Stand Up To Cancer

This is the third installment of Ben's blog. To read parts one and two, click here (part one) and here (part two).

When they finish harvesting my stem cells, eleven or twelve weeks into treatment, I'll go back to City of Hope and they'll put me in the stem-cell wing. They will give me what they call the "atomic bomb" of chemotherapy for six days straight. They say this is like Hiroshima on your body. It will kill anything and everything, including the Hodgkin's cells that exist on that cellular level, they hope. This chemotherapy protocol is called BEAM. On the last day of this chemo they will re-introduce my stem cells back into my body, and while everything else re-grows with lots and lots of good drugs, my stem cells will set up shop in my bones in about nine days. I then will stay in the hospital another ten or more days to make sure my white blood cells and immune system come back to strong numbers. So, in total I will be in the hospital for a minimum of 25 days. Some stay less, and others stay more. I will be on close watch. If anybody wants to come visit (which I highly encourage), you will need to wear a mask and gloves. The room is very sterile. It's kind of like Bubble Boy. Does anybody have any good movies that I should watch? Any Playboy magazines I should read? I'll take anything to keep my mind off of the storm I will be enduring. In the end, we are looking at about a sixteen-week, or even longer, process.

After the transplant, they have certain benchmarks they look at. Day One is the day I get the transplant. From then on, Day 40 is important, as are Day 50, Day 70 and Day 100. They use these dates to make sure I am healthy, and they recommend I stay pretty isolated from certain areas. I mean, I'll be like a baby. My immune system will be brand new. I think I can get the chicken pox again - who knows? If you guys have any questions, please feel free to call or email me.

I want to say thank you to everybody who has been there for my family and me. I don't think that anybody can battle this alone. People ask me if I need a support group or a place where I can tell people how I am feeling, and I tell them I have probably the largest support group in southern California. All of you are the reason I keep truckin', because nobody wants to see anybody fail and everybody wants to hear a success. Well, I am going to be that success. Bracelet sales are through the roof partly because of Stand up 2 Cancer. They made a little Facebook note about me and people just started buying.

Those bracelets mean a lot to me. I don't really think it's about the money - don't get me wrong, raising money for cancer research was the goal, but when you wear one it does more than raise money. It raises awareness. You are wearing something that means more to me than anything, and I can't thank you enough. I want to spread the vibe of CUCK FANCER nationwide. And I want everybody to have that sarcastic, cynical, who-gives-a-crap mentality towards cancer. It sucks, and we all should be able to say it.

With love,
Cuck Fancer,

Ben

To learn more, visit Ben's website: cuck-fancer.com.