Bonemarrow – the ultimate Christmas gift…

Posted on December 11, 2009 by Sue In The City

The holidays are a time for giving – gifts, time, money, but I’d like you to give something else.

My friend Lauren’s boyfriend Seun Adebiyi is facing the the battle of his life, and for his life. This 26-year old has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. Time is running low and because he is from Nigeria, finding a match remains an exceptional challenge. In addition to fearlessly facing leukemia, Seun is a super-hero in many other rights: he is a Yale Law School graduate, a massage therapist, a private pilot, and an Olympic hopeful (in the skeleton – which is similar to bob sledding – hello Cool Runnings!).

We need you to help raise awareness in the fight against leukemia and lymphoma. Only about 17% of African-Americans ever find a match. We need help finding a match for Seun.

Seun’s employer, Goldman Sachs, will generously be sponsoring a bone marrow drive in New York City on January 10th. Goldman Sachs is also helping Seun take the search global, by sponsoring his travel to Nigeria, where he and his mother will host the first-ever Nigerian bone marrow drive.

If I haven’t yet convinced you that you need to register to become a bone marrow donor and tell everyone else to do the same, read this article in the New York Times, and follow Seun’s blog here. If you have a blog, please help me spread the word by posting this on yours.

If you are not yet a registered donor, please register now at http://www.dkmsamericas.org/. All it takes is a simple cheek swab. You could save a life.

Anticipation Flu?

Posted on November 18, 2009 by Sue In The City

Since this past Saturday I have been plagued with body aches, fever, the sniffles and generally feeling like death-warmed-up. Now I really don’t think of myself as a sickly person, but it seems like I was really sick not that long ago – in fact, it was just before the New York Half Marathon. Now, less than a week before our long-anticipated trip to Brazil, here I am again…in bed, feeling like I got run over by a bus!

The timing on this flu is not great at all – we are scheduled to depart for a nine day trip to Brazil on Friday night. Three days in the Amazon, staying at an Eco-Lodge and then the rest of the days in Rio de Janeiro. And even if I get over mine, it would absolutely suck if John caught my bug and had to feel this way on a plane (or in the jungle).

So in order to minimize his chances of getting infected, John has been abolished from the germ-infected bedroom and has spent the last two nights on the sleeper sofa, which he says is not all that comfy after all. We have bottles of hand-sanitizer stationed all over the apartment and a container of anti-germ wipes in the bathroom. Here’s hoping that many bottles of Gatorade, many doses of Dayquill, Nighquill, Sudafed and the daily dose of Iron will have me up and running in time for our flight to Rio on Friday night.

But why do I seem to get sick every time before a long-anticipated event? Could I be suffering from a newly formed disease called ‘Anticipation Flu’? Not many studies (other than my own, based on the Half Marathon and Brazil, in fact) have been done on this new disease, but it seems that the effects are definitive and real. I’m hoping that this round will work out as well as the Half Marathon one did. If not I’ll just have to throw myself in front of an Amazonian Anaconda.

Betacup – an easy way to do good

Posted on November 9, 2009 by Sue In The City

I just pledged $20 to help fund Betacup, a project that my good friend Marcel is involved in. Betacup is looking for innovative ideas that will replace the wasteful paper cups that we use so many of (over 50,000,000,000 a year, in fact!).

If you could spare some $$’s, please follow the link and make a pledge. Also, let me know that you did so I can let Marcel know you did too. By helping each other, we help the world, right?