Gratitude and Giving

Now that I've finished my round of doctor's appointments for the moment, I can turn my attention to how to spend something I now have more of than I thought I would when I started this cancer journey: 

Time. Life.

I am immensely grateful to the smart doctors and kind nurses who have given me this gift. I am also deeply grateful to other members of my team: Anand and Gita here at home, and all of you out there who have sent care and support.

There is another group of people I want to acknowledge now, and that is the scientists who made the breakthroughs that have made the treatment possible. Keytruda, the immunotherapy I'm getting, was approved for mesothelioma in the US only in September of 2024. Two other immunotherapy drugs, ipilimumab and nivolumab, which are given together, were approved for meso in October of 2020. They were the first new treatments approved for mesothelioma in 16 years.

The specialist I saw on Tuesday says that a number of her patients on immunotherapy have been stable for several years now. This is what I am hoping for for myself, and it is a big change from the years before 2020, when the average life expectancy for a mesothelioma patient was only about a year. 

These immunotherapies are examples of what cancer research can accomplish, and hopefully there will be more treatments coming along soon that can actually cure mesothelioma rather than just keep it quiet for a few years. 

I want to be part of the solution, whether it comes in time for me to benefit from it or not. I have set up a fund-raising page (at this link) at the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation. The foundation sponsors seed grants for scientists who are exploring new ideas in mesothelioma research. Once an avenue of research is up and running and producing results, it is often much easier to get funding from government agencies (or it used to be before government spending cuts). But someone has to fund the early research as well as encourage young scientists to go into the field of mesothelioma research, and this is where the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation comes in. They give two-year grants of $50,000 per year to help scientists get their meso research underway.

The foundation also provides other help for mesothelioma patients, including the online support groups that I attend and a travel grant program for patients who need to travel to seek medical help but cannot afford to do so.

I'm looking to raise $25,000, which is half of a year's grant. More would be even better! I've made an initial modest donation myself to get the ball rolling, and I will add more when ten people have donated or I get back from my upcoming college reunion, whichever comes later.

The page to donate is here. If you don't want your name displayed in the donor's box at the right of the page, I think you can specify that you want to remain anonymous. 

Thanks in advance to all who are able and willing to give, no matter the amount!