Newsletter December 3, 2008

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CELEBRATION Your LOVE did it! Chances are YOUR name is on this list: Click Here!   On second thought, it may not be on that list -- but, you may be one of the thousands of people who have ushered me through my battle with Stage 4 Burkitt's Lymphoma & HIV.  THANK YOU!    This week marks my first "Birthday" since my bone marrow stem cell transplant.  (Transplant patients often refer to their transplant date as their "birthday.") I'm excited that it coincides with the news of a possible new HIV-Stem Cell breakthroughpresentation by City of Hope National Cancer Research Hospital'sDr. John Rossi in Palm Springs this week.  And I'm thrilled to have been asked to share a bit about my BMT journey. Details Here Surviving "cancer economics" for the past year has been a real challenge. Full Story Here   I could not have made it without YOUand my many other supporters who have helped me to make it through.  I'm forever grateful.   So, now it's time for me to GIVE BACK...

INSPIRATION Enhancing LIFE for Those with Life-Threatening and Critical Health Conditions   The FEAR and STRESS of both a critical health challenge and the financial hurdles it brings can be so overwhelming that one can be left to battle in desperation without HOPE, which, in turn, prevents healing and even one's own very survival.  My mission is help to bring HOPE & HEALING to people's lives around the world.   The getavisionPROJECT is a local and global non-profit to INSPIRE, MOBILIZE and ENHANCE the lives of people living with life-threatening and critical health conditions by facilitating financial support and bringing inspirational media and opportunities not available today.   getavisionFUNDS Non-profits serving health-challenged individuals may easily setup a getavisionFUND to assist people in need with services, programs and/or financial support.   Businesses may easily become a funding source at NO COST to the business by becoming a Merchant Business through the getavisionPROJECT sponsor/partnerAPS/Royal Bank of Scotland Group funding system.   Individuals and groups can create video and media programs for the video and mobile getavisionCHANNEL.  Individuals and groups can get involved in socially-oriented projects to enhance the lives of people and the world around us.   YOU can join us on the "RIDE of LIFE" and explore innovative initiatives and ways to support and facilitate people facing life-changing health challenges.   We're working on several initial projects to help those with cancer, HIV/AIDS and other critical health conditions, and are working on developing plans with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Kaiser Permanente,City of Hope, Children Affected by AIDS Foundation, and numerous other organizations to deploy initial getavisionFUNDS projects. Join getavisionFACEBOOK Join getavisionLinkedIn

INVITATION get it : share it : live it! getavision for YOUR LIFE! One of the great lessons I've learned on my ride of LIFE in the past year is the true blessing of giving, as people from my as distant as old high school friends to people around the world I've never met joined together to create a financial safety net.  You don't know how much stress was released from my life through these simple acts, from gifts as small as a few dollars -- to those in the thousands.  This released me from much FEAR of the future and allowed me to HEAL fully.   Truely, the getavisionPROJECT has this purpose of becoming a financial safety net to people as we bring them healing and hope for the future.   Please consider playing a part in these people's lives that we will reaching in 2009 and beyond.  You'll see that your act of generosity will be rewarded in many ways in your own life! JOIN the getavisionLAUNCH 2009  It's TAX-DEDUCTIBLE!  Join us and include the getavisionPROJECT in your final 2008 donations!!   If you have a BUSINESS that needs to clear out some year-end budgets, make this year's donations really be put to good use!   To jump-start the non-profit biz and breathe life into the getavisionPROJECT, our fiscal sponsor will be Metropolitan Community Church Los Angeles(MCCLA) and the corporate partner is Atlanta-based Access credit card processing company Access Payment Solutions, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group.   I hope you'll consider joining with us in the getavisionPROJECT -- no matter how small or large, you will be helping to bring LIFE and HOPE to REAL people struggling with REAL life and death battles!  You'll be helping to SAVE LIVES!   Plant a Seed and Watch what Grows! Online Donations Here   OR Send Donations by Check to: getavision @ MCCLA 4953 Franklin Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90027 NOTE: Make checks payable to "getavision MCCLA"

Transplant "Birthday" Surprise

This week marks my "1st Birthday" since my bone marrow stem cell transplant. (Transplant patients often refer to their transplant date as their "birthday.") I'm excited that it coincides with the news and presentation by City of Hope's Dr. John Rossi in Palm Springs. I'm really glad to have been asked to briefly speak.

(photo of Dr. John Rossi)

A Nov. 13 Associated Press story reported that an American with AIDS living in Berlin had apparently been “cured” of the disease using a targeted bone marrow transplant.

While researchers and the man's doctors cautioned that it could only be a fluke, it does hold out hope, according to John Rossi, Chair and Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope in Duarte.

Rossi will be one of the featured speakers Thursday at the City of Hope's Research Advances in HIV/AIDS Community Forum at Hotel Zoso in Palm Springs.

During the 90-minute program, Rossi will discuss how breakthroughs in stem cell therapies might come into general use in the not-too-distant future.

For Rossi, the possibility of a breakthrough in treating HIV/AIDS using stem cells is thrilling. “This is what my work is all about,” he said.

In the Berlin case, the patient's immune system was destroyed using chemotherapy before he was given a donor bone marrow transplant.

The donor marrow had a rare, but naturally occurring genetic mutation which made it resistant to almost all strains of HIV, apparently killing any remaining virus in his body.

“Imagine if we could replicate that in the lab with a person's own stem cells,” said Rossi, who is also an adjunct professor at the University of California, Riverside. “Then reintroducing them back into the patient.”

The advantage to using the patient's own bone marrow is there is no chance of rejection.

Then, Rossi said, a portion of the patient's bone marrow would be removed and genetically modified in a lab. Once the modification was completed, a partial bone marrow ablation would be the next step.

“Just to make enough room in the bone marrow for the modified cells to grow,” said Rossi. “Because the bone marrow isn't completely destroyed, this procedure would able to be done on an outpatient basis.”

Once the re-introduced modified stem cells begin to produce disease-resistant “daughter cells,” the chances of effecting a “cure” greatly increase, he said.

At this point in the research, “we've done a very limited number of trials, with promising results,” Rossi said. “But since (City of Hope) is a nonprofit facility, we don't have the money to do a full-blown FDA trial. We're hoping to find a drug company who can pick up (the study) for the FDA trial.”

JUDITH SALKIN • THE DESERT SUN • DECEMBER 1, 2008

Link to myDesert.com article