Jamie Reno was told 18 years ago that he would die within three years. Today he’s a global advocate for cancer patients, kids and war veterans as a three-time survivor of stage IV follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This essay is adapted from recent email.
For the last 15 years, I’ve worked with drug and biotech companies, nonprofits, cancer hospitals, renowned oncologists and researchers, Hollywood celebrities and more to help lymphoma patients all over the world.
I’ve had a lifelong affection and admiration for China’s people and culture, and I recently learned that lymphoma diagnoses are dangerously on the rise in China, largely because of the air and water pollution, which the government is thankfully now beginning to admit and address.
After studying this issue for several months, I decided to initiate a simple but ambitious friendship project with China. We are reaching out directly to lymphoma cancer patients in China and, in the spirit of pure friendship between our two great countries, bringing them some much-needed hope.
I’ve already partnered with several very prestigious international partners, including ITM International, which has spent more than 30 years inside China. This project is essentially the same as every other project I’ve created.
At the same time, this project is unprecedented.
Obviously there’s great turmoil in China as we speak, with the stock market sadly descending. All the more reason to reach out to our friends there with this very basic but sorely needed bit of compassion and information. Just telling them a bit about the disease, what their treatment options are, etc.
The timing of this project could not be better. There are a number of new collaborations and partnerships between U.S. and China regarding lymphoma treatment research, including:
While this is all very encouraging, the people of China for the most part have not yet gotten the word. There is virtually no one in China at this time addressing the psycho-social aspects of cancer that patients and their loved deserve to know about.
People in China, when they receive a lymphoma diagnosis, think their life is over. It isn’t like lung cancer there, which is so common and which people now know is treatable.
To date, even many oncologists in China do not yet have a good understanding of lymphoma For example, this information from an allegedly renowned cancer hospital in Shanghai is incorrect. It is completely outdated.
It says that “about 90 percent of lymphoma patients are in the terminal stage when the cancer is found,” and that “the five-year survival rate is below 2 percent.”
That is false. I know there are many brilliant researchers and doctors in China who do not want their patients to be told this false information. Lymphoma is treatable and beatable. The Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou is far more updated and accurate with its lymphoma information. The Anti-Cancer Fund, too, has correct info on its website about lymphoma.
Our project is perfectly timed, it is so badly needed in the world’s largest nation. But we need your help and support, too. All grants are tax-deductible.
We all recognize the virtually unlimited potential for China as a market for our products. But any company that would actually support a patient-focused, on-the-ground project that reaches out directly to China’s families, will have a distinct advantage.
Also see:
- Hope Begins in the Dark: Lymphoma Survivors Tell Their Exclusive Life Stories
- China lymphoma patient project links and early media coverage.
- Renowned Chinese-American Doctor Joins Global Effort to Heal Cancer Patients
- Doctors warn of lymphoma, a growing cancer that’s little known in mainland China
- China Gov. OKs ‘Under the Dome’ documentary about its own pollution.
Both of my globally popular books are currently being translated expertly into Simplified Chinese and rewritten specifically for China’s lymphoma patients and their loved ones.
We’re also bringing to China’s lymphoma patients our acclaimed, inspirational rock, country and pop music which features 15 American music legends playing on my songs that celebrate life and beating cancer.
There is of course more to it than that, but this is what we are doing in a nutshell.
Any company doing busines in China — and certainly any company that is connected to lymphoma treatments in China — should support this project, which reaches out to actual patients on the ground in China and their families.
We already have partnered with cancer hospitals, renowned oncologists and cancer researchers, international marketing organizations, major nonprofit organizations, large corporations, individual benefactors and entrepreneurs, drug and biotech companies in U.S. and China, cancer patients and cancer patient advocates, and many famous celebrities.
We all share a vision that could be of great mutual benefit. I know that many of you clearly share my vision, you want to transcend cultures and make the world a better and smaller place.
You want to help people and at the same time make a living and support your loved ones. You want to enhance friendly relations between the people of these two great countries: China and the United States.
And you want to give lymphoma patients, in China, the largest nation in the world, a large dose of hope and assure them that they can and will survive.
Jamie Reno, a San Diego-based journalist, is manager of the China Lymphoma Patient Project. He can be reached at jreno@san.rr.com
