I attended the inaugural MASH Party put on by Arizona Assistance in Health Care Saturday evening. Everyone dressed up as their favorite MASH character from the TV show or just in some military attire. I was the USO girl! What a fun time for a great cause. AAHC is a non-profit that provides financial grants to cancer pateints across the Valley to help with non-medical expenses like their mortgage, childcare while going through cancer treatment, etc… Cancer treatment is not inexpensive and the bills can easily pile up…that’s where AAHC steps in. They have given thousands of dollars to patients across the valley and with the money raised from this event, they’ll be able to help so many more people who need it. One recipient of the grant was for a single mom who two-year old son who has kidney cancer recently had to have a 2 1/2 pound tumor removed and he’s still going through treatment. The Mom explained how much AAHC helped her and her son and I don’t think there was a dry eye at the party. I spent a lot of time with wonderful people from the Mayor of Goodyear, to the General at Luke Air Force Base and his wife, to all the wonderful people from AAHC and Cancer Treatment Centers of America. A wonderful night!

You can learn more about AAHC at www.azassistanceinhealthcare.com

Another inspirational day yesterday! Spoke at the beginning of the Undy 5000 race about the importance of early detection and screening for colon cancer. The Undy 5000 is put on by the Colon Cancer Alliance and it’s purpose is to have folks race in their ‘underwear’ to raise awareness of what’s beneath the shorts (i.e. colon cancer). I thought this was pretty cleaver and reaches the younger people too. The Phoenix Colon Cancer Alliance puts on the largest Undy 5000 in the nation…hats off to the organizers. Colon cancer is actually more common and deadly then breast cancer, but people don’t talk about it…need to get the word out, especially because when it’s caught early, the chances of survival are extremely high. One of CTCA’s patients who was instrumental in making this race a reality was in Hospice with Stage IV colon cancer, then came to CTCA for treatment and is now in remission…amazing person and amazing story. These are the type of people I was able to spend time with yesterday. I also ran into the Queen of Hope pageant girls and it was great to finally meet Miss Arizona 2010 and spend some time with her too. Although I run often, I’ve never done a 5K so this was my first 5K…ran in my banner…that was a little challenging ; ) My husband ran too and it was nice to share this experience with him. Wonderful day!

I was able to spend time with an amazing group of empowered, strong women from Tucson Oct. 22. The group is part of a non-profit called Beat Cancer Boot Camp based out of Tucson. They took an AWOL trip (military term for ‘absent without leave’…for those non-military folks reading this) to where I work at Cancer Treatment Centers of America and then my amazing husband hosted them at Luke Air Force Base. These women participate in boot camp classes a couple times a week for free, led by Anita “Sarge” Kellman. They are all either cancer patients, survivors or friends/family of someone who is. It’s all about being strong physically and mentally when fighting this disease and “Sarge” uses Navy Seal Training. I participated in the class in Tucson a few months ago and it reminded me of P90X…bring it! I was sore for days. These women are amazing and have the biggest hearts.

Spent an evening with my husband in Chicago Oct. 16th supporting Gateway For Cancer Research. They raised 1.7 million dollars! Was honored to be part of the event and learn more about the great things they are doing. They fund cancer research needing just a little more funding to get their drugs and clinical trials directly to the patient. Long-term research is needed, but for advanced-stage patients, they need these new drugs and trials as soon as possible. I love that 99 cents of every dollar raised goes directly to cancer research! What a wonderful and inspiring evening.

Spent time in Surprise late October with tennis professionals Jim Courier, John McEnroe, Michael Chang and others. Anna Kournikova and Ashley Harkleroad came out to Cancer Treatment Centers of America to play Wii tennis with some of our cancer patients. What amazing , compassionate women who didn’t think twice about giving up their time to come spend the evening at the hospital to be part of such a fun event for our patients.

See the Wii tennis tournament on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ihj72Fkd-g

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Here are some cool pics of me over the last year! Enjoy!

- Melanie