A personal plea
by Jennifer V. Colvin
Editor in Chief
I've spent a lot of time thinking about
how to write this story. I've decided
that the only way to do it right is to tug
on a few heart strings.
This is a plea.
I'm not asking for money. I'm not
asking for your firstborn. I'm asking for
help.
Outside the context of a normal news
story, I feel that the best way to reach a
lot of people quickly is to open myself
to the readers.
I am the type of person who doesn't
share easily, so listen up.
Many people have A Cause. Some
want to save the whales; others fight for
human rights. Me, I fight for a cure - for
cancer.
This cause has developed deep inside
of me for many years, beginning with
the death of my grandfather after a long,
hard battle with cancer.
But it goes deeper than that.
Not too many years ago, my family
pulled together to help my father fight
leukemia.
One of the best known cures for bone
cancers such as leukemia is to replace
the bone marrow with a transplant.
Bone marrow is what I like to call
Life. It courses through our bones and
supplies our bodies with what they need.
As it was once described to me as a
child, deep inside of our bodies and
If you are between the ages of 18 and 60
and in good health, you can participate in a
frit bone marrow donor screening.
Tuesday, March 4
2:00 - 6:00 p.m.
at
Villa Maria Center Dining Room
2551 West Bth Street
Call the HLA Foundation at 800-336-3363
or Saint Vincent Ask-A-Nurse at 452-5500
for more information about screening.
You can pre-register for the screening by
calling 838-0431
bones horrible disease can grow,
altering the functions and capabilities of
our bodies.
To rid our bodies of diseases such as
bone cancer, doctors kill the marrow
with chemotherapy and intense
radiation, then replace the marrow with
new, purified bone marrow.
Patients can either use their own
marrow which has been treated to be
disease free, or they can receive marrow
from a donor.
In the fall of 1988, I was tested, along
with the rest of my family, for HLA
compatibility with my father.
God was on our side, and my
grandfather was a match. In the spring
of 1989, my father underwent intense
treatments of deadly radiation to kill
basically everything in his body. After
two weeks of torture, doctors filled his
empty bones with life from a small bag
containing what looked more like
squashed tomatoes.
During his slow recovery, my father
fought every moment of the way. After
EARN moNE7
TUTORING!
?he Penn State Educational .
Partnership Program needs tutors.
'They are seeking college students to
tutor middle school and high school
students any day of the week,
Please cad Kathy at 871-6689 for
information! Don't wait!! Call
EDUCATION LOAN FUND
FOR WOMEN
The PEO Education Loan Fund
makes loans to qualifying women
who desire higher education and are
in need of financial assistance.
Maximum amount available: $5200.
Each applicant will be evaluated by
PEO trustees who will determine
more information, contact the
Financial Aid Office at 898-6162.
Dr. *ger Knacke, wiff
present his lecture
?le Galileo _lesson to
_Jupiter flhursday night
at 7:30 p.m. in Science
101.
This lecture is part of Tenn
State-Behrenes Open House
*fits in Astronomy.
horrendous amounts of pills and steroids
everyday, we were overcome with
emotion when the doctors told us that
his body was leukemia free.
Please don't be lulled into thinking
this had a sweet ending. Recovery from
a bone marrow transplant does not end
there.
Transplants cost thousands of dollars
and even more in emotions. Months
after a transplant, recipients continue to
fight for recovery.
Imagine your body literally without an
immune system. It would be difficult to
live a normal day to day life.
Transplant patients cannot eat food
that is not well done; the spice pepper,
among other things, is excluded from
the diet. When in public, recipients
must wear a mask to help filter out
particles in the air.
And still things can go wrong. In
August of 1989, my father got an
infection in his lungs aqd later died.
We buried him with his bag that had
once contained Life.
To this day, I am still proud of my
father because he won in the end. He
beat the disease. My father died
without the horrible monster leukemia
coursing through his veins. Instead my
father died with that sweet taste of
victory on his tongue; he had won and
leukemia had lost.
After my father's death, I decided that
I could not stand by and watch
crippling diseases like cancer continue
to claim so many lives. It was at that
moment I decided many things: Who
would walk me down the aisle; where I
would go to college; and most of all,
that I would devote my life to cancer
research.
A year later in 1990, I was devastated
to find out that my friend was diagnosed
with another type of bone cancer.
Michelle was a stronghold in my life
that had held fast when I needed firm
ground the most.
Similar to leukemia, her particular
bone cancer could be treated with a
bone marrow transplant. Patiently,
Michelle waited for a transplant.
Not so patient, the cancer took over
her body -- piece by piece, day by day.
Although she had a possible match,
Michelle never found a compatible
donor and died shortly afterwards in
June.
And I could do nothing about it - but
you can.
This Tuesday, March 4 from 2:00 to
6:00 p.m. at the Villa Maria Center
Dining Room, there will be a free bone
marrow donor segasnitag. , -
I urge, plea, and even beg eyeryone to
overcome their personal boundaries and
join me and the HLA Foundation to help
patients waiting for a donor.
