Stand Up To Cancer

Official Website

I meant to write this a few days ago, but I just couldn't do it. There was a special on several channels this past Friday night called "Stand Up To Cancer". It was one of those huge tributes to raise money for a cause that is becoming the norm now. This is not to criticize the event in anyway... I'm just stating a fact that since the 9/11 "Tribute to Heroes" that ran on all of the networks and a few cable channels, several of these type shows have been aired.

In July, I lost a close friend to cancer. He got diagnosed right before Christmas of last year with Colon Cancer and later found that he had Prostate Cancer too. He fought a valiant battle and in April, massive chemo and radiation treatments looked like they might be working. He talked of coming back to work in June and we joked about having a big party to celebrate his return. But, it was not to be... he took a turn for the worse in early June and sadly, the Doctors said there wasn't anymore they could do and they gave him a week to live. He defied the odds once again and lived for four weeks, finally losing the fight in early July.

It has only been two years since I lost my mother to Colon Cancer too. I lost my beautiful aunt, a vibrant and lively woman, seven years prior to that from Cancer and that was just too many losses for me. It's still a very ugly personal scar so, I couldn't watch the entire thing... it was too painful. They were showing photos of all of the entertainers, from Sammy Davis, Jr. to Patrick Swayze to Farrah Fawcett, who died from Cancer. I ultimately had to turn the channel. This didn't make me feel any better.

The performances were good though... I'll watch Stevie Wonder on anything he happens to be on. Two years after the first Stand Up To Cancer special raised $100 million to fight this disease, Emmy, Oscar, and Grammy winners gathered in Los Angeles for a live event, televised on all major networks, to do it all again.

"Cancer doesn't care how may Oscars you've won or how many tough guys you've played," said Michael Douglas, who is battling stage-4 throat cancer. He was one of several past and current Cancer patients who played a role on the special, which included Michael C. Hall, Christina Applegate, Maura Tierney, Lance Armstrong, Kareem Abdul Jabar, Fran Drescher, Kylie Minogue, and Survivor's Ethan Zohn.

At one point, Stevie Wonder paid tribute to his first wife, singer, Syreeta, who died of breast cancer, before joining Natasha Bedingfield, Leona Lewis, the Edge of U2, Dave Stewart, Martina McBride, and Aaron Neville for a rendition of "Unchained Melody."

After that performance, I turned the television off... not because I wanted to forget about my own personal losses to the deadly disease, but because I wanted to pay tribute to them silently. I still miss them...