Had a great time, made alot of great and life long friends.

hope that you enjoy the video.

Keith arrived home from the LIVESTRONG Challenge in Austin with the Palmetto Peleton Project-Challenge to Conquer Cancer teams and I returned from the Zucker Ride for Hope in Charleston, South Carolina and we were both exhilirated with our own individual participation levels in supporting both these great cycling events and anxious to share our stories with one another. No matter how exhausted you are, you are so filled with inspiration when you have been in the midst of collective Warriors and Survivors and bring back to the home plate another inning to be won.
Keith has rested up just in time to kick off our end of the year fundraising campaigns for the BTAO and gearing up for the George Pocheptsov Arts Auction and Traveling Exhibit that will benefit this organization and allow us to distribute resources to patients and their families and secure a physical home where volunteers can assist us in our many tasks.

George is an internationally renowned artist who was recognized as a child prodigy at age 4. George has been commissioned by such celebrities as Michael Jordan, Celine Dion, General Colin Powell and others. The BTAO first became acquainted with George when I began seeking the support for a Semi-Postal Stamp to benefit brain tumor research. George and I have been diligent in the discussions and are still hopeful that there will such a stamp and that George will be the artist that is chosen. The BTAO is working with George on the design of a commemorative stamp to benefit the BTAO and allow its mission to reach beyond state borders, national borders and across international borders one day.
The BTAO is seeking venues to display George’s paintings throughout the holiday season so that South Carolinians can embrace the talent of this fine artist and learn more about the mission of The Brain Tumor Awareness Organization. We ask that you contact us if you would like to present these works to your community.
The Zucker Ride For Hope was held on the same day as the LIVESTRONG Challenge and it was tough to not be able to see Keith complete 45 miles of the Challenge when he had only trained for short distances in less than 2 months.

It was also disappointing for Keith that he couldn’t be at the inaugural cycling event in honor of Jerry Zucker, a brain tumor angel and incredible citizen of Charleston. Although neither of us knew Jerry, we were so honored to be able to represent our organization and also The Lance Armstrong Foundation at this wonderful event.
It was a beautiful day and a great turnout. We were able to spend some time getting to know our new fundraising chair Michael Dennis who swept us away with his enthusiasm for The Lance Armstrong Foundation and cycling during the Stars and Stripes Challenge in Greenville, SC. Thank you Michael for allowing us to assist you and the rest of the cyclists to start your Charleston LIVESTRONG Army!

ICYOU.com interviewed Dawson Cherry who pulled this event together and did an outstanding job! It is just the beginning for Charleston to raise awareness and funds for area cancer organizations and assist patients through their journey.

Our pediatric advocate Julie Long came over from Georgetown, SC and brought pediatric brain tumor survivors who were also members of the Courageous Kidz group and they all donated pedestrian miles to the BTAO event-The International Brain Tumor Alliance’s Walk Around the World for Brain Tumours. We logged a total of 2277 miles between these folks and 4 other groups around the state.

Julie and her daughter Skyla are a real inspiration and have a tremendous survival story. This was the first time that Julie and Julie (me) had met! We both spend a lot of our time in the middle of the night navigating patients and their families to resources and assisting them through the various processes that befall them. The message is…there is hope and you are not alone!
Our friend and board secretary, Janet MacCallum is the longest GBM survivor that we know of-22 years! Her treatment was at University of Alabama-Birmingham when Dr. Henry Friedman was an intern there and it involved injections of radiated cancer cells. This may have been the predecessor of Keith’s treatment 6 years ago!

Last but not least, was my turn. I was excited to discuss the treatment that Keith and David Bailey had and that it is being offered by MUSC by Bradmer Pharmaceuticals for GBM patients.

When you have a story, you have to tell it but when it can share hope, inspire others, raise awareness, funding and bring about public, social and policy changes, then you know you are onto something!
It was a great experience from South Carolina to Texas. And to top it off, many of you may not know that Keith is the great-g-g-g-nephew of General Sam Houston and he went to visit the Sam Houston State University and his home in Huntsville, Texas. All Houston men look exactly the same in profile and body stature! None of them that I know of, cycled in Texas before Keith! Way to go Houston!

