Milestone year for Relay For Life of Second Life

In this milestone year for Relay for Life of Second Life, the American Cancer Society's real world head office in Atlanta, GA has issued a statement recognizing the passion and dedication of survivors and volunteers in Second Life.

'Celebrating its fifth year in the virtual world, the 2009 American Cancer Society Relay For Life® of Second Life is set for July 18-19 as avatars representing cancer survivors, caregivers, their families and the millions of passionate supporters gather virtually to celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and join the American Cancer Society in fighting for every birthday, threatened by every cancer in every community.

'This year’s virtual world event is expected to attract in excess of 3,000 participants as more than 125 teams unite toward reaching a fundraising goal of $250,000. In 2008, Relay For Life of Second Life raised $215,000 – surpassing its total for the previous three years, combined. Simultaneously, the real-world American Cancer Society Relay For Life is in the midst of its 25th birthday year, as the world’s most successful nonprofit fundraising special event brings together more than 3.5 million people across the United States and 20 other countries to raise funds to embolden the American Cancer Society’s fight for every birthday, threatened by every cancer in every community.

'The 2009 Relay For Life of Second Life celebrates “One World…One Hope,” thematic of the Society’s global mission and of the scope of Relay participation in its real and virtual world environments.

'During this year’s registration rally in February, 40 teams pledged their support for the event and signaled the largest, single-day team registration in Relay For Life of Second Life history.'

Scott P. Bennett, American Cancer Society national vice-president, marketing, said:

“The engagement of these committed, virtual world volunteers continues to grow each year and demonstrates the enormous impact they have within the Second Life community and with encouraging others to join the American Cancer Society’s mission to help save lives and create a world with more birthdays.” He continued: “Virtual world Relay participants, just like those in the real world, are passionate about their involvement, and they powerfully reflect Relay’s worldwide reach.”

For more information about Relay for Life of Second Life, go to:

http://relayforlife.org/secondlife

For information about the American Cancer Society in real life go to:

http://www.cancer.org/

Springtime!

The Live Art Auction organized in Second Life by the RFL Survivors/Caregivers Committee was a great success judging by the results up to the time I went to bed. A good number of people turned out and there was some lively bidding competition.

The auction, which was due to be held last week but had to be rescheduled because large areas of SL went down, was organized by LadyKay Gable, with proceeds going to Relay for Life of Second Life.

I went to the auction set on one particular picture, and went home the proud owner of 'Spring #1' by Filthy Fluno. Filthy has long been one of my favorite artists in SL, and this particular work caught my interest because it is fresh, and bright, and full of hope. It is evocative of some of the artists whose works I admire, such as Matisse, and Kandinsky. And this particular picture reminded me of a time many years ago when I was feeling very low, and went out and bought a yellow couch to bring some sunshine and color into my life.

For more information about 'Filth' a.k.a. Jeffrey Lipsky see this New York Times article 'Portrait of an artist as an avatar':

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/news/09iht-08flunot.20688654.html?_r=2

Live art auction to benefit Relay for Life of Second Life

The live art auction being organized by members of the RFLSL Survivors and Caregivers Committee that was due to be held last saturday had to be postponed because of the sim outages in Second Life. I understand from LadyKay Gable who is the auction's main organizer that the auction has now been rescheduled to SUNDAY JUNE 28.



Above: a sneak preview of some of the works that will be auctioned on Sunday

The auction will be held on the north shore of ACS island. Chase Marellan will be wielding the gavel. An amazing array of artists have donated their works. So come, dig deep in your pockets, and bid! All proceeds to the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life of Second Life.

The following artists have generously donated works:

Daruma Picnic, Sledge Roffo, Zhora Maynard, sakura2 Kohime, littleone Aries, Greenthumb Magic, StarZ33 Mccullough, LadyKay Gable, Silver Click, Elizabeth Tinsley, Delgado Cinquetti, Rain Somhers, Cheen Pitney, Cre8tive Chemistry, CHUCKMATRIX Clip, Josina Burgess, Sistagrlro Wei, Katarina Erin, Oberon Onmura, Artfox Daviau, Caitlin Tobias, Demi Blackhawk, Jazz Calhern, poi jarvinen2, Betty Tureaud, Maryva Mayo, Shellina Winkler, zephyru Zapedzki, Physeter Nicholls, Feathers Boa, Filthy Fluno, Misprint Thursday, and BrightamberG String. There is also a posthumous collection of works by Artistic Fimicoloud.

Take the SLURL to: http://slurl.com/secondlife/American%20Cancer%20Society/59/221/22.

