.

Tickets now on sale!! Get yours now...

2009-09-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

Tickets for CDS are now on sale: www.cirquedusurvivor.com

Advance ticket sales will help cover the costs of the venue and performers, and you can help us greatly by getting yours now and passing on the word to others (feel free to forward the link, post it on your facebook status, talk to your friends about it). CDS is a wonderful way to spend Halloween weekend helping the fight for a cure for the rare sarcoma, desmoid tumors, celebrating life and cancer survivorship and delighting in circus fun with your friends and family. If you can't attend the event but would like to support our efforts, you can donate directly at: www.dtrf.org/onlinedonationform.htm and mention Cirque du Survivor.

Other Ways That You Can Help

In addition to our goal of raising $25,0000 our mission is to raise awareness of this rare sarcoma and to connect desmoid survivors with resources for their cancer survivorship.

We're trying to get 500 people between our twitter feed, this blog and our facebook group/fanpage by November 1. You can help simply by joining (and invitging your friends) and showing our measurable outreach.

www.twitter.com/cirqueDsurvivor

Unfortunately, facebook is still clunkly with the links.

You can copy and paste these urls or just search for "Cirque du Survivor" in fb.

www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=109523890588&ref=ts and http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Francisco-CA/Cirque-du-Survivor-A-Circus-Event-to-Benefit-Desmoid-Tumor-Research/102131616233?ref=ts

Also, we are still seeking auction items, please contact Auction Chair, Natalie Conforti, na_conforti@hotmail.com

Thank you for your support of this event and desmoid tumor survivors.

With a disease this rare, we are one in a million, but with your support we're not alone.

Auction circus

2009-09-03T10:33:00.001-07:00

The support from friends and local businesses donating auction items has been incredible; here is a partial list with some of the wonderful items received so far: http://www.cirquedusurvivor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=56
But we will need many more for a successful auction and to reach our fundraising goal. If you have a gift certificate, special experience or other item that you can donate, please contact CDS Auction Chair, Natalie Conforti, na_conforti@hotmail.com or tel 415/971-6873.
Need some creative ideas? Gift certificates - restaurants, spas, toy stores, boutiques, yoga studio passes, travel, wineries, event tickets: sports, comedy, theater, movies... , babysitting/housecleaning/pet sitting services, art, your creative idea here _____

What would you do if you knew you could not fail? - Eleanor Roosevelt

2009-07-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

That is my motto for this event, this year and for ensuring there is a real cure for desmoid tumors. What would I do? I would create a circus, cure desmoid tumors and have a year of uplifted spirits, magic and celebration with friends - with CDS now I am! What would you do?
I hope you'd join us and do some of the same.
I am totally blown away by the generosity, creativity and support CDS has received. We were all so busy in July creating the event, there was hardly time to post on the blog, but stay tuned for announcements soon of all the good stuff happening: an incredible Casting Director who has just joined our team, our new website, exciting auction prizes - and more.
If you have contacts at companies who could consider corporate sponsorship at the $1000 - $5000 level, please let me know at missmlove@yahoo.com
Also, we are also seeking auction items such as dinner at San Francisco's popular restuarants, hotel stays, theater and event tickets - or whatever creative prizes you can dream up for us. Contact our Auction Chair, Natalie Conforti, na_conforti@hotmail.com.
When you are diagnosed with a disease like desmoid tumors, with a recurrence rate of 50 - 70% (depending which studies you follow) you have to live in a world of miracles and believing that anything is possible. That is why I love the circus so much and want to share its magic with other cancer and desmoid tumor survivors - if my friends can hang from their toes and contort like pretzels, any sort of miracle is possible for our bodies too.

Big day today!! And the cancer/desmoid duck

2009-06-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

Fingers and toes crossed for meetings this afternoon. Good friend of Cirque du Survivor (I hope to say "committee member" later today ; ), Erik Muller, has arranged meetings with a potential corporate sponsor and the American Cancer Society to discuss partnerships for this event. Send good thoughts our way for a successful afternoon!!

This is a good opportunity to address desmoids' place in the cancer world. Desmoids are sometimes treated as the "distant cousin" at the family picnic of cancer, and the significance of meeting with ACS today is tremendous. The more that we can claim our place at the table, the better access we will have to research funding, support services, more accurate diagnosis and better treatment. All of this translates to better survival rates and experience.

