RIP Lisa Moore (from Funky Winkerbean)

[LynneSin]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/funky.asp



I read Funky everyday then I pop over to DU and read about OMC's wife

Why isn't our government not giving enough money to help defeat this cancer? Part of Lisa's story had her going to a committee meeting in DC about breast cancer research funding and I loved the quote where Lisa said that "Breast Cancer was a war that we could actually win" (Creater Tom Batiuk is without a doubt, anti-war and anti-Bush)

Edit Note: Tomorrow is officially her last day

[dembotoz]

1. lost a wife to leukemia bout 21 years ago

been catching up with funky last month or so thru the Seattle link. Stupid milw journal doesn't carry it anymore.
I thought it has been exceptional.
Barbara died right around this time of year.
You never completely heal. OMC won't. But he will grow.
I sure as hell did. Had a 2year old son-did not have a choice, had to grow.
Sometimes growth is very painful.

Go back a month or so in the funky archives and read the series.
It was really pretty good and pretty realistic-at least my experience.

[LynneSin]

2. I'm going ot order the book they're putting out

It was such a wonderful storyline.

the Delaware paper doesn't carry Funky anymore so thank goodness for the Seattle link

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

3. There is something about that strip of today's Funky that is moving me inside ...

I don't know if anyone will read this but I have to type this anyways to type what I feel.

I read about OMC's wife and I am so sorry that she passed away. I can't imagine the pain that OMC is in. Because he lost someone that he loved dearly ... Sometimes life is so unfair.

I just found out recently that my 5th grade teacher past away from breast cancer. She was going through treatment while I was her student (1990-91) and I also found out that this past year one of the nicest people that I had ever met in my life died of cancer. She was the mother of one of the girls in my 4th grade class. She was our classmom. She worked every job in the city to make ends meet for her 4 girls. I always thought those girls were lucky. When I saw her obituary in the paper I was in shock and so sad .I always said that I was going to give her $1 million dollars when I made it big with my music because she always so nice to me.When she gave me a hug it felt like it came from the heart. I never forgot her and I never will.

And I see that strip above and the male in the mask and I am speechless. That last frame says it all.

It makes me want to live my life to the fullest more and more everyday.And I can't wait to dance with the man that I love...

[momto3]

4. What is truly sad is that funding for this research has been cut.

I am a cancer biologist, and specifically study breast cancer. NIH funding for all research (not just cancer) has been cut across the board by 20% over the past year. It is now very hard to get funding for new research, especially for young researchers, like myself.

I guess the money is needed more for the war on terror. :sarcasm:

[LynneSin]

5. Yeah, Tom did a great strip on that one

Lisa was at a congressional hearing about a month ago where she said that the war on Breast Cancer was a war we could actually win

[MrCoffee]

7. best of luck with your work, and Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[mwdem]

8. Good luck to you, and welcome to DU.

I'm a 1 1/2 year survivor of BC, so I've been very interested in the funding problems of late. Keep up the good work, and hopefully there will be changes in the near future.

[Tyler Durden]

9. Give them HELL.

One day, we will wake up, or else sleep forever for we will not deserve the cures.

Bless you.

[gmoney]

10. Well, it's indecent...

Breast cancer research involves sinful, evil boobies... the devil's glands. :sarcasm:

20% cut? wow, that IS indecent... millionaire tax cuts must prevail, I guess. Because millionaires never get cancer, or can at least afford treatment.

[Maestro]

18. As a cancer survivor, I find that detestable!

I didn't have breast cancer, but at any rate, I can't believe the government would cut medical research funding so. It seems to me that a government needs to do its best to provide excellent health care and education to its citizens. With what you describe they aren't doing that and with what * is doing with NCLB, they aren't helping there either.

[LynneSin]

19. Until these cancer survivors because fetus - no one in the Bush regime could give a fuck

Seriously!

[OzarkDem]

22. Cuts haven't been that big, its not bad

and they've been made in the part of the budget where, shall we say, the standards for getting funding haven't been as high as they should be. Believe it or not, some cancer research funding is wasted on poorly designed, irrelevant or excessively duplicative research.

Its very small in the overall picture and the effect could be good by encouraging more collaboration and consolidation among the research cooperatives.

[OzarkDem]

21. There's still a lot of money in the budget, though

Appropriations for $150 million for the DoD Breast Cancer Research Program have been marked up in the House and Senate.

NIH funding has dropped some in the last few years, but the other stuff has stayed level.

