2013 Year in Review

2013 was another exciting year for mAss Kickers Foundation! We got our first office space at the prestigious San Diego Foundation. This was the first step in attaining credibility as a startup nonprofit. In the San Diego Foundation, we would be neighbors with CoTA (Collaborations: Teachers and Artists), Voice of San Diego, Pacific Arts Movement , and other San Diego based nonprofit organizations. We made some great connections and look forward to future collaborations.

2013 was also the year that we created mAss Kickers Sports. This was the first year we had athletes pushing themselves through competition to honor the people who are in an epic “battle” for their lives and well-being. People ran, biked, swam, played soccer, and played basketball to honor the brave people combating these horrible diseases!

mAss Kickers Foundation attained new video equipment and created a bunch of new videos here: 

We were very excited to start 2013! In January, mAss Kickers Foundation was well represented at the American Physical Therapy Association’s Annual Combined Section Meeting in San Diego. We are looking forward to getting more involved with the APTA Oncology Section to address physical rehabilitation for post-treatment impairments in tumor/cancer patients.

mAss Kickers Foundation had our first table at the C4YW(Cancer 4 Young Women) conference in Seattle, Washington in February. It was very interesting gaining insight on the unique issues of survivorship after breast cancer treatment. We met many new friends there and we look forward to returning in 2014!

In March, mAss Kickers Foundation had the opportunity to travel to Hawaii and speak about young adult survivorship at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, School of Social Work. Hannah Hansen, Marc Rodriguez, and Eric Galvez shared their personal stories as young adult survivors with future Social Workers and addressed questions from the students. One of the first high school mAss Kickers, Catherine Blotner, attended Cancer Treatment Center of America Blogger Summit again in Arizona. So many great connections were made there.

Later in March, we were introduced to the concept of “Integrative Medicine.” To learn more about Integrative Medicine to fight cancer, Arilda Surridge, Monika Allen, and Eric Galvez attended the UCSD Integrative Oncology conference. 

In April, we had a table at the Stupid Cancer, OMG Conference for young adult cancer survivors in Las Vegas, NV. It was great reconnecting with old friends and meeting new friends who are just starting their survivorship journey. OMG is the premier gathering for education and networking for young adult survivors.

Collaboration is the KEY to winning the war on tumors/cancer. Realistically, no single person or organization will defeat these diseases. In May, we brought together scientists, patients, healthcare professionals, and advocates together to talk about how, TOGETHER, WE CAN FIGHT THESE DISEASES

In July we continued our international travel.  We visited Tokyo, Japan and met up with a few survivors in Tokyo.  We then went to Manila, Philippines and gave a talk at Ateneo De Manila to future healthcare professionals and met some cancer survivors.  We made many new international friends and look forward to returning some day.
Japan Day 1 Japan Day 2 Japan Day 3
Japan Day 4 Japan Day 5 Japan Day 6
Philippines Day 1 Philippines Day 2 Philippines Day 3
Philippines Day 4 Philippines Day 5 Philippines Day 6 Philippines Day 7, 8

We returned to the USA in August and spent a few days in Michigan for one of our signature events. Angel Bureau and Andrew Wlodyga organized the 4th Annual TUMORS SUCK PAINTBALL BENEFIT at Hell’s Survivors Paintball field in Pinckney, MI USA . The event has gotten more popular every year! We are always honored to meet new survivors at this event! It is also great seeing the die-hard paint ballers every year because their enthusiasm in the event embodies the assistance from friends and family that a “post-treatment survivor” needs to become a “post-treatment thriver.”

In October, we did a minority bone marrow registry drive for A3M at the FilAmFest cultural festival in San Diego, CA USA. We believe that it is imperative for ethnic minorities to be on the registry because life saving bone marrow matches are based on the similarities in the genetic codes of people of similar ethnic backgrounds. Later in the month we held our annual International Tumors Suck Day: Celebration of Life in San Diego California. At this event we honored the people that stuck by us through the difficult times with toasts for family, friends, and fellow survivors. Check out the video

In November, we teamed up with A3M again to host a minority bone marrow registry drive at the Pacific Art Movement’s 2013 San Diego Asian Film Festival. Many new connections were made there, opening the door for future collaborations.  Of course we had to participate in Movember/"No-shave November"... always funny seeing the pictures and the nicknames for the facial hair!

In December, we are moving offices again because we do too much travel to necessitate a formal office. We decided to look into renting desk space at 3rd Space in San Diego. There are many start-ups and creative organizations there. We are looking forward to the new collaborations we create there!

We have big plans in 2014. We want to do more international travel next year to educate people about post-treatment “thrivership”… We potentially have the University of Singapore and hospitals in Vancouver Canada on the agenda. We also may return to the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Please consider a tax-deductible donation so that we can fund our ambitious 2014 plans! THE WORLD NEEDS TO LEARN THAT A TUMOR/CANCER DIAGNOSIS IS NOT A DEATH SENTENCE. THEY MUST LEARN HOW TO KICK MASS!

