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By Amanda (23, USA)
In November of 2006, Spencer Bell, a young musician from Michigan, was diagnosed with adrenal cancer. Eleven days later he died. Spencer was only 20 years old. The symptoms of his disease had barely begun to show, yet at that point the cancer was too far along for there to be any hope. It’s a tragic story but worse is that nearly every other person who is diagnosed with adrenal cancer will also die quickly, without much hope of treatment.
Adrenal cancer, while one of the most deadly forms of cancer, is not among the popular cancer kids. Although that sounds bad to say, the popular cancers are the ones that have extensive awareness and funding, such as: breast cancer, brain cancer, lung cancer. Adrenal cancer though is rare, one statistic showed that only about 600 Americans are diagnosed with it every year. Unfortunately it has a nearly 100% fatality rate. Adrenal cancer develops in the adrenal glands, small glands on the top of your kidneys. These are the glands that produce hormones and those hormones regulate the activity of other organs in the body. If caught in children, sometimes adrenal cancer can be treated, mostly because hormones are doing so much work at that time the changes become more obvious. But reach puberty and adulthood, as Spencer had, and the symptoms are extremely difficult to detect. The cancer usually spreads to the rest of the body before it is detected. New treatments have managed to work on adults who have discovered the cancer earlier but the cancer always returns and is always fatal the second time around. In essence, this is a cancer with no hope. Because of the rarity of adrenal cancer, in comparison to the popular cancers, research has been more limited. The University of Michigan is conducting extensive research to try and treat the cancer. The school received funding from a former coach who’s wife died of adrenal cancer as well as Spencer’s family. That brings us to the bigger point of this article. Spencer’s death, while heartbreaking for his family, also stirred them to raise awareness for adrenal cancer research, in hopes that a treatment and even a cure can be found.
The Bell family created the Spencer Bell Legacy Project, a memorial designed to use music and art, Spencer’s own passions, to raise awareness and funding. This April, in Dallas, Texas, a benefit concert is being held to raise awareness. The concert features Spencer’s former band The Stevedores, Jackson Rathbone (Twilight)’s band 100Monkeys, along with Drew and Medicinal Pen, The Kissing Club, and Evro, all friends of Spencer’s. In addition to the concert, a number of other activities are available for people to get involved and help this cause. We here at Portrait are passionate about becoming involved in your community and the world around you. This is a great cause and opportunity to help raise awareness about a deadly cancer. If you can make it to Dallas for the concert great, but there are other ways to help. Listed below are some of the ways you can get involved. To learn more about Spencer and those inspired by him: www.spencerbellmemorial.com Adrenal Cancer Research: www.mcancer.org Information about the concert and other opportunities: www.asccnow.com Concert: April 24th, 2010 in Dallas, Texas. The show is at Trees and there is both an afternoon show (doors at 12:15), that is all ages (although you still must be accompanied by a parent. Special permission is possible by emailing info@asccnow.com ) and an evening show (doors at 7pm) that is 18+. Both shows are $30. The shows will feature the above mentioned bands.
Can’t make the show but want to help out?: There will also be a raffle with the following prizes plus more: Guitar signed by Bowling for Soup, autographed pictures by the performing bands, Simple Plan autographed pictures, signed cds and more. To buy a raffle ticket, visit asccnow.com/legacyconcert.html for more information and instructions. For those interested in attending the show and wanting to donate more, there is an online auction with the items being an interview with the bands prior to the afternoon show, dinner with the bands between the shows, or a meet and great during the evening shows. Various artists have also donated items to be sold during the concerts with portions of the proceeds going to support adrenal cancer. |