Many oncologists tell their desmoid patients that desmoids "are not cancer"/that they don't metastasize. This is sort of true in that they very *rarely* metastasize, so we often get lumped in the benign basket. Many of us theorize that our dr's just say this because they think it will make us feel better and maybe its easier not to say "you have cancer." However, ask any desmoid patient whose more than a year into treatment if that distinction makes a difference to them, and they will most likely give you a resounding, passionate, "no!!" Much of the research published on desmoids will read something like, "while classified as benign, these tumors are aggressively growing, can affect adjacent structures and organs and can be fatal." I translate that as: "if you care to call it benign, go ahead, but if it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it still pretty much sucks in all the same ways as cancer." Desmoid patients receive their care from oncologists and receive the exact same full spectrum of [sometimes horrible] treatments as "cancer patients": chemo, radiation, invasive surgery which can include amputations, and cancer drugs). We get our support at cancer centers and through cancer support groups and organizations. After treatment cancer patients learn that the big life/death issue is actually not the sum game. The issues of survivorship start to actually feel much bigger, and they are the same for desmoid and other cancer survivors: adjusting to your new and different (and not necessarily better) post-surgery body, friends who just don't get it or "can't deal" and fade away, fertility concerns and the grieving process if having children is no longer an option after treatment (especially if your oncologist was not on top of dealing with it *before* treatment - and lets say radiates your ovaries without warning you), employment, insurance and dating concerns, and all the doorprize of a lifetime supply of those pesky MRIs, scans and dr's appts . Cancer treatment has come a far way, and more cancer patients get to sigh a deep sigh of relief when passing the 5-year mark. But desmoid patients don't have that milestone. With a recurrence rate upwards of 60% even with surgery, chemo and radiation, we continue to have the cloud of recurrence concern well after treatment. This is why so many of us feel right at home using the moniker "cancer survivor" in describing our experience and finding a new post-treatment identity and community.

Now for something uplifting. We heart cancer research, organizations and support groups. We love our cancer survivor friends who embrace us, say "that's ridiculous" when we tell you our doctors or family sometimes tell us "that's not cancer", who understand that we have a shared experience and give us a place of community and support. The more than we align forces the stronger we all are in a fight for a cure and a more vital and thriving survivorship experience. We thrive with the acceptance of cancer organizations and we dream of the day when we will be fully under the fold of all of the cancer organizations and very importantly, the research dollars. Until then, we sweat it out and ask for the help of our friends, family and other allies as we do everything in our power to raise the much-needed funds ourselves for research. The beneficiary of this fundraiser, The Desmoid Tumor Research Foundation, is *the only* organization dedicated to funding research for desmoid tumors, and you can see how critical it is that we get additional support. The breakthrough for a cure is just around the corner. Splitting hairs will not get us there, but banding together to create one strong rope will get us all up the mountain.
Come on and climb with us - the view from the top is going to be magical!!

Committee Meetings - Tuesday nights - join us 6/2 at 5:30

2009-05-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

A problem that every host committee wishes for - we now have too many people for the casual monthly "committee meeting brunch"! Tuesday, June 2 will be the kickoff of our bimonthly host committee meetings and conference call - everyone is welcome to participate and contribute. If you want to join us, please send me an email missmlove@yahoo.com so that I can reserve a large enough conference room, bring enough yummy snacks, and send you the agenda and materials before the meeting.
Deats:
When: Tuesday, 6/2/09, 5:30 - 7:00 PM Pacific Time
Where: Gap Headquarters, 2 Folsom at the Embarcardero, San Francisco (conference room TBD) or call in toll free 712-432-1620 Code 396-842
What: Some snacks, an overview of the event and the "next steps", getting your input, ideas and creative energy
Why: Kick some tumor ass and have fun and make a difference while planning an awesome circus event together
Hope to see you there!!