Register for the first lap of Relay for Life of Second Life!

With less than a month to go, there's still time to register for the first lap of Relay for Life of Second Life!

The Fifth Relay for Life of Second Life will be held July 18-19 2009. More than 125 teams and 2,000 volunteers are hard at work raising funds to cure cancer. So far they've raised over $200,000 real American dollars!

The first lap honors cancer survivors and cancer caregivers from around the world. Survivors and caregivers walk the first lap to put a face to the battle against cancer. They've been on the 'front lines' in a battle on cancer, and are here to tell their story. Over 120 survivors and caregivers have already registered.

For more information on Relay for Life of Second Life, visit http://relayforlife.org/secondlife.

To register for the first lap, please go to that site and click on 'Survivor & Caregiver First Lap Registration'.

If you have any questions about the first lap or the Survivor/Caregiver Committee, please email Dwen Dooley, Chair, RFL of SL Survivor/Caregiver Committee, at dwendooley@gmail.com.

Makeover models on show in Hope Haven

We've installed a viewer in Hope Haven where you can now see the 'before' and 'after' pics of the 'Makeover Magic' models. Come see.




Pictured above: Glenna Lane, a long-term breast cancer survivor and an active member of the cancer survivors group, after her makeover.

Celebrate survivorship!

Sunday June 7 is National Cancer Survivors Day - and to celebrate, six survivors and caregivers who have been treated to a makeover will be parading their new looks along with their mentors at the Makeover Magic fashion show on the American Cancer Society island. The show kicks off at 11 am SLT.

This event is organized by a committee led by Cinders Vale and formed by the Cancer Survivors and Cancer Caregivers groups together with the FACES Creative Team. It will feature designs by a host of talented designers who have kindly agreed to donate items.

'Makeover Magic' is the Second Life equivalent of a real life program, 'Look Good...Feel Better' - a free, community-based service run by the American Cancer Society that helps cancer survivors to restore their appearance and self-image during treatment.

National Cancer Survivors Day is celebrated in hundreds of communities in more than 15 countries around the world and is supported by the American Cancer Society. Come and help us celebrate survivorship and admire the makeovers!

Oh, and the SLurl:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/American%20Cancer%20Society/147/140/51/

New schedule for cancer caregivers meetings

Willow Lundquist has announced that the caregivers support group will meet twice weekly going forward, Sundays at 10 am SLT and Wednesdays at 7 pm SLT. The meetings will alternate between Hope Haven and Willow's place. Please contact Willow if you would like to learn more.

Breaking the ice

What better way to break the ice than by holding an icebreaker?

Willow Lundquist, new Cancer Caregivers chair, held a party on the ice for the caregivers in celebration of the fact that this is National Caregivers Month in the USA, and invited the survivors group to join in.

Willow Lundquist, the new Caregivers Chair

The party was held at Stormy Dragon which is run by Stormy and Dragonlord Moonlight. As you can see, we all skated brilliantly - thanks to their trick skating pose.

Stormy Moonlight atop the beautiful ice carousel

Poppy (L) and Cinders (R) dressed up to keep the winter winds away

There is much more to see on Stormy Dragon and it is one of the most tranquil spots in SL. Stormy has very kindly invited the caregivers and survivors to visit her land at any time.

New group leader for Cancer Caregivers group

Willow Lundquist has stepped up to take over from Marissa Goodliffe as group leader of our sister organization SL Cancer Caregivers. Here's what Willow says about herself in her introduction:

"As for me--I am an emeritus caregiver---having had two in chemo simultaneously in the 90's. I have also been a therapy dog handler---you may have seen me at the last RFL---I was the boxer. Feel free to IM me if you need to talk and I am online., please."

The survivor and caregiver lap

All of the months of organization paid off and we finally set out from ten different starting points on the Relay for Life of Second Life survivor and caregiver lap. We had more than 130 avatars registered beforehand, and although some couldn't make it, we had an estimated 120 pink and purple shirts on the lap at one time.

My camera controls froze so I couldn't take pictures of the lap itself, but here are the pictures of the survivor camp and starting points.

The survivor campsite, designed by Stella Costello

This was one of the nine survivor starting points around the 35 sims with those amazing survivor cherry trees in the background.

Flash and Poppy get ready for the opening lap

Cinders gets her skates on ...

Above two pics show some of the 80 survivor pictures lining the walk

Gone, but not forgotten ... these luminaria pay tribute to our survivor heroes, many of whom walked the Survivors Lap with us last year.

Only two days to go ...

