Hi....just a quick note to thank Brian......we have corresponded in email a few times on AOL regarding my mother. This website is amazing, Brian.....it's such a wonderful thing you have put together!! I would be so lost throughout this ordeal if it weren't for the support of these "friendly strangers" on the internet! It's so great to know I can look here for answers, support, or just a place to vent!! Thanks again.....God Bless you all!!!!!

Thank you for the kind words...while it has been a lot of work to write and build the framework that is this website, the real credit goes to all those who come here to populate this little community. With all the negatives that cancer brings, I am constantly buoyed by the generosity and caring of those who come here, and take the time to share their ideas, to offer help to strangers, and to inspire all of us with their words of support. What an amazing group of individuals.

While providing an important support function, the website can become a catalyst for positive change. I hope that in the near future we can all band together as a group to become activists in changing the nature of oral cancer. We can pull this disease down from its undeserved high ranking as a killer, by bringing it into the forefront of the public consciousness. An aware American public will think of an annual screening for this disease in the same light as they do a PAP smear for cervical cancer, a mammogram, or a PSA test for prostate cancer. Early detection will save lives. But we need to get those who are most likely to catch it early, aggressively looking for it as well. Has anyone besides me noticed the absence of the dental profession on our site? In the near future I hope that we can have our collective voices heard to change a situation which has not improved in 5 decades, in spite of a simple, inexpensive, means to do so.

In the meantime, thank you being part of the OCF community... and for caring.