If you know someone with cancer,
please get a screening. If you've lost
someone you love to cancer, please
honor their memory by having your
marrow tested. Even if you have never
met anyone who suffered from a
terminal illness, please stop by and be
screened. Doing so gives you an
opportunity to do something so very few
people ever have a chance to do -- save
a life.
Donors are very special people. Do
you think you can be one?
'omination forms are now available for the following awards
`The guy W Wilson 4ward for Excellence ih 4cademk - 4aVising
Council of Excellence in Teaching 4ward
The Yenjamin 4 Cane Outstanding Service 4ward
SO, YOU UKE TO DANCE?
JOIN STAR 104 AND AZT FOR THE
FIRST ANNUAL DANCFA-THON
THIS YEAR'S CONTEST WILL BE HELD IN TNE REED COMMONS
FROM 7:00 P.M. SATURDAY. MARCH 1 UNTIL 720 A.M. SUNDAY,
MARCH 2.
CONTESTANTS CAN JOIN THE DANCE FOR $6 A PERSON, $5O
FOR 10 OR MORE PEOPLE. IF YOU ARE A WIMP AND JUST WANNA
WATCH. IT'S $2.
TICKETS ON SALE AT THE RUB DESK TODAY!
TO PUT YOUR ANNOUNCEMENT
OR ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
IN THE CALENDAR. IT MUST BE
SUBMITTED TO ME COLLEXII
THE MONDAY PRIOR TO
PUBLICATION.
SUBMISSIONS AFTER THIS
DEADLINE WILL RUN THE
FOLLOWING WEEK.
CALL THE OFFICE WITH ANY
OUESTIONS: 8984488
Cheney to speak...
Telling the Truth
Behrend-Lynne V. Cheney, former chairman for
the National Endowment of the Humanities and
outspoken advocate for improving education in
America, will present a lecture, "Telling the Truth:
Why Our Culture and Country Have Stopped
Making Sense," at Behrend on Thurs., Mar. 6 at
7:30 p.m. The talk, part of the College's Speaker
Series, will be held in the Reed Union Building
Commons. It is free and open to the public.
Firm in her conviction that we must improve our
schools, Cheney has championed school choice for
parents, alternative certification for teachers, and
national standards to measure student achievement.
She also emphasizes values as a necessary
foundation for learning. "If we want our children to
think that honesty and hard work matter, we must
tell them why these ideas arc important," she says.
"Now, in many cases, we're giving them the
opposite message -- and, unfortunately, they arc
listening."
the wife . of foriner U.S.'SVeretarY`orreenge
Richard Cheney speaks out forceful against
political correctness in academic settings, seeing it
as a threat to free speech and intellectual life. She
believes that colleges and universities should
pursue truth, not political agendas.
Cheney particularly stresses the need to reaffirm
that there are values we all share, regardless of race
or gender. "We are a country built on creed," she
pointed out in a recent speech. "Many countries
define themselves ethnically, but we have
historically defined ourselves by a common set of
common ideas and ideals."
2 - SUNDAY
SUIDISMR
must IRNE
220 PlO
MOVIE 10:00 PM
RANSOM
Students, groups, faculty and staff may submit
nominations to the Provost's Office by March 14, 1997.
Nomination forms are available in the Library, at the
RUB Desk, the Computer Center, Academic Unit Offices,
and the Prcivost's Office
R. Th.,. ,r)
27 - THURSDAY 28 - FRIDAY 1 - SATURDAY
IVCF
REALITY CHECK 2:00 PM REED 113 MARTIAL ARTS
520 PM REED 112 10:00 AM
NEWMAN STUDIO THEATER: NIAGARA BASEMENT
8:00 PM REED 3 BRILLIANT TRACES STUDIO THEATER:
8:00 PM BRILLIANT TRACES
8:00 PM
MOVIE 10:00 PM MOVIE - 10:00 PM MOVIE - 10:00 PM
RANSOM RANSOM RANSOM
3 - MONDAY 4 - TUESDAY 5 - WEDNESDAY
COMMUTER COUNCIL
1:00 PM REED 112
PERSONAL GROWTH GROUP
FOR WOMEN
6:00 PM
COUNSELING CENTER
SCA MEETING
5:15 PM REED 114
Thursday, February 27, /997 The Behrend College Collegian - Page 3
The Washington Times wrote
that "In a time of cultural insanity,
National Endowment for the
Humanities Chairman Lynne
Cheney could could be counted on
as a voice of reason."
A novelist and widely published
author, Cheney holds a Ph.D. in
English and is currently the W.H.
Brady Jr. Distinguished Fellow at
the American Enterprise Institute.
The 1997 Speaker Series,
"Approaching 2000: Uniting
Science, Technology, and
Humanity," is sponsored by the
Office of Student Affairs.
LEARNING ASSISTANCE
CENTER SERVICES
203 Library
Monday 12 -4'
Tuesday 10 -2, 6 - 8
Wednesday 12 -4, 6 - 8
Thursday 10 -1,6 - 8
Sunday 4 - 7
**Math assistance also available in the
LAC during the evening and Sunday