The Future is NOW! ACS helps celebrate SL's sixth birthday

The American Cancer Society, one of the finalists for the 2009 Linden Prize, is one of the organizations featured at Second Life's Sixth Birthday (SL6B).

The Society's site, designed by Emily Schaf, is located in SL6B Titan.

While the main focus of the American Cancer Society exhibit is on Relay For Life of Second Life, the site also features samples of other American Cancer Society real life programs, such as Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, International Relay For Life, and appropriately the American Cancer Society's More Birthdays campaign. The exhibit was also the venue for a panel discussion yesterday on virtual support for cancer survivors.

The exhibit features a cool new video by MarkTwain White describing the role of the American Cancer Society in Second Life.

It is humbling to be a part of this amazing organization. As 125 teams and more than 2000 volunteers prepare for the fifth Annual Relay For Life (to be held this year on July 18-19) it is clear that the American Cancer Society is making the future and setting standards in fundraising and support in virtual worlds … and that 'The Future of Charity in Virtual Worlds is NOW'!

SL6B runs until June 30. Don't miss seeing this exhibit - go to:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/SL6B%20Titan/65/142/24

For more information about exhibits and events at SL6B, check out the SL Wiki at http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/SL6B.

ACS unfolds plans to expand its support programs in SL

Stingray9798 Raymaker (the American Cancer Society representative in SL) is the first to acknowledge that he is a "noob", who once managed to delete an entire building. (You're not the only one, Sting. I managed to delete my house!) But his vision of how ACS will evolve in the future is far from rudimentary.



Speaking at Nonprofit Week last Thursday, Sting used the opportunity to unfold ACS plans to expand its support group program in SL to match its RL programs, as well as offering help and advice to other nonprofits.

He first outlined the current programs on the American Cancer Society sim, including The Hope Haven which he described as "the cornerstone of how the ACS provides much needed support for cancer survivors who live in Second Life", the "Makeover Magic" program which is scheduled to happen twice in 2009, and a breast cancer education and awareness program based on the real life Making Strides Against Breast Cancer program.

New projects include the Media Library, where avatars can browse resources of information, and a new series of lectures on cancer information organized by Ren Stonecutter, a RL physician who is already a popular speaker on the island.

Forthcoming plans include a support group (Man to Man) for men only, and another program, Reach to Recovery, for breast cancer survivors to “mentor” newly diagnosed breast cancer patients.

Another, more aggressive plan involves access to the ACS's National Cancer Information Center. The NCIC consists of cancer specialists who currently answer all phone calls (24/7) to the ACS toll free hotline…1-800-ACS-2345. Emphasizing that this is still in the very early stages of development, Sting continued: "If this project is rolled out, we would be able to provide immediate information and resources to cancer patients and loved ones in-world just the same as we do when they call on the phone in RL. I do not mean to create an expectation that this will become available in the near future - but it is one of my pet projects that I will work diligently on because the need is so great."

In closing, Sting offered the following thoughts to nonprofits and also mentioned that ACS will in future be offering its meeting spaces to nonprofits who do not own their own sim:

"Since entering Second Life, the American Cancer Society has existed on the support of one staff person and countless volunteers. Our budget allocation is minimal, at best, and we exist primarily because of generous volunteers who donate their time and talent.

"The key to our success has always been the organization’s willingness to support and legitimize our volunteers’ efforts. It shouldn’t take a lot of money to exist in SL, if you stay true to the mission of your organization."

Orange Island and the Nonprofit Commons teamed up to present Nonprofit Week which was held from Monday, January 26th to Thursday, January 29th.

Men can get breast cancer too!

Although it is 100 times more common in women, there are 1990 new male breast cancers diagnosed in the USA alone each year and male breast cancer accounts for approximately 450 deaths per year in the USA - said Dr Ren Stonecutter, speaking at the American Cancer Society in Second Life today. Male breast cancer is on the increase and has grown by around 26% in the past 25 years, he said. And unfortunately it is often only detected after it has reached an advanced stage.

There are a number of factors which put men at increased risk, said Dr Stonecutter, including Jewish ancestry, previous (benign) breast disease, gynecomastia (enlarged breasts), hormonal imbalances, alcohol, celibacy, and a history of liver or testicular disease. He recommended that men protect their 'family jewels' when playing sports or other dangerous activities as injury is another risk factor. And he pointed out that genetic factors are also important - men with a positive family history of breast cancer have an increased risk of 15-20%.

He recommended that men at increased risk should check their breasts regularly or have their significant others do it for them, just like their sisters and mothers, and that men diagnosed with male breast cancer should have genetic testing and counseling for their family members. But all men who find a lump should take note, he said, as the majority of men who are diagnosed have no identifiable risk factors.

