As far as I know, this Friday will be the first time that all three major networks will be simultaneously airing the same special, at least on the topic of cancer.

I'm sure it will be a great show, but I wonder how it can do justice to such an important topic in just one hour.

Any bets on whether oral cancer will even be mentioned? I personally wouldn't put any money on it.

Brian, have you got any inside information?

Jerry

They asked us if OCF would like to BUY a booth on the convention hall. No offer of exposure for the disease, no questions about how we might contribute to the effort. Nothing.

And by the way, they asked us last week. Of course they have had the project in planning for more than a year. They were only trying to sell off the extra booth spaces.

Why am I not surprised as to how this was handled?

Jerry

Sensationalism at it best. Now watch, they'll be saying "look what we've done".

In my biased opinion, I would have thought that the OCF and Brian Hill would have been a potential draw for people. I guess I'm still bright eyed about how the media function.

Mike

You have to realize what a multimillion dollar celebrity encased event this is. They really only want the big players involved in the big diseases. Of course that isn't what they are saying but having talked to people from some other small cancer non profits besides oral, they were equally left out of everything. Hey, in the end if it raises money for cancer research it is a good thing, assuming that someone has a well vetted way for seeing what research gets funded. There are some pretty esoteric ideas out there that have money being put into them but have a snowballs chance in hell of meaning anything at the end of the day - more than $ in a researcher's or institution's pocket, and another publication notch in someone's gun butt. Lets hope they raise a bunch and spend it well. That a small cancer like oral gets left out is something that we should be used to by now.

Brian the fact that you are "used to this" etches into my brain that you are persistant and patient. I, as you are well aware, have a little bit less patience that you. I also have much less experience in positioning myself for any international media charity function. (Thank God it's you)
Is ther a way that you can vision that OC will ever be a forefront stake holder in awareness and funding for research and support?

I bet that unless the number of patients diagnosed per year, or the hard number of deaths, not just the percentage of patients, rises significantly, oral cancer will remain at the children's table of cancer fundraising.

We are getting support from high visibility people. In December there will be a fund raiser for OCF at the home of Tom Fontana ( Google him he's a powerful media guy) co-hosted by Blythe Danner and the Paltrow family in NYC. We're hoping for 75 attendees and patrons. There is an oral cancer segment on Good Morning America on the 8th of this month, though we will not get mentioned by name, the disease is out there. That was a year in the making with ABC and at the end of the day we are only getting 5 minutes. But I was able to get Dr. Gillison interviewed and one of our own from the boards is the patient being interviewed. There is more, but it has all taken years to bring to fruition, and it is a tough, long haul to make things happen. There are no big corporate players in the world of oral cancer to tap into for support. It is a grass roots effort, and our ranks are small. Low incidence of the disease compared to the really big one like breast or lung, and poor survival means few volunteers and donors at the end of the day.

I am not cynical about all this, just realistic. I do not believe that it will always be like this, but it may take many more years and deaths for this to get on the big stage and in the spotlight. But I assure you that I am working every angle available to me with the small infrastructure and amount of money we have to work with. The economy has hurt our donations in a very big way, and the last 3 months have been the worst months for OCF donations since 2002. While this is depressing after as many years as I have put into this, I have to believe that it isn't always about being rich in money (though that seriously helps) it is being rich in ideas and vision to make things happen. I'll post over the weekend of some of the visibility successes we have had recently. While they do not translate into funds that we can use, they certainly benefit the cause.

Brian,

Is anything happening with 20/20?