Event sponsors

2009-05-04T16:42:00.000-07:00

I am completely awed by how many people are stepping up to help - subscribing and forwarding this blog, sending emails with lead and contacts, sending suggestions - it all really does make a difference. Even when you drop a line of encouragement, that is an immeasurable help. Thank you all!!
We now have an emerging SF steering committee!!
In this economy, I realize it is a little tougher to make donations, but there are so many ways to contribute. In lieu of a donation, it would be a huge help to get leads on possibilities for corporate sponsorship and auction items. We will thank them heartily on this blog, the facebook group (coming soon...), at the event in signage, in the program, and provide them VIP attention for the event. You can "donate" those directly to me at missmlove@yahoo.com and you won't even need to track it for tax time!! And please subscribe to the blog - it'll really help to have a lot of subscribers when we knock on sponsors doors - and I'll share more photos as our adventures unfold....

Love, Chaos, Dinner - CDS may have found its home

2009-05-02T23:17:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, fellow host committee member, Natalie, and I went to Teatro Zinzani http://love.zinzanni.org/ on a venue reconnaissance mission to find out what happens under that secret tent along the Embarcadero. "Love, Chaos and Dinner" is their theme and they promise a gourmet 5-course meal and night of spectacular circus-themed performance. I've always been a bit more than curious, but they seemed to come dangerously close to dinner theater and being such a maniacal foodie, I was scepticle and had yet to check them out. All I can say is O - M - G!! I was totally spellbound. The tent is straight out of a dream, and that is with all the callousness of one who has seen many-a-burningman/circus art themed space. It's like walking into a private, turn-of-the-last-century brothel (and I mean that in the best sense of course), with pattered silk covered walls and crystal chandeliers that hang from the top of circus tent that eerily gently sway with each big gust of wind. The food was, well, spectacular. Seasonal asparagus appetizer, pea soup with carrot chips and some drizzly oil infusion, perfectly done lamb and a lemon tart that kept me at my table after the show ended. It made me think twice about having a cocktail-only event for our fundraiser - how can we deny our guests the TZ catering? The performance was not quite as "circussy" as I expected, but that being said it did include the most flexible contortionist I have ever seen, who was also a fantastic hand balancer, a first-rate aerial performance (which are the most important elements of circus, to me) and what might be my all-time favorite Chinese-pole routine "Vertical Tango". So although not totally circus-sated, the performances were absolutely top notch even for a circus snob, er connoissure. But what I *did* get, that I did not at all expect, was a hilarious, folded-over-in-my-chair, thank-goodness-I-had-nothing-in-my-mouth-that-I-could-accidentally-snort-out-my-nose (especially not that pea soup) show by a seasoned and very talented performer, improv comedian and drag-Queen extraordinaire, Kevin Kent. There is just no way to describe the kind of show he spins, so all I can say is I was captivated hook line and sinker (but managed to keep my soup in place). It was instant addiction, so strong that at one point I thought, "this is torture!! This is so much fun, what will I do now - I can't go every night!!" Maybe I'll join the throngs of other TZ devotees, longingly counting the days for their next fix. So, what else is there to say? The night, the show, the space, it's all so perfect - and hopefully the home future home of Cirque du Survivor. Let the magic begin!!

Venue search - so many wonderful places in SF

2009-05-02T21:49:00.001-07:00

Last week I started exploring possible venues for this big top adventure. Most importantly, the space has to be able to host 250 - 300 guests, allow safe rigging for aerial work (trapeze) and have space to set up a full blues band with a dance floor and the auction. Since I'm dreaming big, and SF has so many unique buildings, I'd also like the space to be extraordinary. So, I started with The Women's Building (TWB), an absolute one-of-a-kind, SF treasure. After going on a site tour, it's clear that sadly their auditorium is too small for Cirque du Survivor, but I want to give them props. TWB is that mysterious-to-some building in the Mission at 18th just below Guerrero, with the spellbinding mural - paying tribute to Women's History and general women's awesomeness - that wraps all around it. They are an entirely-woman owned building (believed to be the first in the US) providing below-market office space rental to nonprofits that serve women in a safe environment and also renting space to people in the community (I volunteered at a Kamala Harris rally there years ago, and they do b-days, weddings, yoga classes, AA Meetings, you name it) . I can't say enough about what they do and the super lovely, friendly women who work there. I heart the Women's Building!! Please consider using them for an event. Contact Alma (415) 431-1180, extension 21. www.womensbuilding.org

But alas, the search for CDS's venue goes on...