Re-cap: Second Annual Tumors Suck Paintball Benefit

8/14/10 Pinckney, MI – Hell Survivors Paintball Field. Despite a humid midwestern summer day, >150 people came out to support the 2nd Annual Tumors Suck Paintball Benefit. The inagural event, the first of it’s kind last year, was cursed by severe thunderstorms but it was energized by the enthusiasm and dedication of Team FUBAR. This year there were no thunderstorms, and the expectations were raised with a year of experience in planning the event. The 2010 event was highlighted by a few new wrinkles, a logo was created specifically for the event by Enuf Marketing and Design, a bounce house for kids was introduced, and many new faces participated in the event. A lot of newbie paintballers got their first taste of paintball play and Team FUBAR once again put on their “mentoring mask” for all the new players. This year there were more female players, and the enthusiasm for the event increased by at least 10 fold! The event t-shirt featured the slogan “this ain’t no pity party” that expressed the sentiment underlying the purpose of playing paintball as a benefit for cancer and brain tumor advocacy. There are many similarities between paintball and a new tumor diagnosis. One needs to be cautious, yet stay on the “offensive”. Much like a medical situation, it is also important that all teammates (medical team +family) are working in a coordinated effort towards accomplishing the mission (beating the tumor mass.) In a new intimidating situation, one can choose to:
- survive – weather an “attack”,
- dive - give up hope,
- or thrive – continue to do what you need to do and fight back
The paintball benefit is an event where both survivors and non-survivors can thrive by uniting to show support combating all tumors. mAss Kickers Foundation (MKF) looks to provide support and motivation to all newly-diagnosed patients, family, and friends affected by tumors or cancer. MKF serves this mission through its website, fund-raising, and select events (such as paintball) throughout the year. MKF uses two campaigns in the war on both malignant and nonmalignant tumors. TUMORS SUCK! is a public awareness campaign. It is meant to unify all those touched by a tumor or cancer with a pugilistic, rebellious attitude. Basically, people just wear the logo or post the logo somewhere people can see it to show support for someone under going treatment for a tumor mass… malignant or “non-malignant”. USE THE K.U.R.E. is an action campaign for the newly diagnosed patient and their loved ones to combat any intimidating diagnosis. K.U.R.E. stands for Use Knowledge, Promote Unity, Support Research, and EMPOWER YOURSELF. It’s an excellent strategy to combat an intimidating tumor mass diagnosis not only on an individual level but also on a larger community level.
Many of the participants this year expressed how much fun they had. They look forward to next year’s event. The highlight of the event was “the gauntlet”. Members of Team FUBAR again volunteered to be moving targets as a unique way to raise funds for mAss Kickers Foundation and the National Brain Tumor Society. As a “sniper” in the gauntlet, I couldn’t help but laugh at the way Team FUBAR hammed up the gauntlet .
The 2010 paintball benefit was a huge success and doubled funds raised from last year under the leadership of Angel Bureau and Andrew Wlodyga. With another successful event under our belt, we expect an even bigger event next year. I can’t wait to see the new wrinkles in the 2011 paintball benefit.


This past weekend, I went to Comic-con in San Diego for the second straight year. Don’t call me an uber-geek yet, because Comic-con is not just another geek-pilgrimage (although I’m a geek light weight, I would have gone anyways.) It was really crowded, but I had a great time! I actually attended three out of four days! Sadly, I don’t think that gives me enough dork-cred. The people that dress up in costume and line up at 6AM for panels are hard core! I was impressed with the passion shown by all the attendees. Comic-con is a very unique event where celebrities can directly interact with fans. Pretty cool. There aren’t a lot of events where this interaction occurs. I don’t watch a lot of TV, but anything movie-related holds my interest. I know there were many die-hard comic book fans that scoffed at the presence of many non-comic related panels present there this year. Comic-con has been becoming more of a pop-culture convention than a strictly comic convention. The increase in popularity of comic book movies has helped to put this annual pilgrimage or “geek-rimage” to San Diego a holy crusade for geeks around the world! I will admit I just wanted to go at first to geek-watch, but then I thought, “This is actually kinda cool!” I really enjoyed the movie and TV panels. But don’t get me wrong I did pick up some comics and graphic novels, but I still don’t have my “dork-cred” yet. My top 5 panels in order were:
Let me first state for the record, I hate reality TV! It is drama that you can’t help but watch and can easily get sucked into it. For me, watching a great sports event is like an addiction. Then it dawned on me. I’m a hypocrite! SPORTS was reality TV long before 

I think I’m gonna end up breaking my mobility scooter… just a hunch… I don’t think it was built to go over speed bumps. It seems like it stalls every time I hit a bump. I may need to tone it down a little more… the simple act of crossing the street is always an adventure… maneuvering to push the crosswalk button, lining up to hit the curb at the correct angle, making sure I’m aware of traffic that is turning, praying I don’t stall in the middle of a busy street… sheesh… stuff that was routine is now a concentrated effort! Maybe I just need to get out more often… I’m really
Had such a fun weekend. I took the train up to LA again but this time I used the crutches and a mobility scooter. That little scooter has opened up the world for me. I can finally keep up with my friends when we go out. I don’t feel like I’m holding everyone up anymore. Sure, I can’t go everywhere, but I don’t feel like burden to my friends when I’m out and about. I do get some weird looks from people though. I think people are used to seeing older people in mobility scooters, so when they see me they probably think I’m screwing around. (OK, maybe I’ll stop chasing pidgins and trying to run them over!) Actually, I really don’t care what people think. So if people stare, they stare… I not gonna waste energy worrying about what people think of me
Wow! Things are already starting to pick up! I am putting the finishing touches on my Fall schedule. I’m going to a MD Anderson Conference in Houston to speak on a patient panel, rehab grand rounds at RUSH hospital in Chicago, Texas again for the LiveSTRONG Young Adult Alliance Conference, and hopefully something at University of Michigan Hospital.