Founder and Director, Row for a Cure Foundation

The Row for a Cure Foundation is an all volunteer project of the National Heritage Foundation. Please feel free to visit CharityNavigator.org, generally regarded as the leading nonprofit rating entity in the United States , for confirmation of our four-star rating. The Row for a Cure Foundation supports research designed to further evaluate the mechanisms of action and clinical efficacy of nontoxic, noninvasive products and procedures that have already been shown to be safe and have reportedly benefited patients who have been diagnosed with cancer. The Foundation recognizes and accepts the fact that the word ‘cure’ is far too broad and all-encompassing a word to be used in an actual claim for any treatment or therapeutic modality. Indeed the word ‘cure’ may never be fully defined from a regulatory standpoint, but it does provide at least a conceptual goal for us to work toward, and I honestly believe Row for a Cure Foundation is a much better name for the organization than Row for a Complete Remission Followed by Significant Long Term Survival With No Recurrences and Good Quality of Life Foundation.

My only regret during the 9 years that I’ve been "rowing for a cure" is that I should have been more careful while climbing onto Billy Joel’s boat. During the 4th annual Row for a Cure event, a short while after Billy called my cell phone to tell me that he was coming out to meet up with me, I accidentally hyperextended my right hamstring during my rather clumsy attempt to hop from the transom of my boat onto the starboard gunwale of Billy’s boat, a beautifully designed and crafted vessel that is as much the product of Billy's creative genius as any of his songs. The injury prevented me from thoroughly enjoying how funny it was when Billy's little Pug puppy urinated all over me while I was holding her. "Everybody's a critic," said Billy as he rinsed the stern deck with a bucket of water. I finished the event several days later, in pain as usual, but it was a good kind of pain.

Cancer Survivor

I was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in January, 1998, five months after completing the first Row for a Cure. After examining the lesion and obtaining a biopsy specimen, my dermatologist told me that I should see an oncologist immediately -- without even waiting for a biopsy report. I refused all conventional treatment, took the dietary supplement form of palladium lipoic complex, experienced a complete remission and have remained cancer-free since October, 1998. But I am not here to offer my own anecdote, or anyone else's story of remission after taking the same supplement, as evidence of anything. (Many such cases have been documented, but they are far too numerous for me to include here in any event.) I am well aware of the fact that such anecdotes can and will be dismissed as a coincidentally large collection of randomly occurring spontaneous remissions with no scientific basis whatsoever. That is exactly why the need for valid data is so great, and why it is so important for the public to be aware of the powerful wall of resistance that legitimate scientific investigators are faced with when they endeavor to conduct the research that is necessary to evaluate the efficacy of anything that isn't produced by a large pharmaceutical or medical equipment corporation. With such poor numbers (response, survival and quality of life) coming in from the conventional medical arena for the great majority of the cases that are diagnosed during the later stages of the disease, the "powers that be" will do virtually anything to prevent the truth from being told. The truth is that America has invested untold billions of dollars over the years in cancer research that has given us such a horrible return on our investment that the therapeutic mess we are now faced with is nothing short of a national disgrace. I have personally seen the inner workings of the cancer industry from the inside out and from the outside in, and I regret to report that it is an ugly sight to behold. I am submitting the attached op-ed because I believe the American people are entitled to know the truth. I also believe that when enough people learn the truth, we will somehow muster the political strength to stand up to the power brokers in the cancer industry and take corrective action.