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| Prof. Lilly Cheng of Confucius Institute at SDSU |
On a cloudy fall afternoon in 1996, I sat
shivering and silent in my oncologist’s office while he gave me the dreaded
diagnosis: “Advanced stage IV non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer of the
immune system!”
I
knew virtually nothing about lymphoma. But I learned quickly when my oncologist told
me I’d be “very lucky to live three years.”
I was frightened, of course, but determined to prove him wrong. And today,
23 years later, I’m thankfully still alive and well. The sun still shines for me and my family. But it’s been a long journey.
In the years since my original cancer diagnosis and several recurrences, I've become an advocate for my fellow cancer patients. And that has led to the most important project of my career as a patient advocate: The China Lymphoma Patient Project.
Professor Lilly Cheng - The Confucius Institute
Our project's mission is both ambitious and simple. Lymphoma diagnoses are increasing in China, and we are reaching out to China's population of lymphoma patients and their families, and also increasing awareness of lymphoma in China and across the globe.
We're aligned with pharmaceutical and biotech companies and cancer
hospitals in China and the United States, and with corporations,
foundations, oncologists, researchers and dignitaries in China and the United States.
And now we are honored to be joined by Dr. Lilly Cheng (pictured
above) and her Confucius Institute at San Diego State University. Prof. Cheng is a highly respected professor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
and Director of the Chinese Studies Institute at San Diego State,
which is proudly my alma mater.
A dynamic leader,
Professor Cheng is also Director of the renowned Confucius Institute at SDSU. The Institute was established in collaboration with the Office of
Chinese Language International Council (Hanban), which is committed to
promoting cultural diversity and harmony. In 2013, the Confucius
Institute was the recipient of a $1 million grant from the Hanban, which is
affiliated with China’s Ministry of Education.
Prof. Cheng has kindly offered the Institute, which aims to strengthen educational
and cultural cooperation between China and the United States, as a platform to
get the word out globally about our project.
Professor Cheng and the Institute will have a strong presence at our project's global launch event in January, 2016 at the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative
Medicine, the epicenter of San Diego, California’s booming science and cancer
research community.
The Consortium, which is doing groundbreaking work in stem cells and unlocking
their ability to treat cancer and many other diseases and health issues, is
located in a dynamic spot on Torrey Pines Mesa in La Jolla, California. Within a stone’s throw of the Sanford Consortium are the Salk Institute for
Biological Studies, the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, The
Scripps Research Institute, and the University of California San Diego and the
university’s renowned Moores Cancer Center, which is my personal cancer
hospital.
The project is funded by tax-deductible educational grants and sponsorships, which we are currently seeking. Our 501c3 nonprofit partner is the Children's Treehouse Foundation, whose sole mission is to support children who have a parent with cancer.
A global and prestigious organization based in Colorado, The Treehouse Foundation is in more than 50 top cancer hospitals in the United States and is in countries across the entire globe. The Foundation's mission is to help kids and teens cope with the illness of a mother or father. The Foundation has a deep commitment to China and does outstanding work.
Lymphoma on the rise in China
How did this endeavor come about? Well, I recently learned that lymphoma is on the rise in China, and was saddened by this news. I’ve had a lifelong respect and affection for China's people and culture. While lymphoma is becoming increasingly common in China, that isn’t widely known. But the good news is that China's biotech industry is growing fast. It is very exciting for China and for the world.
China, a country whose people I deeply admire, is making incredible progress in lymphoma research, as I will note in more detail below. But its people still face a spiraling rise in this disease. I’m a relentlessly positive and happy person by nature. And I just want to help as many of my fellow lymphoma patients get through what I've been through and give them the information and the hope they need to survive.
As many of my Chinese friends have wisely told me throughout my cancer battle, “Jamie, being positive and optimistic will not necessarily save you, but being pessimistic and negative will most certainly harm you.”
Building Coalitions With World Lymphoma Leaders
Our project has established significant relationships with several of
the world's most acclaimed lymphoma researchers. We will include at our
launch event in January, 2016 exclusive talks by these renowned scientists, as well as
Professor Cheng and other notable members of the Chinese and Chinese-American
communities.
At the launch we’ll be joyously
celebrating China’s culture and research and the very real and positive
friendship between the people of China and the United States. We will feature some
of China’s most beloved artists, musicians, painters and calligraphers, A-list
celebrities, personal stories from lymphoma survivors, and more.
Our project is reaching out to multiple cancer hospitals in China who are
treating lymphoma, including Buddhist hospitals and others in several
locations. A complete list of participating hospitals will be announced soon.
