Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies-April Book Review


This was the most difficult book that I have ever read.  While it is well written and presents in interesting history of cancer and the evolution of it's treatment over the years it is also the most discouraging glimpse of how far away we are from being able to do anything about it.

After zillion of dollars of research, in the war against cancer, we are armed with crude and primitive weapons against a cunning adversary with unlimited resources.
"Cancer, we know now is a disease caused by the uncontrolled growth of a single cell.  This growth is unleashed my mutations-changes in DNA that specifically affect genes that incite unlimited cell growth.  In a normal cell, powerful genetic circuits regulate cell division and cell death. In a cancer cell, these circuits have been broken, unleashing a cell that cannot stop growing. 
That this seemingly simple mechanism-cell growth without barriers-can lie at the heart of this multifaceted illness is a testament to the unfathomable power of cell growth. Cell division allows us as organisms to grow, to adapt,, to recover to repair-to live.  And distorted and unleashed, it allows cancer cells to grow, to flourish to adapt, to recover and to repair-to live at the cost of our living. Cancer cells can grow faster, adapt better. They are the more perfect versions of ourselves."-Siddhartha Mukherjee
This is an important book to read for anyone that have ever been touched in any way by cancer in their lifetime.







Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Remembering Laiken



Laiken's Mother Stacey posted this picture on Facebook this morning.  As she does each year she creates an event where people can do something to "Pay it Forward" in honor of Laiken's life.

I never met Laiken while she was living.  I know Laiken through Stacey's words, through the love she has for her daughter.

Seven years later Laiken's legacy lives on as hundreds of people will do something today to create a ripple effect of kindness and love.




Smile on pretty girl. 
Light and Love x 13 x Forever


Monday, April 20, 2015

We are Columbine

It is sixteen years now since the school shooting at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999.

There was very little in the news and on social media sites.  Channel 9 news posted this on their site today and I thought it was perfect, quiet, dignified.  No mention of the two gunmen. 

With love, remembering all that we lost and all that was lost on that day in spring sixteen years ago. 

Cassie Bernall, Stephen Curnow, Corey DePooter, 
Kelly Fleming, Matt Kechter, Daniel Mauser, Daniel Rohrbough.
Coach Dave Sanders, Rachel Scott, Isiah Shoels,

 Lauren Townsend, John Tomlin, Kyle Velasquez