Today, we have someone special to think about:

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Here's a link to a photo of Anthony Vanderford:   -- along with our son, Isaiah.  (Anthony was an artist; you can see more of his work here: )

I blogged a lot about my experiences with cancer, with the health industry:  Here's the very first blog post I ever wrote -- what feels like a lifetime ago:  http://surrealbadger.livejournal.com/309.html  I maintained a blog at http://badbadbadger.blogspot.com throughout his cancer and then after his death.  The community that I found via blogging kept me sane, and I think that's why I admire you so much -- I know firsthand the power of social media to create community and to spread awareness.  (I now blog athttp://audreywatters.com and I follow you on twitter as @audreywatters)

Anthony was diagnosed in the fall of 2004 and died in the summer of 2005, leaving behind a 12 year old son (at the time.  Isaiah is 16 now).  I was only 33 at the time, and damn, I wasn't in any way equipped to caretake a dying husband, let alone become a widow.  I like to think of myself as a pretty articulate person.  At the time I was working on a PhD in Comparative Literature.  But when it comes to cancer, all I can say is "it fucking sucks."  

It's taken me a long time to be able to work through all the various issues surrounding my relationship with Anthony, his diagnosis, his death.  Cancer leaves scars on us all.  All these years later, I finally feel like I'm able to pull myself out of the very dark place of grief and pain and become, again, an advocate for health care reform and a voice for those who survive.

Thank you, Drew, for everything you do.  You're a rockstar.

Yours in struggle,
~Audrey

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Download Anthony's picture, put it up everywhere you are online and link here!

Submit YOUR someone special to us at drdrew AT gmail.com

Announcing the Our Special Someone project:

The "our special someone" project takes a day out of our week and puts one very brave cancer fighting hero in the spotlight. instead of raising awareness with colors, we're raising awareness with real people who are special.

how it works:

- every thursday we'll highlight someone we miss dearly. someone special.
- we'll tell you their story, and give you a photo that you will upload as your avatar everywhere you are online (twitter, facebook, myspace, etc). you'll link the story from wherever that is, and if people ask who is in your avatar, you send them in the right direction!

if they're special to you, they're special to us and now they're our special.

From Kari,

How ironic that I find myself, on World Cancer Day, mourning the one year anniversary of my father's death at the age of 58. He fought 2.5 years after having his stomach and much of his esophagus removed from adenoarcinoma. He beat it, and it came back in his bowels. Though he went from approximately 275 pounds (he was a tall, broad man) down to about 80 pounds at his passing... I always will remember him as the giant teddy bear who could make anyone laugh, who could play the drums like a rockstar and who would call me "Missy" and make me feel like the happiest little girl on earth. I am sending along his photo..

I adore this picture. It's old.. around 1972... so he would have been 22 or so.. but I always  thought he looked so handsome in it!!

Art Butler is someone special.  And today, he's OUR someone special.

Here's what we're going to do:

- Share this link with our friends all over the webs

- Change our avatars to Arts picture. Even if its for a few hours (right-click and save the picture to your computer so you can upload it elsewhere)

Submit your Special Someone to drdrew AT gmail.com and next Thursday we'll do it again.