Because of my many posts about Standing Up 2 Cancer, a lot of people have been surfing in looking for the shirts featured on the telethon this past Friday night. Stand Up 2 Cancer has their own Cafepress store and you can buy your shirts there along with some hats and other accessories. Don’t buy anywhere else as the money won’t go to Stand Up 2 Cancer. Buy one and keep Standing Up 2 Cancer!

Yesterday I shared a Love Thursday post about my Mom, her battle with and triumph over Breast Cancer and how it has changed our family. I thought today would be a simple write up and urge to go ahead and launch a star, write to your congressmen or to tune into the telethon on ABC, CBS or NBC at 8:00pm.

But then we got word that cancer is slamming into our family again. And my post changed shape.

FireDad got a phone call from Gramps yesterday which isn’t out of the ordinary. He’s a frequent caller. From my end, the conversation didn’t sound any different. But it was. Gramps’ brother has just been diagnosed with throat cancer. Radiation and chemotherapy are to begin shortly. I’m feeling overwhelmed with the news. With my grandfather hospitalized (non-cancer), FireDad’s great-aunt fighting Lou Gehrig’s disease and now this new cancer diagnosis, I’m just kind of emotionally worn out.

Our families, combined, have too much of a history with cancer for my liking. My maternal-maternal great-grandfather died of cancer when I was four. My maternal-paternal great-grandmother died of pancreatic cancer when I was seventeen. FireDad lost his paternal grandfather and maternal great-grandmother to cancers as well. His maternal uncle fought lung cancer in 2005 (and won). As I have talked about, my mother has found breast cancer and won. Then there are the multitude of family members who have had small skin cancers removed. It’s just a constant in our family. And I don’t like it. Not at all.

I have just launched stars for my mother, other members of our family and added to the star for my friend Judy. (To launch a star, you need to make a donation as small as $1.00. I know you have $1.00. As of 10:30am, SU2C’s donation page is busted. Be patient as I assume they’re slammed.) Will you launch a star? Will you make a difference? Will you email your congressmen? Will you tune into the telethon tonight? Will you donate (when the site works again)? Will you post on your blog so that others know about this campaign to raise awareness for the need for cancer research… and funds for that research?

If you’re still unsure why we need to raise money for research, first hit the Stand Up 2 Cancer website. Then hit The Delaney Diaries, Burgh Baby, Third Mom, I’m No Supermom, Allison Says, Morningside Mom, The Trivial Pursuit of Happiness and my dear, dear friend Judy’s blog. (I’ll be adding to this list all day as you send me your links. Email them, tweet them to me or leave them in the comments please.) These bloggers have done a very good job at embodying the reasons why we need to continue to fight for a cure and how we all can be of help. I am so thankful that each of them have shared their stories. I am so thankful that each of them are here to tell their stories and, you know what? I want them to continue to be here to tell their stories.

So, please, Stand Up 2 Cancer today. And always.

This is my Mom. The photo on the left was taken during the summer of 2006. BigBrother wasn’t yet a year. She loved wearing him in my first Mei Tai. She loved the bonding time spent with her oldest grandson. She loved being a Yia Yia despite not being Greek. Life was easier then.

The photo on the right was taken during the summer of 2008. Mom could finally wear LittleBrother in the (or, yet another) Mei Tai. Prior to this point, she couldn’t lift him very well. Because she had surgery. For breast cancer. In between these two photos, taken just about two years apart, my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. And our lives changed.

My Mom beat that cancer. She is currently cancer free. But we’ve all been changed. I cannot explain how it changed something as simple as watching my children bond with their Yia Yia. Unless your own mother (or parent) has fought cancer (or another life-threatening illness), maybe you don’t know how precious each little moment is that your parents spend with your child. Let me tell you: those moments are priceless. Make time for those moments. Even if your schedule is busy. Even if you’ve got to travel. Let them bond. Because we just don’t know the future.

I love watching my Mom wear the boys. And play with the boys. And snuggle the boys. And even tell the boys “no” when they’re being bad. I love the fact that she is still here to help them grow. I love the fact that my Mom stood up 2 cancer and won. In the process, we all learned how important the love we have for one another really is… and how that love can grow despite the challenges life throws.

I love my Mom. And I love that others are Standing Up 2 Cancer right now. Are you?

(Also? Tune into the blog today at 1:00pm (EDT) for a special babywearing review accompanied with a deal for you!)

Many of you remember how totally caught off guard we were last September. In fact, it was at the end of September. At this time last year, we were still floating around in our lives, unaware that cancer was forming in my Mother’s breast. The news was devastating; there’s no other way to put it. I can’t sugar coat it. I can’t make it sound pretty. It wasn’t even my breast and I was absolutely devastated.

It was my Mommy. It was that person who had always been strong, always been there and suddenly the tables were turned. It was my sudden thrust into the realities of being an adult child. Beyond being asked to bring food to a holiday meal, this was the startling and sobering reality: my parents were mortal. And it shook me to my core.

Mom underwent surgery and radiation. We did a lot of praying. We did a lot of crying. And now, I am so pleased to tell everyone again, she is cancer free. My Mom is once again healthy and she’s back to lifting both boys (which she couldn’t do after her surgery) and being the active, busy Mom that I have always known.

But it’s changed all of us.

And not just in the previously mentioned “crap-my-parents-are-mortal” way. Cancer is constantly on my mind anymore. Not constantly in a paranoid way. But enough that I’ve started reading more when its in the news and paying attention to new research. Why? It’s not as if we were a totally cancer free family prior to my Mom’s diagnosis. My great-grandfather and great-grandmother died of various cancers. Cancer also has taken lives in FireDad’s family. Maybe the change is because my Mother’s diagnosis directly affects me. She doesn’t carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene (which means that I don’t) but I have a number of other risk factors. Of course, my mind then jumps to my daughter. Now both of her biological grandmothers have fought (and beat) breast cancer. It scares me out of my mind to think of that or to think of my sons and their future children.

And that’s why the Fire Family is Standing Up 2 Cancer. Research is needed. I don’t want to rock my kids’ world someday with a diagnosis. I don’t want their worlds to be rocked. I don’t want my grandkids’ lives to be changed in this way. I want money for research. And I want answers. And cures. Yesterday.

I’ve emailed my congress men and women. Have you? I’m sharing our personal family story right now. Have you? I’ll be tuning in at 8:00pm this Friday to watch the telethon. Will you? And sometime this week, the FireFamily will be launching stars for all in our family who have been affected by cancer. Will you?

Please. Stand Up 2 Cancer. Do your part. Not for my family. But for your own.