With only TWO days to go until the start of Relay for Life of Second Life, the Survivors / Caregivers Committee members have been burning lots of candles at both ends to get our part ready in time.

The survivors and caregivers are honored to walk the opening lap, which starts at 11 am SL time on Saturday.

Pre-registration closes today and Dwen Dooley, who has set up an awesome registration form on the web, emailed me yesterday to say we have 119 avatars signed up. That's already around twice the number who took part last year, and we're expecting more to register today, so we're very very relieved that we now have eight starting points and can avoid lag as far as possible.

This year we also have a team of greeters, coordinated by HollyJean Allen, who will answer questions, give out T-shirts, and generally help everyone to have a memorable experience.

Stella Costello has done an amazing job of designing and building us a survivors campsite, and Barnesworth Anubis has built us a walkway to display around 80 survivor pictures which were collected by Harper Montgomery. Stella and Barnes are two great designers who know how to combine bold lines and simple but very effective colors and I am just SO excited about it opening for the public. Come and see us there when you're in world, on the Heroes 3 sim.

Elizabeth Antonelli is responsible for collecting the music which is played on T1 Radio during the Survivors/Caregivers Lap and at other times. SL's musicians have donated 17 'Songs of Inspiration'.

Meanwhile, Marissa Goodliffe and I have been putting the finishing touches to the starting points and we're preparing a gift bag for the survivors and caregivers.

Marissa and Poppy putting out road markers by the Survivors and Caregivers camp

Getting ready for this year's Relay has already been a memorable experience. I've made so many new friends. I've laughed, and I've cried, with survivors who have contacted me in the past few weeks to ask if they can join us on the lap. I've heard so many touching stories.

Come and cheer us on, on Saturday, and don't forget to get to the sims early. The opening ceremony is at 10 am and will be streamed throughout by T1 Radio. And if you are a survivor or caregiver, contact me (survivors), Marissa Goodliffe (caregivers) or Dwen Dooley (registration) to find out how you can take part.

Under the hammer - survivors and caregivers raise over $L300K!

Sunday June 1 SL Cancer Survivors and SL Cancer Caregivers joined together to organize an Art Auction of works by RL and SL artists to raise money for cancer research. All proceeds went to Relay For Life of Second Life.

More than 50 awesome works by 23 artists were collected by AnnieHall Bates. A panel of judges consisting of Fayandria Foley, Tayzia Abattoir, William Richelieu and Isolde Flamand selected the works that went into a live auction at the Relay For Life Halfway There Fair, and there was a silent auction of the remaining works in the Welcome Center on the American Cancer Society island from Tuesday May 27 to Sunday June 1.

Some of the works on sale at the survivors/caregivers art auction. In the foreground, one of my favorites - "Guardian", by Random Calliope, which raised $L55,000.

The bidders gather as Chase Marellan starts off the live auction

Synergy Devonshire helped with setting out the works and LadyKay Gable jumped in along with some of her friends to set up the silent auction, which turned out to be more of a challenge than we had expected getting the auction scripts to work. Marissa Goodliffe built the auctioneer's podium and with the help of live auctioneer Chase Marellan we managed to raise over $L300,000! WOOT!

"Out of the Fog" by Artistic Fimicoloud was purchased by a consortium of members of the RFL of SL Planning Committee and raised an awesome $L45,000. The work is now on display at the ACS Welcome Center.

We all had a Ball last night...

November is officially Caregivers Month, and when Marissa Goodliffe, who is Chair of SL's Cancer Caregivers Group, realised that there wasn't going to be time to recognize caregivers properly that month, she decided instead to organize a party on December 15 to honor the caregivers in our midst and to invite the caregivers, survivors, and Relay For Life groups affiliated with the American Cancer Society in Second Life. She was helped by Nevar "Santa" Lobo, Pips Fetid, and Synergy Devonshire who put together charming Holiday packages for everyone.

The Holiday Party was one of the most memorable and successful parties I have ever been to in Second Life. I really had a ball. The setting was beautiful - the castle was designed and built by Pips Fetid; the music was great, a medley of seasonal songs put together by DJ Bcreative Wilde; and the conversation and the company was wonderful. And what made it worthwhile was that so many people from the caregivers, survivors and RFL groups turned out, both to enjoy themselves and to celebrate the caregivers whose caring makes such a difference to the lives of those of us touched by cancer. I saw many old friends and made new ones. Thank you so very, very much, Marissa, Nevar, Pips, BCreative (and a Happy Bday!) and Synergy.

