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Painting by Rick Barnett

Cancer Scams and Frankenstein

What do cancer scams and Frankenstein have in common?  Besides both being horrible caricatures of something legitimate and real, that is?  How can we compare a mythological monster to shuksters who claim they can cure your cancer? It begins with understanding how cancer scams work.  Specifically, the false hope scams for cancer patients in an […]

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It Hurts (Poem)

  I’ve been thinking a lot about my mom lately; she passed away in November, 2010.  This is for her.   when I was five and life was a song of excitement and innocence the world was full of mystery and I had never felt the pain of hurt or loss of any kind    and then one day a playmate pushed me right off the swing you picked me up   brushed me off    told me not to cry ‘mommy,’ I said, ‘it hurts’ when I was sixteen and in love for the  first time to a young Cuban girl I felt like     an adult doing adult things dates and kissing and groping and late-night phone calls with the cord stretched and twisted through the house  and under my door    and then one day she left me for another teenage crush and I felt world-ending anguish  burning, hot, consuming as only a teenager can feel them you held me close    told me I’d be ok ‘but mom,’ said I, ‘it hurts.’ when I was thirty-five at the end of my marriage holding on to it with desperate and futile hands trying to be a good father to my sons who put me on a pedestal high enough  to rival the gods I fought depression  […]

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The BinaryBiker is a Candy Striper

Today was my first shift as a volunteer at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh. I’ve been wanting to give back for a while now.  I’ve struggled with cancer awareness and activism, because it always made me feel a little . . . vain.  It makes me feel self-conscious.  I don’t want to be […]

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Pittsburgh Run or Dye 5k

Today marks exactly one week since I’ve moved to Pittsburgh, PA.  About a month before I moved up here, the Binary Princess committed me to a 5k race, the Run or Dye 5k.  She’s been wanting to do a color run for a long time and was so excited this finally came to Pittsburgh. So […]

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Red Blood Cell

Walk a Mile In My Shoes …

… before you give me unasked for advice on how to avoid getting sick so often. Let me start by saying I have a great support network of friend, colleagues, and relatives who all care deeply for me and my health.  I am gently pushed, reminded  and encouraged daily to lead a healthy(ier) lifestyle, to get […]

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My New tattoo - the Phoenix

Binary’s New Tattoo

I am a cancer survivor.  In August 2008 I was diagnosed with Head and Neck cancer, and an incredible and grueling journey began.  A journey that included surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, depression, fatigue, hopelessness, anger, despair, and a forced view of my mortality. It was also a journey of hope, love, compassion, understanding, and renewed vigor for life.  When death […]

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Charlene Delores Sparks

We Buried My Mom Today

We buried my mom today. I write as a cathartic release, a way to deal with the emotions that threaten to consume me.  I am not sure what I am trying to say in this blog,  it is very stream-of-conscience, but I need to talk about my mom.  I can’t NOT do this, so here […]

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Mom and me dancing at my wedding

Rest in Peace, Mom

At 12:21pm today my mom, Charlene Delores Sparks, passed away peacefully in her sleep, surrounded by her children and loved ones at Florida Hospital, Celebration Health near Orlando, Florida. She was 62 years, 9 months, and 8 days old. I am not going to type an emotional blog here – not yet, maybe never.    Many of […]

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Mom Needs Kidney Dialysis

As you know, mom has been battling a septic fungal infection for a few weeks now.  That infection has prevented her from recovering completely and has stopped the surgeons from finishing her skin grafts so she can go home. The infection is extremely difficult to control.   Fungal infections are notoriously hard to fight because, […]

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Mom’s Fungal Infection

I blogged the day before yesterday about how well Mom was doing.  Her fever was under control and her bacterial infection was under control. Mom was awake, in pain, but communicating with me and she was looking better than she had for weeks.  Her vital signs were stable and she was almost ready to get […]

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