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Texas REU: BME CUReS Cancer

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, Filed Under: 2015, cancer, research, texas4000

Letter to Texas 4000 Rider: Sharwin Khot

Maris Bike
I thought you might like this picture ☺ !

Dear Sharwin,

YOU ARE AWESOME! Thank you for taking on this bike challenge to cure cancer. I hope the weather has been good for you and that your spirits are high. All of us at the BME lab are cheering y’all on everyday. We hope you can feel our love and encouragement for you guys. I can’t even imagine how strenuous your bike ride must be, but please never forget how many people are cheering for y’all. So many lives have been affected by your courageous act of kindness. Not only are you helping to raise money for cancer research, more importantly you are showing how compassionate and caring people can truly be. In a world where media shows the worst of human acts, you are proving that love is still alive! The heart all of y’all have for this cause is felt all around the nation.

Before our lab meetings we take time to dedicate our research to someone/something and at least one of us always devotes our week of research to the riders because when we get bogged down with failures we always remember that we have you guys. We get revived every time we get updates from y’all because we know we aren’t alone in the fight against cancer. We the researchers are empowered by you riders and I hope vice versa holds true. We are all one big family that is here to encourage and push one another. I wish you the best of luck in your journey and we are all cheering for y’all! Hook’em horns!

Sincerely,

Stefani Maris, LSU

Sharwin Khot is a UT Austin BME student and Texas 4000 rider currently on the Sierra Team!

, Filed Under: 2015, cancer, reflections, research

Cancer Research Dedication

My aunt, Lucia, passed away exactly 2 years ago from today, the day before my high school graduation. In the course of two years my aunt gradually experienced blood in her stool, stomach pains, nausea and vomiting, but never went to the doctor because she was uninsured and had very little money.

Photo of authors aunt who passed away from cancerAround March 2013 my aunt experienced a sharp, stabbing pain in her stomach that resulted to vomiting blood and fainting while in the shower. Not too long after being admitted into the hospital the doctor diagnosed her with stage 4 Small Intestine Cancer. The cancer had spread all over her abdominal cavity and was a miracle that she was still alive. Unfortunately, however, after undergoing intense chemotherapy for over two and a half months, she was made hospice and passed away one week later.

My cancer research is dedicated to my aunt.

She was a mother of two, and a grandma of two. She was the only one that made the effort to having family gatherings to help keep our family close and in touch with each other.  She was loved by many, including her co-workers from the three jobs she had. She was hardworking, intelligent and sweet, and did not deserve to go the way that she did.

Cancer research is crucial to help prevent deaths like my aunt’s. Research will help enhance our understanding of cancer and help improve prevention, detection and treatment. Although I probably won’t find a cure for cancer within the next 10 weeks, I hope that my research does have some significance in helping progress new and important findings.

– Priscilla Castillo, UTPA

, Filed Under: 2015, research, texas4000

Summer Scholars and Texas 4000 Kick-off!

The 2015 Summer Scholars have arrived!

On their first day, they completed orientation, met their graduate student mentors and celebrated the 2015 Texas 4000 Austin to Anchorage Day Zero riders’ send off at the LBJ Fountain. Looking forward to a great summer of cancer research!

Texas4000DayZero2015Pictured from left to right: Adrianne Spencer (mentor), Rishi Satpathy, Matthew Vasquez, Will Goth (mentor), Priscilla Castillo, Minh Nguyen, Sarah Libring, Chaaru Deb, Sean Thomas, Stefani Maris, Zhiying Zhu, David Spencer (mentor), and Alejandra Preciado.