Trader fights back

In the latest of our "Fighting Spirit" series, Trader1 Whiplash of T1 Radio and Relay Rockers came and talked to cancer survivors and caregivers in Second Life about his personal fight with leukemia.

Trader is often called "the Voice Of Relay" in Second Life, and I have often heard him speak, but never before quite so passionately and personally.



He was diagnosed nearly five years ago. An enthusiastic golfer, he was diagnosed as a result of a routine sports medical when he signed on at a gym. After being given the scary news he was then told that it wasn't treatable... because it was too early... he lost his drive at work, his appetite, his girlfriend... and became seriously depressed.

The turning point was when other friends and family were touched by cancer. "We all have to find a source for our strength and mine comes from knowing that no matter how lousy I feel someone feels worse, that no matter how bad my cancer is someone else's is worse. When people offer me their prayers I ask them to send them to someone who needs 'em more than me." It was also around that time that he joined Relay For Life in Second Life and found a way to channel his energies into fighting back. When his white blood cell count got into the range that it needed to be treated, he was ready for his own personal battle, claiming that "...Chemo Sucks but its a lot better than the alternative. and hell, i have had worse hangovers!" (I HATE to think what those hangovers were like!)

Trader is in remission now, but he knows the importance of being surrounded by people who are there to support him through treatment. The nature of his leukemia is that in a few years he'll need treatment again. But he has learned to live with his cancer and is meanwhile back in pursuit of that one-digit golf handicap. "While I don't embrace it we have an agreement.. DON'T stop me from being me and I won't bitch about having it."

He ended with these words: "It's NOT easy to live with cancer.. and it's even harder to fight it, but as long as you have the ability to do so then damn it do it! JUST DO IT! the grass is a whole lot prettier when you are lookin down at it!"

The Road to Well Being

On Saturday, December 1, there was a Well Being Conference in Second Life, organized by Tina Marlin and Sophianne Rhode.The conference focused on Real Life personal well being, covering all aspects of well being in three major sessions: Body, Mind and Soul. The aim of the organizers was to bring together people from all paths of life to share and discuss their experience and knowledge. Individual speakers talked about their strategy to master life with all its specific problems, what personal well being means to them, and how they reach (or are hoping to reach) this goal.

I spoke in the session on Body - physical health & awareness - on the topic of "Coping with Cancer - a Survivor's Perspective". It was the first time I have talked publicly about my life as a thyroid cancer patient and about how being diagnosed with a recurrence 25 years ago took me on a journey of learning to be more assertive and to participate more actively in my own treatment decisions and care. And then Marissa Goodliffe, Chair of the Caregivers group, spoke about "Coping with Cancer - a Caregiver's Perspective".

We also exhibited there to raise awareness for the Survivor and Caregiver groups and for the American Cancer Society's activities in Second Life.

The conference was very well organised and attended, and it was an excellent networking opportunity. Well done Tina and Sophianne! I hope you will be encouraged by the turn-out and the positive response to put on more events like this.

American Cancer Society Opening Ceremony in Second Life

Here's a few pictures and a round-up of some of the great write-ups we had for the opening ceremony of the American Cancer Society in Second Life on Sunday, September 23 and which I helped organize. Unfortunately, I had one of those SL things happen to me, my mic wouldn't work so the readings I was scheduled to give were taken over by my SL friend and soulmate, Synergy Devonshire, who is a fellow-survivor and is Publicity Chair for SL's Relay For Life 2008 among the many hats that she juggles at the moment.

During the ceremony people were able to light luminaria around the sim in honor of survivors and in memory of friends and family who have passed. And some of the survivors and caregivers read their own poetry and stories. We walked along the lit paths in silence to the music generously donated for performance during the event by some of SL's foremost musicians. Then the mood changed to one of celebration and hope, with a glorious fashion show, gala ball, and spectacular fireworks at the finish.




And did I mention that the sim crashed? Well, it did. It's disappointing when that happens although of course some would say that it's a sign of a successful event...

New World Notes
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2007/09/riks-picks-fo-2.html

Rick Riel's blog "The Click Heard Around the World"
http://www.rikomatic.com/blog/2007/09/american-cancer.html

Second Life Insider
http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2007/09/17/the-american-cancer-society-grand-opening-fashion-show/

ACS Island Opens and Fashion Fights Back - Metaverse Messenger page 13
www.metaversemessenger.com/pdf/2007/09/MM20070918.pdf

Style, song, sobs and lag mark American Cancer Society Gala
http://www.slnn.com/index.php/article/about/cancer-sim-opens/page/2.html?sid=aW2mC3nxefZAah6A