Saying thanks to our "unsung heroes"

10/17/13 San Diego, CA USA.  The people who support a person undergoing treatment for a tumor/cancer deserve recognition. They helplessly stand by and watch their loved ones get weaker in front of their eyes. What many people don't realize is that when someone gets diagnosed with a tumor/cancer, A LOT of people are affected!  Of course the patient is affected the most, but the people who are on "stand-by" as a loved one get weaker need to be recognized.  It is frustrating to watch a loved one's struggle against these diseases.  There are no words to express the gratitude for people who were at our side through the rough times.  The support received from these special people, can easily be taken for granted.   They deserve recognition.  We decided that there needs to be an event organized by survivors to honor the people that were there for us.  We wanted to honor our friends, family, and fellow survivors with unique toasts!  The focus of the event is not on the survivors, but on the people that helped us through a very difficult time!  Check out the videos from the 2013 event:

The 2013 Tumors Suck Part 5:  Celebration of Life video

Tumors Suck NewsFlash videos @ 2013 Celebration of Life for International Tumors Suck Day

These diseases transform everyone.  We can decide how we are transformed.  There are 3 options:

1. dive – psychologically succumb to the disease
2. survive – weather the storm of an intimidating diagnosis
3. thrive – become proactive in the fight against these diseases 

Patients cannot learn to "thrive" alone.  Support is needed from family, friends, and fellow survivors.  On 10/17/13, we wanted to recognize these people for helping us through a very difficult time!

Please help us continue to grow!  We are now planning more international speaking engagements!  We could really use your support.  You can be a part of a new strategy to fight ALL tumors/cancer... ATTITUDE... this ain't no pity party.

We'll send you some TUMORS SUCK stickers and put you in the next video with your online donation!

Critical Mass: The Young Adult Cancer Alliance Conference 2012

November 7-9, 2012, Atlanta, Georgia: USA  Critical Mass, The Young Adult Cancer Alliance. Annual Conference.  We were again blown away by the unique display of unity between leaders in young adult tumor/cancer advocacy organizations, scientists, and healthcare professionals to address the unique needs of young adult tumor and cancer patients!  The event started with a mixer in the hotel after everyone arrived to register for the event.  On Thursday, the conference was kicked off with a Keynote from NY Times blogger and Young Adult  Cancer Patient, Suleika Jaouad.  Insurance, fertility issues, current young adult cancer clinical research/psycho social/support services presentations, and on oncology programming issues were highlighted throughout the day.  The day ended with an informal social event at an off- site venue.  This is where relationships are created or solidified and the seeds for "real" interaction between organizations are planted.  

The following morning, the day was opened by Benjamin Rubenstein and highlighted by discussions addressing genomics, collaboration, and resources for patients.  We are excited to see how the relationships built from the conference will address the unmet needs of the young adult tumor/cancer patients.  mAss Kickers Foundation is proud to be a part of this unique collaboration!

2012 TUMORS SUCK PAINTBALL BENEFIT: A New Perspective

August 4, 2012 Pinckney Michigan  -  I met Eric randomly in 2011. He happened to be from the same city that I currently live in (Ypsilanti).  I found out we were both brain tumor survivors. He tried to get me to go to the Masskicker’s Paintball Benefit, but I was stubborn and I declined. I was concerned about the physical demands and chickened out. But at least I got to eat some burritos with Eric and his brother, Oliver in Ypsi. I told myself that next year I should give it a chance.

In 2012, Eric invited me to a pre-event dinner at Potbelly’s, down the road from me and I decided it would be good to meet some new people. I’m really glad I went. I got to meet two really cool girls from New York (Deana and Jamie) and I got to know Eric and Oliver better. We spent the entire night talking and barely any of it was about cancer or brain tumors. I had so much fun that night and there was more to come the next day!

Oliver kindly drove the girls and I to the event in the morning. I have to admit I was a little intimidated at first. There were all these hardcore paintballers with mohawks and heavy duty gear. Thankfully, I had at least gotten to know Eric, Oliver, Deana and Jaime. So I had some comfort in knowing I wasn’t the only person who was pretty new to paintballing. I had no idea there was so much stuff involved in paintball ( markers/guns, masks, CO2 ,pads, loose clothing, missions,  special fields, referees, etc.). I was in no hurry to get on the field, but it seemed like everyone wanted get out and going. So I got my gun, mask, paintballs, and CO2 tank filled and quickly followed Oliver on to the field. (This is before I realized someone was going to give me pads a special shirt, and a body guard). I was nervous, but knew I was going to stick close to Oliver. That is… until he got shot right next to me. We were hiding behind a small building and taking on heavy fire. I had never heard such noises. Paintballs were hitting walls rapidly and zipping past my head. It was loud! We were pinned down and I couldn’t tell who was friendly and who I was supposed to be shooting. When Oliver got on the ground to shoot some rounds off he got hit pretty quickly. I was left all alone! Then some guy , who I think was on my team told me shoot at some hidden guy up front. As soon as I took a peak around the corner I got shot in the abdomen. I think it might have ricocheted off the building because it only stung a little. My shirt was a mess and I was out of the game. I don’t think I even got a shot off. I was too worried about shooting my own teammate. Everyone had masks and was in camouflage. It was hot and I was pooped!

The second time around, I was more prepared, but I still didn’t know who to fire at. I was stuck behind a tree and was just firing randomly from behind the tree with my bodyguard. Then what was supposed to be a “helicopter” came around and I was told to fire on it. So I started to unload on it. It must have gone behind one of my teammates because he told me to stop shooting him in the leg. (LOL!)I was just firing as many paintballs at the thing as I could. When I got back to the tents I didn’t even realize that my socks and shoes were covered in paint. Who would shoot at my feet, right? I was pretty unscathed though.

The best part of the day was when we got to unload paintballs on a bunch of unarmed volunteers running around a paintball course. I must have fired off 400 paintballs! An added bonus to the day was the M-16 marker I was given during the raffle. It’s pretty sweet looking and I can’t wait to use it next year.

Overall, meeting new people was the best part of the event. The organizers and the volunteers were really great.  As a 15-year brain cancer survivor, I’ve been to several Relay for Life events and I have to say the Hell’s Survivor’s Benefit was by far more fun. It’s nice to have an alternative experience. I look forward to returning next year.