Please Show Support for GRACE

   For the past 18 months, I’ve spent 1-3 hours of just about every day answering questions and writing new posts.  As many people have noted, this time comes at the cost of personal time with my wife and children and other projects I do, including work I would be paid to do.  I’m happy to do it, because I believe it’s important, and I can see that many people need the service.  Every day, people offer their profound thanks.  But GRACE actually needs more people to show some support; I feel like I’m nearly the only person really making a sacrifice, while many people are benefiting greatly.   I have tried hard to not guilt people into providing support, but sitting by and waiting really doesn’t work.  This money isn’t for me personally (I’m not planning to receive any money for my time on the site), but I need help from other people, and most of them will really need to be paid at least a modest amount to justify the time they’re not spending on other activities, many of which could pay better.   And I, too, need to get a better signal that other people value this enough to actually contribute.

    I and the board of GRACE have been discussing a couple of ideas for ways to show support in a more concrete way.  One is to sponsor specific posts, for something like a scheduled donation of $25/month (or a discount for a yearly rate of $250).  There will be a box message, with or without a picture of a person, saying that a certain post is provided through the generous sponsorship of Mrs. X, etc.     Other people who want to have an even greater impact can sponsor entire categories or sections, or sponsor a position for an additional faculty member, such as a university’s endowed chair positions.

   The second concept is to provide tribute messages, which will be on pages that are linked from our support section and include boxed messages of varying sizes, like buying an inscribed brick at the playground or an ad in the local school yearbook.  These can range from a short message of support (”In honor of Mom’s great scans, March 2008″) or remembrance of someone, to larger boxes that can include significant text, pictures, whatever.   The costs for such messages will likely start at $50 and go from there.  These pages will be searchable, so you and others can always find your messages of support.

   I want people to be able to point to something their contribution has enabled, to take pride in how their support is enabling GRACE to help other people.  You can have your name or that of someone you love providing sponsorship of this critical education, and/or you can provide a tribute on those dedicated pages that provides a personalized message and communicates that you’ve supported this worthwhile effort.

   You can provide comments after this post here, or you can e-mail me (west@cancergrace.org) with questions or comments or offerings.  We’re building these mechanisms, and anyone who provides support now will have their contributions applied toward whatever they’d like to sponsor.  We’re bringing in new people, but we need everyone’s support.  Plenty of people gain valuable insight and support here.  Please reciprocate by supporting GRACE. 

The Case for Grace

What is the Global Resource for Advancing Cancer Education (GRACE)?

GRACE is a nonprofit organization founded by doctors, nurses, and other specialists who are committed to improving the care that cancer patients receive. We believe that all cancer patients and their caregivers should have free access to the latest information about their cancer. We also believe that all cancer patients have a right to the best treatments available. We believe that knowledge is power-power to conquer your fears of the unknown, power to take control of your own treatment, and power to heal.

You ask the questions. GRACE provides the expert answers. Even with good oncology training, a general cancer physician can't be an expert in every type of cancer. That's why we've assembled a team of experts who focus on their own specialized corner of oncology. This team can also answer questions on topics that cut across cancer types, like radiation oncology, oncology social work, and complementary medicine.

Cancer care evolves from day to day. Thats why GRACE is here: To provide constantly updated, interactive, and expert-mediated discussion of the details of cancer management.