Hi Ann,

First of all, welcome to the OCF and I hope that you and Jon will take advantage of the many resources that are available to you here.

I'm going to take the liberty to answer some of your questions addressed to Brian and I'm sure you will hear from him, too. My wife and I have been involved with the Relay for life for 5 years. The first 4 years we raised money for the American Cancer Society. After I developed oral cancer we found out that they do not contribute any resources to the OCF and in fact don't seem to do too much (if anything at all) for oral cancer. We then decided to raise money for the OCF instead. As you can see above, we were involved in the NYC Walk and I'm proud to say that we raised $2,000 of the $20,000 that was received.

Last year I had commited to doing Oral Cancer Screenings at the Relay and I did, on this past June 3rd. I noticed as I walked around the track that there was no mention of Oral Cncaer on any of their signs. Many other. "well known" cancers were on their signs. To say the least, I was very bothered by this. I intend to continue doing these Oral Cancer Screenings in the future as a public service and as a way to get the name of the Oral Cancer Foundation out to the public.

I have no intention of raising any money directly for the ACS in the future, unless they become more supportive of us.

I hope that you, Jon and your family are successful in beating this disease and the word recurrence never has to be discussed.

Jerry

Jerry

Retired Dentist, 59 years old at diagnosis. SCC of the left lateral border of the tongue (Stage I). Partial glossectomy and 30 nodes removed, 4/6/05. Nodes all clear. No chemo no radiation 18 year survivor.

"Whatever doesn't kill me, makes me stronger"