ESUN

The Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative's Accomplishments in 2012

By Bruce Shriver, PhD
Editor-in-Chief, ESUN

As 2012 comes to a close, I’d like to share with you some of what we accomplished this year and to thank all of those who have given so freely of their time, expertise, experience and funds to help support these efforts. During 2012 we have:

• Completed our ninth year of publishing ESUN, a peer-reviewed periodical that has received considerable praise within the sarcoma community
• Awarded six research grants totally $695,000, including two International Collaborative Grants involving over sixteen investigators from five different countries
• Worked with families around the world to host Team Sarcoma events and raised more than $1 million to support sarcoma research
• Printed and distributed 1,000 copies of our ESUN Guide for the Newly Diagnosed to sarcoma centers and programs in North America
• Continued our Team Sarcoma group on Facebook, joining in supportive discussions and reaching more than 4,100 members
• Increased the number of photos in the Faces of Sarcoma gallery to almost 700, representing over 35 countries and over 30 different subtypes of sarcoma
• Attended the annual CTOS meeting, talking with sarcoma specialists about research and patient-care issues, and participating in meetings of the three International Collaborative Grants teams we have funded
• Re-designed and re-implemented our website so that we are now helping more people on mobile devices, laptops and desktops than ever before
• Published Sharing the Journey - pages that include inspiring reflections, hopeful stories, and tributes to our loved ones
• Made our translated materials easily accessible via a language pull-down menu at the top of our website. One or more sarcoma oncologists or researchers have been involved in each of these translations; they are not computer generated because they need to be medically accurate.

We are deeply indebted to everyone who helped us reach these milestones. None of this work would have been done without hundreds of physicians, patients, caregivers and survivors giving freely of their time to help. This assistance has come from people all over the world, affirming our mantra, "Sarcoma Knows No Borders." They believe in our cause, the quality of our work, and our passion.

Over the past nine years, we have been the beneficiaries of the incredible generosity of thousands of people who have donated over three million dollars to help fund sarcoma research. We give you our sincere thanks. We cannot repay you for your generosity.

There are many reasons we continue in our organizational and personal mission of working with individuals, families, communities and medical teams around the world to offer support, to provide expert information and to fund promising sarcoma research. Research is often frustratingly slow and many who are dealing with sarcoma have limited treatment options. Current treatments can be aggressive and demanding. Survivors often face possible long term effects from their treatments. Federal and state funding to support sarcoma research is woefully inadequate.

We are compelled to press forward to help in any way we can. We hope you will join us! Working together, we can make a difference.