Ovarian Cancer Biomarker Research Act

Ovarian Cancer Biomarker Bill Will be Introduced in the House of Representatives

Ovarian Cancer Biomarker Research ActBill # S.2569

Original Sponsor:Barbara Boxer (D-CA)Cosponsor Total: 16(last sponsor added 06/23/2008) 14 Democrats 1 Independents 1 Republicans

About This Legislation:A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Director of the National Cancer Institute to make grants for the discovery and validation of biomarkers for use in risk stratification for, and the early detection and screening of, ovarian cancer.

Urge your Representative to Sign On to H.R. 1230

Grassroots Action Center

Urge your Representative to Sign On to H.R. 1230

On February 26, 2009, Representative Doris O. Matsui (D-CA) formally introduced the Bone Marrow Failure Disease Research and Treatment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1230). This legislation would bring together the resources of several federal agencies to advance our understanding of and treatments for aplastic anemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, and PNH. We need your support now

The Social Pariah Strikes Again

I'm coughing again. A lot.

I no longer have eosinophils in my blood, but the coughing has become progressively worse over the last week. I don't know why.

I do know that I am, once again, a social pariah. With the heightened anxiety over swine flu, the public reaction is far worse than last year.

Yesterday, I had two different cashiers ask me, "Are you sick?" in an accusatory fashion. "Yes, I guess I am, but I'm not contagious," I answered. Or maybe I should have just said, "No, but I just have this annoying cough." Or maybe I should have asked, "What happened to 'Have a nice day.'"

This evening, I couldn't stop coughing during the WriteGirl PlayWriteGirl Event at the Pasadena Playhouse. Teen girls wrote monologues and short skits during a day-long workshop, and professional actors from film and television brought their words to life. Before the show started, I offered a preemptive apology and explanation to the woman sitting next to me.

Once the show started, I tried to stifle my coughs and let them erupt during clapping. And I was fastidious about covering my mouth with both hands.

I noticed that each time I coughed, the elderly lady sitting in front of me moved her program to her left ear. The first time, I thought it was a coincidence. Then she did it again and again. Soon, she wasn't moving the program from her ear. This passive-aggressive act made me so intensely uncomfortable that I apologized to my friend and left before the program was over. (Of course, that meant climbing over a dozen legs and then hopping over a chair to make my escape.)

I'm thinking of getting a few buttons printed:

- I do not have swine flu.
- Ask me about my EOS.
- Cough 'til you drop
- No thank you, I do not want a cough drop.
- I'm sorry.
-

Stinky Leeks and If I had a mentor

Miss Havisham challenged me to answer the question about what my life would have been like if I had a mentor as a teenager.

The challenge got me thinking about stinky wild ramps and . . . possibilities. Find out how at Open Mouth, Insert Fork.

retail therapy

The lady has had a tough year.

The lady deserves the finer things in life, which is why she is buying herself the following rad ass self-birthday presents. She need not justify things further.







whaaaaaat isn't this amazing?



The lady would post something more meaningful, but she's pretty out of it, much like a car crash victim right after the airbags blow off. I can't feel my legs! seriously.

what i set out to do

PJ Hamel, had the following to say about my book, in a review she wrote for MyBreastCancerNetwork.Com (Health Central):

Wry. Real. Dealing with it. That’s Laurie’s story. It’s a personally familiar one, for so many of us. Through her week-by-week, sometimes day-by-day detailing of cancer treatment laid atop everyday life (the dog, the kids, school and work), we relive with Laurie those emotions many of us have experienced. And it’s a bittersweet feeling, this “been there, done that” comparison of radiation burns, telling your small son you have cancer, and losing your hair.

This isn’t a sad book. Nor is it a sicky-sweet, “Oh, cancer has been so good to me” book. It’s just… true. A regular woman dealing with cancer as best she can. And writing about it in an utterly compelling way.

This review made me really happy. It means a lot that PJ liked the book. She also made me feel like I achieved what I set out to do.

That's a really good feeling.

aWEARness- giving voice to the whispers