17,050
POINTS EARNED
POINTS EARNED
Bryan's Charitable Life
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Bryan...
Personal philosophy? Clothing optional.-Will Ferrell. Trying 2 reach 60k for cancer research & Will Ferrell helped out will you do the same
via Crowdrise 2 years ago
CROWDRISE MEMBER SINCE: Jun 16, 2010
ROCK PAPER OR SCISSORS: Rock
ROCK PAPER OR SCISSORS: Rock
STUFF ABOUT ME:
Matt Cwiertny 's family and friends are working to raise $60,000 in Matt's name in association with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walks and with the support of Crowdrise. If we raise $60,000, we will be able to direct the funds to an LLS researcher who is working to find cures for Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) induced lymphomas. While researchers know there is a connection between EBV and lymphoma, they are not sure how EBV causes lymphoma and have not found a way to effectively treat EBV or NK T-cell lymphoma, which Matt suffered from.
Matt was a 23 year old graphic designer for Marshall Advertising, who loved Galaxy soccer, the Flight of the Conchords, The Dandy Warhols, Jack’s Mannequin, and Will Ferrell movies, when he got a bad case of mono. We thought nothing of it until six months later when Matt started getting extraordinarily high fevers, his blood pressure dropped, and his blood counts cratered. His doctors were confounded, especially when they concluded it was not mono. It was only after he went into respiratory failure that his doctors at USC learned he suffered from EBV induced Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (EBV-HLH), a blood disorder affecting only 1 of every 1,000,000 persons. While EBV-HLH is not cancer, it acts and is treated like a cancer. The disorder destroys healthy blood cells, and is treated with chemotherapy, and a bone marrow transplant, if necessary. EBV-HLH often induces lymphoma, which it did in Matt. One month after his EBV-HLH diagnosis, Matt learned he was battling NK T-Cell lymphoma, one of the most aggressive and least researched blood cancers there is.
In December 2008, Matt received his bone marrow transplant. While it temporarily put him in remission, his lymphoma returned in February 2009, and in June 2009, Matt learned it had returned in the form of an inoperable brain tumor. After chemo failed to put him in remission, Matt began radiation treatment. Before finishing it, Matt was readmitted to the City of Hope in late September 2009. At that time, Matt was in a weakened state, with his EBV levels extraordinarily high and debilitating his liver and kidneys. Unfortunately, the doctors were unable to administer any treatment that could reverse the affects of the EBV and its impact on Matt’s vital organs, and at midnight on October 3, 2009, he passed away with us surrounding him.
Please help us keep Matt's memory alive and support our efforts to raise $60,000 to fund life-saving research.
WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE FOR ME:
Votes are worth 100 Crowdrise Impact Points. With enough CIPs, this person can earn Royalty Status, and they can redeem their CIPs for awesome stuff. Vote for this person if they're doing something special to give back. If they're not doing anything all that great then you should probably just stop reading this section.
Matt Cwiertny 's family and friends are working to raise $60,000 in Matt's name in association with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walks and with the support of Crowdrise. If we raise $60,000, we will be able to direct the funds to an LLS researcher who is working to find cures for Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) induced lymphomas. While researchers know there is a connection between EBV and lymphoma, they are not sure how EBV causes lymphoma and have not found a way to effectively treat EBV or NK T-cell lymphoma, which Matt suffered from.
Matt was a 23 year old graphic designer for Marshall Advertising, who loved Galaxy soccer, the Flight of the Conchords, The Dandy Warhols, Jack’s Mannequin, and Will Ferrell movies, when he got a bad case of mono. We thought nothing of it until six months later when Matt started getting extraordinarily high fevers, his blood pressure dropped, and his blood counts cratered. His doctors were confounded, especially when they concluded it was not mono. It was only after he went into respiratory failure that his doctors at USC learned he suffered from EBV induced Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (EBV-HLH), a blood disorder affecting only 1 of every 1,000,000 persons. While EBV-HLH is not cancer, it acts and is treated like a cancer. The disorder destroys healthy blood cells, and is treated with chemotherapy, and a bone marrow transplant, if necessary. EBV-HLH often induces lymphoma, which it did in Matt. One month after his EBV-HLH diagnosis, Matt learned he was battling NK T-Cell lymphoma, one of the most aggressive and least researched blood cancers there is.
In December 2008, Matt received his bone marrow transplant. While it temporarily put him in remission, his lymphoma returned in February 2009, and in June 2009, Matt learned it had returned in the form of an inoperable brain tumor. After chemo failed to put him in remission, Matt began radiation treatment. Before finishing it, Matt was readmitted to the City of Hope in late September 2009. At that time, Matt was in a weakened state, with his EBV levels extraordinarily high and debilitating his liver and kidneys. Unfortunately, the doctors were unable to administer any treatment that could reverse the affects of the EBV and its impact on Matt’s vital organs, and at midnight on October 3, 2009, he passed away with us surrounding him.
Please help us keep Matt's memory alive and support our efforts to raise $60,000 to fund life-saving research.
WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE FOR ME:
Votes are worth 100 Crowdrise Impact Points. With enough CIPs, this person can earn Royalty Status, and they can redeem their CIPs for awesome stuff. Vote for this person if they're doing something special to give back. If they're not doing anything all that great then you should probably just stop reading this section.
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'May the Votes' Be Ever in Your Favor :)
Hi Bryan! I hope May is treating you well!!!
We wanted to see if you're in the neighborhood to bring PURE JOY to a very deserving child's life... A $20 donation will provide a birthday celebration and cake for one of our 25 students- an experience they have NEVER HAD in their life. Can you imagine never getting to celebrate your special day and not ever eating a piece of cake in your entire life? Well, either can us, so we want to change that for our extremely hard working students!
Donate $20 to provide the once in a lifetime memory for one of our students, and we'll provide you a picture of the event- something you can cherish forever as well :)
Cheers and Happy Crowdrising,
Megan + Imagine Scholar Team