#ROAR4TCA with @TeenCancerUSA

BoooYah!! ROOOOOAAARRR with me today!

Support The Teen Cancer America campaign 

Let's Shout Out #ROAR4TCA & help @TeenCancerUSA raise awareness for teens & young adults with cancer!

Show us your ROAR!

Let me preface this post by elaborating on Why this means SO much to me. 

Seven years ago, we learned that my beautiful and completely beloved Ma (Grandmother) had been diagnosed with cancer. The blow was indescribable, in truth, I barely remember the moment at all. 

What I do remember is the soul-ripping feeling we experienced when we heard the news. 

Before that, cancer was a thing that happened to other people, not to anyone I knew let alone anyone I would die for. In fact, I remember praying to any god that would listen to freaky Friday us so my Ma wouldn't have to go through this, I would gladly and wholeheartedly take her place. Now my support in the fight against cancer is Boundless.

And so the story goes, she would go for treatments at Donald Gordon Medical Centre & I would take the campus bus to meet them. Since the gods weren't listening, I decided to delve into other methods (relax no rituals involved). Suffice it to say I found a saving grace in something ancient & lost to the  modern world.

 

This long piece of hair has been my silent prayer. When we got the immeasurably awesome news that Ma had gone into remission (~HAPPY BREAK DANCE MOMENT~), five years ago, I couldn't bare to cut it. So there it stayed, growing, all these seven long years. 

Have you ever had someone in your life that you would give up Everything & Anything to see Cured? Ma is that person to me. 

It's the reason I wrote The Cured: Rebirth, in honor of our journey through all of this. Hopefully it will get published soon :-D

Tag-Line: 

Teen discovers a Cure for Cancer & has to make the Ultimate Sacrifice. Save his Love or Save the World. #YA #SF

Read an Excerpt from the Novel: The First Date

In the interim, I will end off by sharing a poem I wrote about my Ma.

A family portrait stands, stuck to the left.

Frozen and perfect are the united,

In the wake of devastating bald evil and a bandana.

She crouches, centered in the timeless beauty of an unaffected soul,

Practiced smiles and joyful cheekbones reign over the blooming garden.

While one stands alone, unimpressed, with eyes in curved shadows,

He smiles for no one, for no one has him smiling. 

How to not cancer? How to, you say?

He wishes to all seven heavens for an answer he knows not to come. 

An angel of frail and fractured bones looks up at her, 

Staring absently, lost in her mortal coil.

A single obsidian strand of hair, 

Hangs twisted and woven, in silent prayer of Buddhist tranquility.

How to not cancer? How to, you say?

Hope…..you hope.

Never had I met a more vibrant spirit. Age compares nothing. 

Her Will is All.

****************************

Authors Note

I would love to thank the incomparable award-winning Writer, Producer & Filmmaker, Akasha Garnier for tagging me & making me aware of this amazing campaign. I cannot wait to show my support in the days to come. 

I honestly believe that everyone on the planet is connected to cancer in some way or the other. Experiencing it in some form or another. Feel free to talk about it in the comments section. 

Where are all my Lions & Lionesses? 

It Would be an honor to see You out there, Roaring with us. #ROAR4TCA & #ChildhoodCancer

Click Here to Retweet the Tweet.

Message From Akasha:
Background on Teen Cancer America from the first concert where I met them in Chicago; the benefit money stayed locally so Chicago is building a teen cancer unit!!

Yes, Teen Caner America is promoting #ROAR4TCA all summer so that is going very well and the organization has gotten many more supporters with our help!
http://www.akashagarnier.com/#!Eddie-Vedder-Who-Cares/c1uho/555d00660cf298b2d3d16d40

~Be Kind to One Another~ Ellen Degeneres