Stand Up To Cancer

This is a shitty week. It's the anniversary of my mom's death from metastasized lung cancer. This year is marginally less shitty than last year because I feel like I'm taking all my anger and sadness and doing something really great to help fight this disease.

But that doesn't change the fact that she's gone. I miss her. I miss her blueberry pie.

I'm probably not supposed to say that. I'm probably supposed to say something noble like "I miss her enduring soul and big heart." But I miss the pie. The pie was good. And she knew it. Nothing gave my mom greater pleasure than to cook for us (we are, after all, Italian). Nothing gave me greater pleasure than to eat it (ibid).

So, in honor of this anniversary, I decided to leave my mom a note on her star in the constellation, and reminisce a little bit about her blueberry pie. This is also a great excuse to test out all the new features that we just added to the constellation.

First, I logged into StandUp2Cancer.org and went to The Constellation, http://www.standup2cancer.org/constellation. I clicked on "Search The Constellation" so that I could find my Mom's star. It automatically populated my window with any stars that I launched or left messages on, which is a cool new feature. I clicked on "Search For A Star" at the top, and entered my mom's name, Marion DiBiase, in the search box.

Her name comes up right at the top of the search so I click on "See This Star" and, again, something cool: it brings up my Mom's star, but also other stars that have shared donors - other people I might be likely to know.

I click on my Mom's star and see that my sister Carolyn has left a note. I have wanted to leave a note a while ago, but during the first days after we launched The Constellation, it wasn't working quite right. It's fixed now. (speaking of which, if you left a note or launched a star during this time and you don't see it yet, PLEASE contact us at stars@standup2cancer.org... we think we fixed most of them but we don't want to miss anyone!)

So I clicked on Add To This Star, and it reminds me that I have to make a minimum $1 donation first. Donating is much easier now because the system automatically remembers my credit card info from the last time I donated. I give $25, and "Enter The Constellation" to add my note.

Once I've honored my mother and her unrivaled cooking, I have the option to share my star with some friends. I decide to send it to my brothers and sisters. Maybe they are having a hard time this week too and adding a note and thinking about the taste of mom's blueberry pie may make them feel just a little bit better too. I'm already starting to think about which of her culinary specialties I'll e-eat next year...

-Jules DiBiase, Editor-in-Chief of SU2C