As many of you may know, I have been working on the development of a semi-postal stamp series to benefit brain tumor research at the NIH/NINDS. It has been a laborious process over the last 5 years but hopefully, all the stars are aligned to bring this project to the attention of our legislators and with the support of several other neurological agencies and/or non-profits, we may have a grassroots movement to propel this effort forward to benefit not only brain tumor patients and their families but other individuals who are affected by neurological disorders and/or traumatic brain injury.
It all started with the idea, because of the funding that the breast cancer research stamp netted-$52 million in 9 years, and the fact that I was a postal employee and recognize the value of a marketable and saleable postal stamp. I then had the difficult task of finding an individual or subject that would convey the message and be marketable so that the end result would be stamp sales, awareness raised and a branding of sorts with the mission overall.
Our effort began with the idea that George Pocheptsov, an internationally renowned artist who has been recognized by many of the beltway’s residents, and who lost his father to a brain tumor when he was only a toddler, would be the artist to render the stamp. George isn’t one of the artists in the talent pool at the USPS and would have to be accepted through a formal application process to be considered for this project and George’s work is known for its detail, a problem when tranlsating a vision onto a postage stamp. Nevertheless, we will continue the dialog in hopes that there is potential for George to be the artist for the Brain Tumor Awareness Organization’s Commemorative Stamp (wishful thinking), or that our vision of a brain depicted inside of a human profile with the display of a soldier’s helmet, nurses’ cap, baseball cap, and other types of hats swirling in the background and the gleaming image of a silver ribbon incorporated into the picture. This is an amateur’s attempt to convey in a small space the fact that the brain and any of its disorders do not discriminate and that the silver ribbon needs to gain awareness as the national symbol for all those disorders. We trust that we can have direct input to the process so that all brain organizations will support the promotion of said stamp, drive purchases and awareness through their respective support of said stamp, increasing funding for the specific programs dealing with brain injury/disorders/tumors at the DOD, NIH, NIMH, NINDS and the NCI and provide better treatment, screening and support which results in the furthering of each respective organization’s mission-reducing burden, increasing quality of life, making available access to support and medical services and reducing incidence where possible.

Today, we are trying to bring all partners to the table.

The Semi-Postal Stamp Project-

The Brain Tumor Awareness Organization began lobbying for a semi-postal stamp to benefit brain tumor research programs at the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute in 2004.
Today, we have joined forces with The Silver Ribbon Coalition who represent brain organizations also seeking the implementation of a Silver Ribbon Awareness Stamp since 1999.
We have received positive feedback from the United States Postal Service Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee for our project particularly since it would benefit those suffering from traumatic brain injuries, especially our Veterans. We have contacted Dr. William Timmer, the brain tumor research program director at the National Cancer Institute and Dr. Raymond Kington, the Director of the National Institutes of Health to discuss how this project can benefit the following programs: The Department of Defense (DOD) The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes (NINDS) and the Brain Tumor Research Program at The National Cancer Institute. We introduced this project to Senators Lindsay Graham and Jim DeMint, and Representative Bob Inglis for their commitment and support to introduce to Congress.

The Brain Tumor Awareness Organization would like to thank all of its participants in our 2nd Annual Walk on behalf of The International Brain Tumour Alliance’s “Walk Around The World for Brain Tumours“.

Our pedestrians logged 2277 miles and pinned on awareness bibs to raise awareness and show support for our efforts here in South Carolina and beyond!

Since we were involved with other initiatives, we thought it would be great to encourage anyone to get fit and raise awareness so we have begun by taking donated miles from any fitness activity to contribute to our Walk Across the State (240 miles) and the grand total was 20992.5 miles. There were cyclists, runners, rowers, swimmers and more! That is 87.5 times from the Upstate to Charleston! Way to go!

The circumference of the earth at the equator is 24901.55 miles and we were only 3909.05 short!
Way to go fitness gurus! Thanks so much for believing in us, the IBTA and raising awareness for those that need your voice and spirit!