Delivering Happiness

I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced copy of Tony Heish’s Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose.  At face value, as a physician, a book about Tony Hsieh’s road to success and desire to create a company known for its unique company culture doesn’t apply.  But Delivering Happiness is truly applicable to any and everyone seeking greater happiness and fulfillment out of life!

My copy has so many folded corners and underlined passages. I felt I could not justly share all the wisdom I gained from Tony’s book in one post.  I have decided to dedicate this week to posts inspired by insight found within the pages of Delivering Happiness.  The posts will start tomorrow…the day the book hits the shelves! You can still donate to LIVESTRONG and receive a copy of the book in return here.

P.S. I am super excited to be attending the book launch party/LIVESTRONG event tomorrow in NYC. Pictures to follow in my week long DH posts!

Wrap Up Africa

Wrap Up Africa Promo from Amanda Bontecou on Vimeo

Through the Livestrong Global Summit and the lovely Christine Mason Miller I have had the great fortune of getting to know Letha Sandison, the founder of Wrap of Africa.

Wrap Up Africa has an amazing opportunity before it, but it needs some help.  Their building has become unstable and dangerous to remain using for long and that will not change in the near future.  Serendipitously, there is a new building available in the same neighborhood. It is a wonderful opportunity as there are very few buildings that are within the hospital area that would be suitable for our uses. As the US Embassy funded this commercial space, there was oversight during its construction and it was built using good and safe building practices.

Wrap Up Africa teaches tailoring skills and train participants to make beautiful products, pay them a fair wage for what they create, and provide a market for what they produce. With the funds they earn, the tailors are able to meet many of the challenges they face with a cancer diagnosis such as obtaining food, lodging, transportation, and medical expenses including treatment. The profits from clothing sales are funneled back to support clinical and educational programs, helping participants and their children to have a better quality of life and to improve the health outcomes of future pediatric cancer patients in Uganda.

Wrap Up Africa has just been offered a complimentary membership to the Clinton Global Initiative and invited to attend their upcoming meeting in September. USAID is bringing buyers from large retailers out to visit the (hopefully new) facilities.  WUA strives to provide hope, empowerment and support to Ugandan families struggling with cancer. WUA was founded in response to the growing and largely unrecognized needs of pediatric cancer patients in Uganda.

Christine Mason Miller is offering some amazing giveaways in conjunction to raising money for this amazing opportunity (check it out here).  Every dollar helps!  Please help this dream become a reality.

It’s How You Recover

“Everybody gets knocked down, how quick are you going to get up?” Nike

This just makes me want to go work out!

Thoughts for Haiti

Amazingly difficult photos of what is going on in Haiti from the Boston Globe.

Willful ignorance is not an option.

via Boston Globe

via Boston Globe

via Boston Globe

Please find a way to give back.  There are many amazing organizations conducting important humanitarian work in this time of crisis.  The Livestrong community just donated $250,000 to my two personal favorite medical organizations: Doctors Without Borders and Partners In Health. Check out more about their commitment and these organizations here.

Shinanigans For A Cause

As Movember draws to a close this week, and guys around the world get ready to shave their mo’s in the name of testicular and prostate cancer awareness, I couldn’t help but think about all the crazy shinanigans out there to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes.

A few of the other creative fundraisers that come to mind:

Hawks for the Homeless

Pints for Prostates

St. Baldrick’s

The Testicle Tour

The common denominator: dudes and alcohol!

Book Fairy

Christine Mason Miller, author of one of my favorite books, “Ordinary Sparkling Moments” had been posting on her 100 Books Project on her blog.  Copies of her book were being left for strangers to find in cities all over.  I anxiously awaited her posts on this project.  I have always been a sucker for surprises.   I can’t imagine how excited I would be to happen upon such an amazing book!

Christine posts pictures with information on where and when the books are left as well as any follow up information from the recipient.  I contacted her and told her that I was going to Ireland and if she was interested I would be more than willing to take a book along to leave.  I was so excited when she took me up on her offer!

As I traipsed around Dublin, on my one day of sight seeing after the Livestrong Global Cancer Summit, I searched for the perfect place to leave the book.  Check out her post here to see where I left “Ordinary Sparking Moments” as well as more about the project and what has happened with the other copies.

Livestrong Day 10/2

Friday is Livestrong Day!  This year it is being celebrated around the globe as we try to bring greater awareness to the global cancer burden.  Livestrong Day events are a way to help your friends and neighbors understand that fighting cancer isn’t just up to doctors and researchers—it’s up to all of us. Please take a minute to add or find an event, and join our cause!! www.livestrongaction.org/map

Today’s Livestrong blog post on events “outside of the box” featured my Livestrong Day project. Check it out here!

