1
Very sorry to hear. If there's another poker game I'll be 100% in to join...throw the info up on beyond. 50% of pot goes to winners and 50% to the charity. I've hosted a few charity tournaments like this in the past and it's always successful. You should call around to a few restaurants that could host it and they may even be willing to split the liqour sale profits for the cause as well.

This is what the plan was exactly. Everyone bought in for $100 and half was to go to Dan and half to the prize pool. I am fortunate enough to have developed a crap ton of travel points so at the game I asked everyone if they would be willing to give the entire prize pool to Dan rather than half, and I would put up a trip to Vegas for two (or anywhere worth up to $1200.00). Every single person was cool with it so we did a shoot out style, winner take all tourney. What was really cool is the winner was an 18 year old son of one of the guys Dan worked with, and rather than keep it for himself, he donated the trip to Dan also, so hopefully him and his wife and upcoming baby can use that if/when things get back to a bit of normalcy and get away for a weekend to relax and enjoy each away from all this crap...

I just want to say personally, I love Beyond! I know we all get under each others skin now and again as is expected on a car forum full of some pretty stubborn opinions and life experiences, but whenever something comes up that requires a bit of help to our fellow man, I have never experienced an online group so generous and kind in all my life!

Thanks all!!!