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• MESOTHELIOMA APPLIED RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC

MARF brings patients & families from the dark pit of no knowledge about a diagnosis of mesothelioma into the light of hope & treatment! Most patients diagnosed with meso are told there's no effective treatment available. There is & MARF has the connections to it! They have a talented, tuely caring nurse/practioner to work with patients & their families. The best specialists for this terrible cancer can be found through MARF. My daughter is a survivor & I am now a volunteer offering support where & how ever I can. I also advocate for awareness about asbestos & mesothelioma. The MARF staff genuinely care for their cause & the people they help. They do a great job of funding research to find better treatments &, hopefully a cure. The on-line community formed on the MARF web site really care for each other & offer hope, support, knowledge, comfort, & love. Everyone with a horrific illness like meso should be so lucky as those who find this foundation! Whether or not my cancer recurs I will continue to work as a volunteer & stay connected to my MARF "family".

MARF saved my life! Without the information or caring provided by this wonderful organization I would not have made the choices for treatment that is so hard to find for Mesothelioma. I saw a grandchild born and can watch her grow after being told I would die within a year. Without the research and patient connections this organization supports, most of us would think we are alone with this illness. I now help new patients, families and even my other doctors learn what the options are for surviving. My story can be found at the website, no need to tell it again. I am alive!

Doing nails of a four year old peritoneal patient

When my 48 year-od husband was diagnosed with this disease, I was told he only had two years to live, MARF provided me with the information I needed to give him a shot at a cure. Their MESO Community Blog is an invaluable method of support for people dealing with this very rare and unique form cancer. This foundation works tirelessly to educate the public about this disease and to pass laws to decrease the number of people who continue to be exposed to asbestos.

In 2002, I was at what I thought was the peak of my life. I was a 52 year old nurse with a great career. I was weeks away from marrying the love of my life, and we had just bought our dream home together. I was physically active, an avid hiker, biker, snorkeler and free diver, and my fiancee and I looked forward to traveling the world together. My happiness was boundless. The only problem was a nagging cold that I couldn't seem to get rid of - my doctor felt antibiotics would do the trick, but took a chest xray "just in case". That xray was the key to a nightmare whose name was malignant pleural mesothelioma, a lethal type of cancer. My professional training, my doctors, and every thing I read on the Internet told me I was doomed to die within months - maybe a year if I was lucky. I have never felt so alone or so afraid, or so without hope. I could not stop crying. But then I found MARF - the Mesothelioma Foundation, and a small light began to shine in all the darkness that surrounded me. Here were people who gave me hope, information on treatment options that could help me, and put me in contact with other patients like myself. And they stayed with me, every step of the way, cheering me on and telling me not to give up. That was over 7 years ago. It has not been an easy road to travel, but I have never had to travel it alone - not for an instant. My fiance stuck with me (and became my husband) and so did the people at MARF. The clinical information they provided never failed to help me identify cutting edge treatments that gave me a fighting chance to live. Their unwavering support and encouragement saw me through the rough spots. They buoyed my spirits by sharing both my highs and my lows with unconditional compassion. Without this organization, I am certain I would have curled up into a terrified ball, given up, and died. I will never be able to adequately describe what they gave me: they gave me HOPE, the sweetest gift there is. They gave me back my life.

my parents home was insulated with asbestos. My mother was badly burnt when trying to clean it and her breathing has been difficult for year. No one would agree it was dangerous, no one would agree that it was the cause of all the issues. We knew better, their home was rebuilt from brick to drywall, to rid of this from the home. There needs to be a cure, we need to find that to help those who suffer.