Summit Day 3: Mobalization

The final day of the Summit focused on stigma and the power of storytelling and digital medial to mobilize global action.  Thomas Crampton, a digital media specialist, gave a very informative presentation on the keys of storytelling to facilitate change.  He shared the below clip of Bill Clinton from the closing session of the Clinton Global Initiative in 2007 as an example of truly effective storytelling.

Some of the points Thomas Crampton made that I found most helpful include:

-They key to a telling a powerful story is to show, not tell

-All stories should include 4 main elements:

1. Person: never a generic character

2. Setting: A surprise is always good

3. Struggle: The crucial element that involves people through to the resolution

4. Resolution: Something is different, it has changed

-Stories should always be authentic, touching, real, and paint a picture

The Summit came to a close with Lance Armstrong and Doug Ulman leading a global cancer call to action.  It was a very full three days, but I leave more inspired and driven than I arrived.  We are not alone in this movement.

As a delegate from Thailand stated, “the work that will come out of this Summit will not be a program or a project- It will be a movement.”

Summit Day 2: Unity and Collaboration

Paul Farmer, myself, Dr. Shulman (Dana Farber CMO)

Day 2 began with a briefing on the newly commissioned report from Livestrong, on the global economic impact of cancer, by Doug Ulman and Dr. Meiro-Lorenzo, Senior Public Health Specialist, Human Development Network at the World Bank.  It was followed by working sessions on leadership within the cancer community, reach to drive social change and innovative approaches to cancer control.  I chose to join the group focusing on underserved populations.  Our group was comprised of individuals from 7 nations addressing a wide range of populations, from Aborigines in Australia’s outback to the inner-city of Chicago.  We had very stimulating discussions that reinforced how so many of the issues are the same no matter where in the world you are trying to drive change.

The highlight of the day was the presentations by Dr. Paul Farmer, co-founder of PIH, and Dr. Larry Shulman, Chief Medical Officer at Dana-Farber cancer Institute.  They presented on delivering cancer care in resource limited settings.  I was so enthused to hear Dr. Farmer’s thoughts on tackling a chronic disease as so much of the work PIH conducts is on the most basic health care needs.  As the underserved begin to live longer lives they too are impacted by chronic diseases.  To be able to discuss some of these issues with the leaders in the field was an absolutely amazing opportunity. Some of the take home points included:

-There is opportunity for scalable models of care for many cancers in developing settings.

- We need to integrate treatment and prevention simultaneously. The key is to find ways to decrease the cost of the medications while implementing screening and awareness programs. In many ways addressing the cancer burden is no different than addressing TB.

-You cannot eliminate education, screening, prevention or treatment at the expense of each other.

-A good clinical exam (which does *not* have to be by a physician), awareness, and self exams can lead to early detection without relying on MRI’s, CT’s and other technological modalities used in the developed setting.

-EVERYONE has social problems that limit effectiveness of care, it doesn’t matter where you are located!

We also learned a bit about the Harvard Global Equity Initiative which aims to address challenges to equitable global development.

The day was brought to a close with an amazing reception and dinner at the Guinness Storehouse.  To have the opportunity to speak and share ideas with so many passionate committed individuals that are truly leading this movement was an opportunity of a lifetime.

Below is a video that was shared the second morning of the conference, “A World Without Cancer.”

“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”  -Margaret Mead

Summit Day 1: Addressing the Cancer Burden

Through a number of presentations by world leaders, the inaugural day of the Summit was spent making the case for the urgent need to address the global cancer burden.  I was blown away by the lineup of speakers, which included, but was not limited to: Dr. Wild, the director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Dr. Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society, Dr. Hill, President of the UICC, as well as many ministers of health, former presidents, and one of my personal favorites, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. While the urgency of the global burden was an overriding theme throughout the presentations, the power of the minds and dedication of all the attendees, from the global leaders down to the community advocates, was equally present.

The afternoon included a very thought provoking session on corporate social responsibility including Mark Parker, Nike’s CEO,  Jonathan Thomas, CEO of American Century Companies, as well as Caroline Roan, President of Pfizer. The moral obligation of corporate American to do its part in making a difference through philanthropic work rang clear. The statement that resonated most with me was Mark Parker’s, speaking of the Nike’s belief in the immense potential of the human being.

The highlight of my day (aside from it ending in a *true* Irish pub) was having the opportunity to begin a discussion with one of my ultimate idols, Dr. Paul Farmer, about the opportunities to combine my passions for global health and cancer in the developing setting.  Picture to come soon!  I look forward to his Summit address and the opportunity to further this discussion with him today.  I feel so honored to be a part of this historical event.

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. Helen Keller