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The Team Sarcoma Initiative The Team Sarcoma Initiative is an internationally coordinated set of events to raise awareness of sarcoma and raise funds to support sarcoma research, clinical trials, and patient and family services. The 2008 Initiative consists of the "core" Team Sarcoma Bike Tour and local Team Sarcoma events that will be held worldwide during the same week. The Team Sarcoma Initiative has become an International Sarcoma Awareness Week with over 3,400 people participating in it worldwide in 2007. While the members of the "core" Team Sarcoma are touring along the Danube River, they will be joined by people participating in various local events in the cities and countries where they live on one or more of the days during July 12-20, 2008.
Why do we need a Team Sarcoma Initiative? What do sarcoma patients, caregivers, and survivors need? Of course, they need support, friendship and understanding. But in order to live, many sarcoma patients need more effective treatments, including more targeted therapy that will not devastate their bodies. Such discoveries will only be made if researchers have access to funding that specifically supports sarcoma research.
We can't depend on government funding to make this happen. Funding for sarcoma research is not keeping up with research needs. More importantly, most government funding is used for the more well known cancers, leaving thousands of sarcoma patients with few treatment options.
Wouldn't it be great if ordinary people like you and me could bridge the gap and make sarcoma research happen? Well, together, we can! This is what the Team Sarcoma Initiative is about.
Our Mantra: Sarcoma Knows No Borders
What is a Team Sarcoma? The Team Sarcoma Initiative isn't just one event. It's dozens of events happening all over the world in the same week. Mark your calendar for July 12-20: International Sarcoma Awareness Week. Team Sarcoma events bring patients, survivors, friends, family members, medical professionals, sarcoma centers, sarcoma advocacy groups, and sarcoma charities together to increase sarcoma awareness and raise funds for sarcoma research.
A Forgotten Cancer If you haven't already seen it, we recommend that you look at the video "A Forgotten Cancer" on YouTube. It gives some basic information about sarcoma and the Team Sarcoma Initiative. In addition to English, You can view it in any of the following languages Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, and Spanish.
We need your help! Team Sarcoma's success is based on the determination and creativity of people just like you. The more events that are held during Sarcoma Awareness Week, the more impact we will have.
You can plan a Team Sarcoma in your neighborhood! Aim small or think big - it's entirely up to you. Plan a walk in the park, a bike ride, a sarcoma awareness lecture, a musical event, a dinner/dance, a silent auction, or any type of gathering to spread sarcoma awareness. Then tally the people in attendance and take a group photo.
Get involved now People are in the process of planning Team Sarcoma events in various countries and states in the United States to be part of the 2008 Initiative. If you are interested in learning what's involved and forming one of the local Team Sarcomas, please contact Bruce Shriver. In order to give the planners of local Team Sarcomas more flexibility in planning their activities, the official dates of the 2008 Team Sarcoma Initiative are July 12-20, 2008.
Click here to learn more about local Team Sarcomas.
Click here to learn about the Core Team's tour along the Danube River. The Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative Coordinates the Team Sarcoma Initiative
Privacy PolicyWe are committed to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of everyone that accesses our website. This website provides a number of opportunities for individuals to interact with us; for example, these include online activities and services such as requesting information from us, sending us feedback or comments, or making an online contribution. Individual identifying information provided to us will be maintained in strict confidence. This includes, for example, names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and information about online activities that are directly linked to an individual. The Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative will not divulge any identifying information submitted to us to outside individuals or organizations except as authorized by you (e.g., the use of photos while on one of our our bike tours or an entry on our Journeys page) or required by law. From time to time, we will use statistical summary information to help us focus our resources and in planning our initiatives. To protect the privacy of all individuals, any publicly released information is completely anonymous with no names or other identifying information mentioned. |
The
mantra of the Team Sarcoma Initiative is "Sarcoma Knows No Borders". We use
this phrase because sarcomas can occur anywhere in the body and they don't
discriminate on age, gender, race or nationality. People from all over the
globe participate in Team Sarcoma Events ― young, old, women, men, from
countries across Europe, through Asia and Pacific regions, and in North
and Central America. The Team Sarcoma bracelet has "Sarcoma Knows No
Borders" printed on one side and the word "sarcoma" printed in 13 of the
world's languages on the other side. The background color of the bracelet is
a swirl of a pathology slide of a sarcoma patient. The Team Sarcoma T-Shirt
also has "Sarcoma Knows Know Borders" emblazoned on its back and comes in a
number of languages.
Ever
since its inception in 2003, the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma
Initiative has coordinated the Team Sarcoma Initiative. It
has grown from 7 people who biked 200 miles in 4 days in
Louisiana to over 60 events and 3,400 people worldwide last
year. The Team Sarcoma website
is used to chronicle various Team Sarcoma events that
have taken place over the past few years. The Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative undertakes activities that
help improve the quality of life for people dealing with
sarcoma. Central to this mission are our goals of increasing
public awareness of sarcoma and the lack of young adults in
cancer-based clinical trials and raising funds for
sarcoma-related research. We believe that increased public
awareness of sarcoma will lead to increased research funding
and that research will ultimately lead to a cure for
sarcoma. The articles in our Electronic Sarcoma Update
Newsletter as well as other information on our website
empowers sarcoma patients, their caregivers and their loved
ones by helping them understand and discuss their disease
and potential treatment options with their medical team and
also aids them in personally dealing with their disease. The
Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative helps fund research that is
targeted at finding a cure for sarcoma and, in the short
term, research that is attempting to develop more effective
treatment regimens than those currently available. We also
support organizations that
