Saturday, April 16, 2011

I was stunned yesterday by something unusual that occurred.

I took a few minutes during lunch to spin my radio dial, and happened upon the Rush Limbaugh Show.

I'm well aware that the arch-conservative talk radio host has a perhaps well-earned reputation as abusive, divisive, heartless, and reactionary.

Yesterday I found that there is another side to the man.

Once a year, Rush converts his entire three-hour show into a radiothon to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The fight against blood cancers is one of his greatest causes. Friday, April 15 was this year's day.

I learned for the first time that there is a lot of compassion and devotion in the man. His huge, nation-wide Excellence-in-Broadcasting (EIB) network has been raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society since 1989. Last year alone, his show collected $3 million. Just to prove that he is not all talk, it's been said that he personally has donated up to $400,000-$500,000 some years. I know he can afford it, but he didn't have to. Even sadder, while his critics are very quick to find fault with Limbaugh, his work on causes like this never get mentioned.

As a result, I must admit that this is all an enormous surprise to me, and, I imagine, to almost everyone else.

Using contributions like those from EIB's "Cure-a-thon", the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has helped lead the battle in blood cancer studies. For example, research for the chemotherapy drug Velcade, introduced in 2008 and critical in my remission, was funded in part by Rush and the Leukemia Society. It's apparent I owe Mr. Limbaugh, and those like him, an awful lot.

So do many people. Half-a-million Americans are now diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. 154,000 likewise have learned that they are afflicted by Hodgkin's. 70,000, like me, suffer from myeloma, cancer of the bone marrow and blood. Fifteen Americans are diagnosed with multiple myeloma every hour. Six die.

Has all this research and funding helped? You better believe it. The five-year cancer survival rate was just 13% in the 1960's. It's now 39%. In the late 1970's, the five year survival rate for leukemia was 39%. In 2011, it is 55%. During the same time, the long-term survival rate for childhood leukemia is up 89%! Prior to the introduction of Velcade, patients could expect to survive for three years. Today, because of that miracle medication, it is ten years. Of the 39 new anti-cancer drugs approved by the FDA since the year 2000, half of them were for the fight against blood cancers.

There are cynics out there who will fault Limbaugh or the Leukemia Society for not doing more to fight ALL cancers. In a way, I can't blame them. Each of us knows someone for whom we are vitally concerned and wish to see saved. But no one can spread themselves so thin as to be able to battle every one of the world's causes. What's more, the research used to fight the blood cancers has led to breakthroughs in other cancers. Five of those drugs developed since 2000 are now being used to treat non-blood cancers, and 14 others are being tested against solid-tumor cancers, four of which are breast cancer. One can never predict where such research might lead.

I will fully admit my surprise in all this. I learned that even now I can be too quick to judge and criticize. What's more, such generosity can become contagious. In the course of yesterday's show, Donald Trump went live on the air to contribute $100,000. He has earned more of my esteem as well.


Each of us can do the same, albeit in our own limited way. I encourage you to join the "Make It A Great Day" Race, the half-marathon and walk now scheduled for Saturday, June 4, 2011, to start at the Tamarac campus in Brunswick, NY. You can now enroll or make your pledge on line at www.thedragonflyadventure.com. These funds will be donated to the Capital District Cancer Resource Foundation, a regional charity that helps local residents lacking full resources to win the battle against their cancers.

You'd be surprising yourself, as I did, by sharing a cause with Rush and the Donald.