Alisa

I missed it too! That's great, Jamie!

I'm so sorry, Dana. I met your Mom and she was a wonderful woman who loved her family very much (she talked so much about you). My prayers and blessings, Alisa

I am shocked. I had no idea and feel so bad. We met a couple of times for lunch when she came to the city and emailed each other privately. I hadn't heard back from her in a while, but I thought she was busy with her newest grandchild and family. I am so sorry. Thank you so much for letting us know.

Randy, I just want to thank you for all your research news you post. The articles you post are always informative and newsworthy. Thanks!

The best news!!!!!

Happy Happy Birthday to your son! I can relate ... when I was first diagnosed I prayed to be at the elementary school graduation. My twins just turned 17 this year. We are truly blessed ...

What encouragement for all!!!! Thank you for reminding us that cancer is a word and not a sentence!

My feeling is - "When in doubt, leave it out!" I personally wouldn't take certain antioxidants while undergoing chemo and I'm a big fan of integrative care. But not enough is known yet. There have been studies about a few, and I did take them while on chemo and that is: reishi mushroom; astragalus and Co-enzyme Q10. Studies show it enhances the chemo, protects good cells without protecting the cancer cells. Do a pubmed search. Personally, I think megadoses of any antioxidants/vitamins is risky when undergoing treatment. I would wait until there are more studies .....

Ok, here's the first response I received. I will forward any others if I get any: Alisa, Thanks for bringing this up. The person who responded thusly is incorrect. This is NOT the same petition at all. I know, because Kay Cofrancesco and I went through great lengths in drafting this version. Perhaps that person is confusing this petition with that which resides on the lungcanceralliance website (I have had a link to that site in my email signature for many months now - so scroll down to that to read it for yourself), which specifically calls for the following: We, the undersigned, call on the President of the United States and the Congress to make early detection, treatment, and chemoprevention of lung cancer a national public health priority I honestly don't know how the LCA in DC plans to utilize this collection of signatures -- maybe Kay can chime in on that one. This petition is different. It is targeted to NYers, and is about raising awareness to NY legislators. This is the time to be that squeaky wheel, as Laurie Fenton so often says. What will happen to this petition? I will be overseeing the mailing of the petition, with signatures collected, to all NYS legislators, by both email and hard copy (stay tuned on this one - I will need your help!). We haven't decided yet when to do this. The budget in NYS gets set on April 1st, apparently, and while the collection of signatures may be late, I think it may still be useful for us to think ahead and make our voices louder so that real legislation might take effect next year. As you may have noticed in LCA news, many of our fellow state advocates are starting to succeed in getting legislation through their state legislators!! We can too!!! So please let your colleagues know that this petition is being actively overseen by me and is intended to make a direct impact on NYS legislators THIS YEAR. Keep the questions coming and let me know how it's going. Regards, Joan.

Would you like me to email the person who sent this to me and ask her for an update? Or forward your email? If this has been going around for quite some time, they should have some sort of status by now, I would think.

From another board I'm on, if anyone wants to sign the petition and/or write letter(s). Alisa, Great to hear from you! Below is a sample cover letter. Please use this, and tailor it as you see fit. Let me know if you have any questions! Joan. Hello Friends, As a member of the Lung Cancer Alliance-NY I am sending you this Call to Action. We are calling on you to sign our online letter. This letter will be going to elected leaders encouraging legislation that is important to the lung cancer community. The New York State budget will be finalized on April 1, 2007, and your immediate attention is requested. Those who have already signed, we thank you and there is no need to read on. We will work hard to get as many names signed on to this letter as possible. Our goal is to obtain signatures from at least 2,500 New Yorkers over the next week! Please go to this link: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/lca-ny/ to sign on. (It is important to note that once you sign the petition, you will receive a prompt to donate. This is a feature of the petition service and is not connected to LCA. There is no reason to donate. Simply close the window on your computer. Your signature will still be captured.) Working together, we will increase funding for lung cancer research and early detection! Please send this to your friends, family, and any people who want to make lung cancer, the leading cancer killer, a public health priority in New York State. Sincerely,

Any chance of getting my old message and photos back from the old Wall of Memory? I had a picture of my mother and my grandfather, both who died of nsclc. They were old pictures that I had on the computer, but were lost somehow. I would love to get them back. Can you help? Thanks, Alisa

Thinking of you too Carleen! Prayers and blessing going your way ....

I was so lucky - my internist referred me to my dr/herbologist upon diagnosis. I wouldn't know where to look out of NYC though. Sorry.

Sorry for the late reply. I was crazy at work and didn't get to this site all week. I honestly don't remember the research my herbologist gave me about Maitake, but I know he told me not to take it, and the reason had to do with lung cancer. When I see him again, I'll ask him for the research again. As for taking herbs/supplements during treatment - the dr. had me on a different protocol during treatment (no antioxidants) but had me on co-q 10; astragulus; probiotics; melatonin and his own blended mushroom tea (I think with reishi, PSP, licorace root and more). After my treatments, he added on the vitamins and antioxidants along with the chinese herbs and stuff I was already taking. Hope that helps! Best regards.

Wow, a while back research was done for my company and Centrum is like 70% chalk as a filler. You may want to switch to a better and more bioavailable multi.

I take Cell forte w/inositol, but my herbologist told me under no circumstances should a person who has had/have lung cancer take maitake mushroom. He does have me on reishi (ghonoderma) and cloud musroom (coriolus versicolor/PSP).

If you are undergoing chemotherapy, you need to be careful of what you take. Certain antioxidants and vitamins are a no-no while getting chemo. The ones my dr./herbologist told me is ok to take and can actually enhance the chemo without protecting healthy cells are: Coenzyme Q10 (100 mg/day) Astragalus (per direction from health food store) Melatonin (upper level dose of 20mg. has shown anti-cancer activity). Start at 3mg and work your way up to make sure you can tolerate it. Reishi mushroom (I get mine special, don't know where you can get it). Of course, ALWAYS inform your oncologist of everything. Take care, Alisa

Wow! I can't wait to see the pics.

This is wonderful news! Blessings to you and your family, Alisa

I'm overwhelmed reading it. I am crying with you. Thank you.

Jamie, you are awesome!!!!! When are you coming back to NY? That delicious pizza has your name on it ............

I'h happy to hear you are home! And thanks to Brian also.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I had 2 tubal pregnancies before being blessed with twins (IVF). And as much as the tubals hurt (physically and emotionally), I realize had that not happened, I would not have had my precious sons that I have now. Take care and I look forward to better news from you in the near future!

My prayers are on the way!