Cancer, also referred to as “the C word” affects 1 out of 3 people. It’s been estimated by the ACS & the United Nations that by the end of 2010, over 2,128,243,000 people in the world will have cancer. Local “Cancer Survivor Extraordinaire”, Rachel Shur is one of them and since she was little, she had feared it, because she lost her father at a young age to cancer. But somehow, despite her situation, Shur found a way to deal with it, to deal with the situation and to get through her journey with cancer. That was almost 4 years ago, when Shur was diagnosed with final stage leukemia and given a 10% chance of survival. “I am in no way saying that my journey was easy, because it wasn’t, but I soon realized that I had a strong will, a positive attitude & a great support system by my side. This experience brought me to where I am today. And if I had the chance to do it all over again and never have cancer, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t change any of it for the world.” Shur says with confidence. Shur continues “Because of my cancer journey, I chose to speak publicly about it – anywhere that I could. I spoke at my old high school – Westlake High – my old college – Ventura College, for the City of Hope (where I was treated), The Ombudsman of Los Angeles, The Leukemia Lymphoma Society and more recently; 24 Hr Fitness Thousand Oaks & Relay for Life for the ACS. Last year, I took an even bigger step and began working towards setting up a non-profit organization; an organization that I called “UCAAN”, or United Cancer Advocacy Action Network.” Shur started this organization to provide resources to survivors & their friends & families, because she felt that there is vital information on resources that should be given to the survivor upon diagnosis. UCAAN helps to fill this information gap. With her passion and drive to help others, UCAAN was born! Last September UCAAN had it’s very first Fun-raiser at a small local restaurant in Newbury Park, CA. The event was a Date Auction with celebrities and we auctioned off time with Kevin Sorbo “Hercules”, Dean Cain “Superman”, Victoria Jackson “Saturday Night Live”, and more. The event was a success, and UCAAN raised enough money to pay for the lawyers’ fees to get our 501©3 status and to pay for some small office expenses. This year, she’s doing it again, but this time it’s even bigger than last year! “We’re really excited about this event,” exclaims Rachel Shur who’s excited to announce that this year, the event will be a little different; Shur continues “We’ve been blessed with a phenomenal event location, The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, we’re catering to more people, and you won’t want to miss this UCAAN *Ultimate Experience! It’s really going to be amazing.” Shur mentions that they’ve got some celebrity donated items that they’ll be auctioning off, which include: an autographed Twilight cast photo (Edward & Bella), an autographed Taylor Swift Guitar, an autographed Michael Jackson “Thriller” record album, an autographed Eagles drumhead custom framed with photo, an autographed Star Trek Cast photo, an autographed Rolling Stones guitar and more! All of these items are listed on the organization website- www.ucaan.org. Shur continues to tell me “This event will be the ultimate event, we have a silent auction for these specialty celebrity items, a silent auction for some special gift baskets, we’re even expecting a few local celebs to come by, and we’ll still have our date auction for those that are looking for an eligible bachelor or bachelorette.” To me, this event sounds like the perfect Friday night out! For more details about the UCAAN * Ultimate Experience * on Friday October 15th, 2010, please visit: www.UCAAN.org. Tickets are only $35 and must be purchased through UCAAN in order for the money to go to the cause; any tickets purchased through the Canyon Club will not go to UCAAN, so please keep this in mind. If you’re unable to attend but still want to donate, please contact Rachel Shur via email: ucaanorg@yahoo.com or 805-479-1032
UCAAN now has an office building where survivors, patients and their families will be able to come and learn more about the organization and the help that we offer!