Male breast cancer usually presents itself as a small, painless mass just under the areola (the brown area around the nipple), he said. The first step on finding a lump is to get a mammogram. And "when in doubt, TAKE IT OUT!". Male breast cancer is so rare that many local community oncologists will see only one or two cases in their entire careers, so he recommended that men with advanced breast cancer should go for treatment to the big cancer centers or universities, such as Memorial Sloan Kettering, or the National Cancer Institute.

Dr Stonecutter is a regular speaker in Second Life and a real life family physician.

Looking good helps you to feel better

Aryon Dagger was one of the survivors who was given a totally new look as part of the Makeover Magic program. She has blogged her experiences on -

http://christhebutch.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/a-new-life-and-a-new-look/#more-387.

Her story reminded me of a time, long ago, when I had a recurrence of thyroid cancer. I came out of hospital with an embarrassing large red scar across my neck. Without my asking, a friend scooped me up and took me shopping. We found some pretty, high-neck blouses. Her gesture helped me hold my head up and look life in the face as I went through the next stages of treatment and waited anxiously to hear if it had spread. The scar has faded, and I'm disease-free, and my friend has moved on. But her action touched me deeply and the memory will always stay with me.

I love your new look Aryon, but above all I love you as a person. Thankyou for reminding us that it is not the new look alone, it's the friendship, the listening, the understanding, and above all the acceptance that counts. That helps us to feel better about ourselves.

And that's what the American Cancer Society's real life program - Look Good, Feel Better - is about too. For more information about this program see:

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ESN/content/ESN_3_1X_Look_Good_Feel_Better.asp?sitearea=SHR.

Aryon does battle with breast cancer

On Sunday, October 12 Aryon Dagger led a session on how she has fought her breast cancer. The session was organized by Making Strides in Second Life as part of its program to raise awareness for breast cancer in the month of October, and it brought an audience of nearly 30 people to Hope Haven.

I wasn't able to be at this session myself but I heard from some of the people who attended that it was a truly inspirational story, and Aryon shared her talk with me.

She was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in 2001. The advice: a double, radical, bilateral mastectomy. "I sat there and went numb, became a robot of sorts in my responses, got up and walked out ... I phoned the one person in my life that I needed most right then ... my wife. My life flashed in slow motion before my eyes but it wasn't over yet."

Aryon made the choice to fight. To "... stand toe to toe with it, stare it in the eye and tell it where to go ... I wanted to see my son happy, to hold my first grandchild, to spend time with the woman I loved enough to leave my life as I knew it behind and move to a place I had never been to before."

Aryon's partner loved and cared for her, but she couldn't face the scars and Aryon never knew why. She passed away several years later. "My wife never got to hear the "all clear" given to me. But I fight on, to repay the debt I incurred by bargaining. I fight on by trying to make women AND men aware of this tragic killer that if caught early enough, can be treated."

She came into Second Life to heal from the loss of her wife of 26 years, and from the immense trauma of fighting the breast cancer. It was several years before someone other than a doctor, nurse or Aryon herself actually touched her scars. Not only touched them but looked at them, and said the words that she had said many times before, without having seen them … “it doesn’t matter”.

Aryon considers herself to be one of the lucky ones. "I don’t know why one person wins their battle and another loses it. But I do know that everything happens for a reason ..." So now she shares her story, in the hope that by making people aware, she is serving a purpose. And she now takes pride in her scars and campaigns through her blog for lesbian women to 'get to grips with their nips" because, as she writes there, "... lesbian women are almost twice as likely to suffer from breast cancer than women generally". See: http://christhebutch.wordpress.com/2008

She concluded her talk: "If through my survival, through my standing here and speaking to you all today, through my fundraising in the name of breast cancer awareness and research ... I can save one life ... by making someone aware of regular self examinations, of regular mammograms ... then I will be happy but not fulfilled. We MUST find a cure. So, I will continue to battle, wearing my scars like a medal won in a war, for life ... mine and everyone elses."

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Synergy Devonshire --- the SL coordinator of Making Strides, the ACS breast cancer awareness program --- is organizing the Fighting Spirit sessions this month, on the theme of breast cancer awareness, and she is also organizing several awareness talks on ACS island, dates and times to be announced. If you go to the island you'll see the "Strides" donation kiosks at the information centers on both levels, along with some goody bags and a perfectly wonderful pink pumpkin which you can grab for free!

Also on this theme, Vera Zhaoying who is a student intern at the Anne Myers Medical Center (AMMC) is organizing a breast cancer awareness event called "Time for You" on October 11 at 10 AM. It is at the woman health clinic, AMMC. Please contact Vera for details.