We are connecting, too, with corporations and foundations in China and the
United States, who are helping us publicize the project and gain support, and
we are of course connecting directly with the people who matter most: the growing
lymphoma population in China and their families. We know that through all of our contacts and resources, we can get our educational and inspirational
message out to a very large number of people in China and around the world.
What Will Our Project Offer?
The China Lymphoma Patient Project will initiate several positive and unprecedented programs to inform and inspire China's lymphoma population, in full cooperation of course with China's government and with China's doctors and hospitals who treat lymphoma patients.
First, the project will have its own dedicated website in both Simplified Chinese and English that will be dynamic and changing all the time. It will include news about lymphoma and China, and will be all about friendship between our two countries. No politics.
The new book will be entirely rewritten exclusively for China and will include the amazing personal stories of Chinese lymphoma survivors, pharmaceutical companies, cancer hospitals and more. The book will of course be translated into Simplified Chinese and be given for FREE to lymphoma patients in China and their families at every doctor's office and hospital with which we partner..
The book for China is just the beginning of what we will be doing for China’s lymphoma patients.
We will also include regular online journalism reports about lymphoma and China in both Chinese and English from renowned journalist, author, musician and lymphoma patient advocate Jamie Reno and other respected American and Chinese journalists.
Our project will keep our supporters up to date on how we are making a real and positive differenced in the lives of China's lymphoma patients, and will be writing about new and pipeline treatments for lymphoma, fellow patients, and more.
Perhaps most importantly, the project will also include a basic full-color, glossy pamphlet, in Simplified Chinese, that explains to patients and their loved ones a little bit about what lymphoma is, the various types, etc.
Living the Dream
Directing the first
and only cancer patient advocacy project for people in China who are suffering
from lymphoma is the fulfillment of a longtime dream. This educational project
is simply about friends reaching out to friends. No politics.
We are for the very
first time bridging the gap between science in China and the lymphoma patients
in China who will benefit from the science. My fellow lymphoma patients need to know that
this cancer is treatable and beatable, and that there are many new treatments
and more in the pipeline and coming soon.
I just want to help people get through what I’ve already been through, and show
them they are stronger and better than their cancer. That mission has led me to
the most meaningful endeavor of my life.
The project mission is simple: Inform and inspire lymphoma patients and their
families in China, where this disease is increasing, and expand global
awareness of what lymphoma is, what the latest treatments are, and what is
coming soon.
Our project enthusiastically supports the new generation of lymphoma treatments
that have just been approved or are in the pipeline. We also support China’s traditional modes of treatment including Traditional
Chinese Medicine (TCM), which of course has been helping people heal for
thousands of years.
Lymphoma Research
Booming in China &
The fact that there is a surge in lymphoma in China, and that China's lymphoma
patients still don't know very much about this type of cancer, is ironic
because there is so much advanced and exciting lymphoma research being done
right now in China.
Many brilliant scientists in China and the United States are working together
to provide new treatments for this disease. However, word of this research has
not yet made its way to the people in China who have lymphoma. But it will
soon.
Here are just some of the companies involved in the increasingly common and encouraging
lymphoma research and treatment partnerships between China and the United
States:
* Cellular
Biomedicine Group (CBMG), the stem cell therapy biomedicine firm with
offices in China and the United States, has a promising new CAR-T cell therapy
for Hodgkin's lymphoma in clinical trials.
* Innovent
Biologics, the prestigious Chinese biotech company run by visionary CEO
Michael Yu, has partnered with American drug company Eli Lilly on a clinical
trial of an immunotherapy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
* Chipscreen
Biosciences, the highly respected China biotech company, recently was given
approval for its innovative treatment for T-cell lymphoma patients.
* And Spectrum
Pharmaceuticals, an American drug company, along with Casi Pharmaceuticals,
an American drug company that focuses on China, have together just brought
Zevalin, their effective, lifesaving radio-immunotherapy for lymphoma, to
China.
What This Project Will
Accomplish
One of my heroes in this world, renowned theoretical physicist, scientist, author and
eternal optimist Stephen Hawking, once said, “Where there’s life, there is
hope.”
This is so very true. And I’m sure Dr. Hawking wouldn’t mind if I reversed that and
also said that, “Where there’s hope, there is life.”
In other words, by spreading hope to our friends in China, we will give many
people in that great country the hope and information needed to successfully
fight this insidious disease.
This project will literally save lives. And what could be more important than that? We would be honored to get you involved in this project and earn your financial
support. Thanks so much for your interest. Hope begins now.
Thank you Professor Cheng for being a part of this dream.
