{"id":1780,"date":"2010-02-16T15:02:41","date_gmt":"2010-02-16T15:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2010\/02\/16\/happy_birthday_to_me\/"},"modified":"2010-02-16T15:02:41","modified_gmt":"2010-02-16T15:02:41","slug":"happy_birthday_to_me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2010\/02\/16\/happy_birthday_to_me\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy birthday to me!"},"content":{"rendered":"

33 is a nice friendly, symmetrical number; can I stop here, please?
\nTo celebrate, I am launching my big 2010 fundraising campaign!
\nIn June, I’m going to spend a weekend cycling from Vancouver to Seattle to raise money for the BC Cancer Foundation as part of the Ride to Conquer Cancer<\/a>. The final route is still TBD, but will be something like 250 km \/ 150 miles over two days. Oh, and did I mention I only have a hybrid, rather than a road bike? (Yes I am crazy). The longest ride I’ve ever done was 60 km in one day, for the MS Society; I did that without any training at all, but this is a different beast altogether and I will be putting in some serious clicks between now and June!
\nFULL DISCLOSURE:<\/strong>
\nI work for the BC Cancer Agency<\/a>, who will be the ultimate recipients of the money raised. The money is all going to support our research efforts rather than our publicly-funded treatment centres.
\nA couple of years ago I wrote<\/a> about the difference in culture between the BCCA, where many of the staff and trainees raise money to support the institute, and my PhD institute in Scotland, where people were more than happy to donate to, say, a cancer hospice, but were reluctant to raise money for their employer.
\nSo, what convinced me that my Canadian colleagues have it right?
\nWell, my PhD and postdoc projects were almost completely divorced from any clinical impact. But my new colleagues’ research is very, very different. I work with people doing some simply amazing work in cancer genomics<\/a>, and I’m involved in some other outstanding translational and clinical research projects. (I wish I could tell you about some of the other awesomeness emanating from our labs and clinics, but until it’s published, that’s just not possible). For the first time in my career, I have more contact with cancer patients than just seeing them in the canteen when I pop into the clinical building to grab some lunch, and I have a much better understanding of how my colleagues’ work can and will<\/em> result in better diagnostic and treatment options.
\nIn the last couple of years I’ve also seen several relatives, friends, and colleagues (and their kids) diagnosed with cancer, and a few of them have either died or have incurable metastases.
\nHOW YOU CAN HELP:<\/strong>
\nIn order to take part in the ride, I need to raise at least $2,500. This is almost as daunting as the length of the ride, and hence I am asking my awesome blog readers to help out!
\nNow, I’m not just asking for money, and I’m not expecting people to give without receiving anything in return. Please click through to my other blog<\/a> for full details of how you can help, and how I might thank you!
\n“You can view my personal page and make donations here”:http:\/\/www.conquercancer.ca\/site\/TR\/Events\/Vancouver2010?px=2353200&pg=personal&fr_id=1331&fl=en_US&et=KQIeQZCxXhjxqwCz8GyLSQ..&s_tafId=158451.<\/strong>
\nThis will be the only time this year or next year that I ask for donations. 2012 and onwards… well, it depends on how my legs feel when we get to Seattle!
\nThank you in advance for your donations, advice, link love, and good luck vibes!
\nRight, I’m off to work and then to the Canada-Norway hockey game. Let’s hope Team Canada can give me a win for my birthday! If anyone’s watching on TV, I’ll be the one in the red shirt.
\n—————–
\nI am publicising this event and asking for donations with pre-arranged permission from Nature Network management. Thank you so much, guys! Keep up the good work.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

33 is a nice friendly, symmetrical number; can I stop here, please? To celebrate, I am launching my big 2010 fundraising campaign! In June, I’m going to spend a weekend cycling from Vancouver to Seattle to raise money for the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1780\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}