The Cancerful Foundation

I’ve been talking a lot to Chad lately, of The Brain Chancery fame, which is always fun. And by “fun” I mean “a really effective way to keep my ego in check.” Because while I walk around thinking I’m a badass because I had one brain surgery, Chad has gone on to have four (he actually ran to two of them), which he’s documented on his funnier-than-mine blog.

Oh, and he ran to his fourth surgery. And filmed it. And started a non-profit. (More on that in a minute. In the meantime, watch the video.)

There are some evenings when I go to bed and wonder what I did all day, and then it comes back to me in a montage of reddit links, mindless shopping on Zappos, and some half-hearted nose-picking. Oh, and maybe, maybe, if there’s any time left over, I’ll actually write something useful or poetic or funny. And if I had brain cancer, that would be considered a productive day. More often than not, I bet I’d spend my waking hours fast-forwarding to all the scenes in Jurassic Park that feature Jeff Goldblum while mashing my face full of cake. And if anyone tried to give me a hard time about it I’d scream, “I HAVE BRAIN CANCER” which would be entirely unintelligible because my mouth would be full of frosting.

But Chad, butthole that he is (and I say that with affection), actually has brain cancer, and spends his time trying to make people laugh. His logic is that if you can create some fun and levity in the life of a “cancerful” person, you can cure them (at least temporarily). He even wrote a screenplay that centers on that idea.

So while I’ve been doing nothing, here’s what Chad has done:

• Finished aforementioned screenplay for Cancer! The Musical.
• Came up with The Cancer Card – as in, “I’m going to play The Cancer Card.” Because, according to Chad, there should be perks to having cancer, and they should include getting out of speeding tickets and not having to wait three days for your car to get fixed. He wants to make them available for free to anyone who needs them.
• Setting up The Cancerful Foundation – a non-profit organization that helps people who are cancerful.
• Started work on the “Cure My Day” project. It’s basically like a registry for people with cancer, so friends can help them out (with stuff like “a ride to radiation therapy on Thursday” or “walking the dog because I’ve just had chemo and need to spend the afternoon barfing”).
• Oh, and he’s now writing a book called Cancer! The Manual, which he wants to make available for free.

Yeah. It’s enough to make anyone feel unaccomplished.

Yesterday, Chad emailed me, and he played The Cancer Card. And he asked if I would help spread the word about his amazing project. And I will, but not before sharing this photo in which I look adorable and he looks like a goober:

Please visit the site for The Cancerful, where you can learn all about the incredible things he doing. Read about how he’s feeling now, after receiving an experimental treatment which kept him in the hospital for most of the summer. And if you can, please consider donating to his organization. It’s for a good cause.

I know I’m going to. Because it makes me feel like maybe I accomplished something today.