We're also trying to get passage of the Breast Cancer & Environmental Research Act (BCERA) $35 million over 7 years at NIH to study links between breast cancer & environment.

FY 2008 Breast Cancer Research Federal Funding

DoD BCRP $150 million ($127.5 million last year)
National Cancer Institute - $587.4 million (same level as last year)
National Institutes of Health - $716 million ($717 million last year)

Its not bad considering funding for breast cancer research has increased 800% since 1991 when survivors got involved and started lobbying Congress.

Doing more with less will also help in the research community, perhaps it will encourage more collaboration and less duplication of effort.

Hopefully, we'll see fewer research studies on why mammography is so great.:argh:

[Maestro]

32. Thanks for the info.

:hi:

[seemunkee]

25. Welcome to DU

my wife works for the CTSU. They have put studies on hold because of budget issues.

[Tyler Durden]

6. I can't stop tearing up.

Reading about Stacey and OMC then catching up with Lisa's Story. She was always my favorite from that strip, because I always felt exactly like Les from the high school days on.

[WolverineDG]

11. Batiuk had his own battle with cancer

after he did Lisa's first round with it.

I think it's interesting that he's depicting Death as a masked man in a tux.

My local rag still carries it, but I was able to keep up with the storyline through the Seattle P-I website while I was out of town.

I often wonder why our "pro life" government will spend money to kill people, & cut funding & veto programs like sCHIP that will actually save lives.

dg

[CTyankee]

29. Yes, it reminds me somewhat of the opening lines of this Emily Dickinson poem

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

[redwitch]

12. I had a recheck this morning after a questionable mammogram on Monday.

Turns out I have some benign swelling of a lymph node. I am, of course, relieved. I came home to OMC's news. Now I have to go across the street to comfort my neighbor who just lost the love of his life to a sudden heart attack in his doctor's office. Friday I was at the funeral of a friend's dad who was killed in a car accident. I am feeling emotionally drained, and I am praying for the strength to comfort my friend in his grief. Life is really, really hard sometimes. A big hug to everyone here who is feeling a little shaky today.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

13. Emotionally drained is the topic of my week.

That is how I feel. I need a positive boost.

[redwitch]

14. "We are loved beyond our ability to comprehend".

Nice thought of the day just for you. :hug:

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

17. E x a c t l y ...

I have felt like that my whole life :hug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

24. My dear redqueen!

That is perfect!

Do you know who said it?

I'd love to be able to say who, in my little blank book!

Otherwise, it'll be "anonymous."

Thanks, sweetie!

:hug:

[redwitch]

28. My very dear Peggy, Alas I am not royalty...

:-) I know JUST how that happens!

The quote I found on the cover of a CD by Jewel. At the time I was devastated by the loss of my father and some of her lyrics were really appropriate and meaninful to me. The quote on the cover was just so powerful, I have never forgotten it. I believe the quote is hers, but I am not 100% certain.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

30. Well, you're just going to have to change your username now!

I mean, I've renamed you!

J/K!

Didn't even see it, and now it's too late to fix!

I will put Jewel in my blank book...

Thank you!

:blush:

[redwitch]

31. 'S ok, I would very much LIKE to be royalty!

:-) And you are most welcome. :hi:

[sasquatch]

15. A lot of people didn't like that comicstrip lately but I think it's necessary

Because sometimes all life is sometimes is crushing pain.

[LynneSin]

16. Looks like "For Better or For Worse" is having Grandpa Jim die

I liked Grandpa Jim - he was a WWII vet for Canada and was another outspoken critic of the Iraq war.

It's so nice to see these liberal strips about family life - way much better than that crap called Mallard Fillmore

[lost-in-nj]

20. I agree with you

I thought the Lisa story was kinda sick in the beginning, I was wondering what a comic trip about cancer was doing in the paper...
Then I found myself upset on the days that they went with some of the other characters...... I'm glad she found her son......


As for Grandpa Jim... I saw this today and choked up


lost

[azmouse]

26. It's amazing how the people in comic strips become so real.

When 'For Better or Worse' started looking at the past, I figured Grandpa Jim was about to die. I shed a few tears this morning when I saw the strip. I can't help but love that family.

[WolverineDG]

27. I had a conversation with a Canadian years ago

We were at the same hostel in London & she had been on the road for months. Somehow, we got on the subject of FBOW & I caught her up on the family. Someone else asked us how we could possibly know the same people! :rofl:

dg

[Fire Walk With Me]

23. The money and resources exist to fix the world.

The only thing stopping the world from being fixed, is us.