Wednesday, April 04, 2012

a little great and a little weird

Last year was a weird year. I think I spent the year licking my wounds. I don't think I fully appreciated the profound effect that my mother's passing had on me. I think only recently have shaken the haze of mourning.

One of the things that I have tried to do is to give back, specifically with regards to Cancer. My mother spent the last few days of her life at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. There wasn't much they could do medically at that point, but they helped us get the most out of those last days. We had a large room where over 200 people visited her in her last days. The nurses moved her and kept her comfortable, but perhaps more importantly to me, they let me participate in her care.

Rewind a few years and you'd find me, a young lab tech, with no lab experience working at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. I worked in the lab of Diana Stafforini, a quick-witted, and insightful scientist. I think my sloppy lab work didn't help her much, but I gained some insight. So since then, I have jumped at the chance to do whatever I could to help the Huntsman Cancer Foundation raise money and awareness for cancer. They are a great foundation and spend the great bulk of any donation directly towards research. Here is the latest piece that I got to work on for them: