Cells for Cells

Recycle Cell Phones to Help Families Battling Cancer

jclements

April’s Medical Bill Makeover is now $2000

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Once again, Dr. Michelle Robin has added to the Cells for Cells Extreme Medical Bill Makeover, making April’s award $2000. Cells for Cells is contributing $1000 in cash to pay for any expense related to battling cancer and Dr. Robin’s Your Wellness Connection in Shawnee, Kansas has added $1000 in Wellness Services either in person at her facility or consulting via telephone.

Here is the list of the 6 categories of services provided by Your Wellness Connection:

Chiropractic
is an art, science and philosophy…
Chinese Medicine
restores energetical balance to the body…
Counseling & wellness coaching
empowers people with knowledge and skills…
Massage Therapy
enhances general health, reduce anxiety, and…
Functional Medicine
promotes the body’s ability to heal and recuperate…
Movement Arts
gain flexibility, strength and bring about calm…

Extreme Medical Bill Makeover

If you know a deserving family, battling cancer, who desperately needs help paying medical bills (perhaps it’s your family or a co-worker’s), please make them aware of the sign up process. It is very easy and the details to submit your story are here.

Cells for Cells to Award $1000 in April’s Medical Bill Makeover

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Cells for Cells wants to help pay your medical bills. So, this month, (April 2009) Cells for Cells is awarding $1000 to a deserving and inspirational family that is battling cancer or has battled cancer.

Here are the details:

  1. Email your story about battling cancer to jason(dot)cellsforcells(at)gmail(dot)com. Submit your story by email to mystory@cellsforcells.com
  2. The subject line must be One Million Cells: My Story
  3. Your story can be your own, your family member or friend’s
  4. Your story must include your current situation and how you encourage others that are battling cancer. Include how you have remained strong, optimistic, and positive.
  5. You must follow The One Million Cells Story on twitter @jasonclements. If you would like, follow the One Million Cells Story on twitter @cellsforcells
  6. You must recycle at least one cell phone w/ Cells for Cells
  7. If you have less than 10 phones to recycle – you foot the shipping bill ***SEE NOTE BELOW
  8. If you have more than 10 phones to recycle – Cells for Cells will foot the shipping bill
  9. The deadline is 12:00pm (noon, central time) on Tuesday April 28th, 2009
  10. We will announce the winner on Thursday April 30th, 2009

Request your free FedEx label here


MOST IMPORTANTLY Spread the word. The more cell phones Cells for Cells recycles, the more families we will help.

Cells for Cells will choose one family as the winner of this giveaway. If Cells for Cells chooses your story, we will contact you via email or phone. Please include your phone number in your email. We will write the check directly to the individual (until our legal team tells us to do it another way). That way, you can apply the $1000 to your medical bills or associated costs as you see necessary. [Medical Bills and costs can be: doctor’s bill, pharmacy bill, mortgage payment, gas for your car, flowers for a loved one, etc.]

***Shipping notes
Shipping about 10 phones will cost you between $5 – $10 dollars via the post office. To avoid this, let your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc. know that you are participating in this giveaway. Have them help you get more than 10 phones and then request a FREE shipping label.

***Other notes
By participating, you give Cells for Cells permission to use your story to promote Cells for Cells, Recycling, Cancer Patient advocacy, etc. You may need to provide other info as required by our legal team.

Extreme Medical Bill Makeover Winner: Dawn and Jeff Wooten

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Cells for Cells announces the winner our it’s first Extreme Medical Bill Makeover giveaway.

Dawn and Jeff Wooten of Wichita, Kansas will receive a check from Cells for Cells for $500 to spend as they need as they battle cancer and will receive $500 in services/consulting from Your Wellness Connection in Shawnee, Kansas.

Congratulations!

Here’s their story:

On October 4, 2006 my husband Jeff was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma (a cancer of the plasma cells). What was so shocking about this, besides getting a cancer diagnosis, is that he was only 37 years old. This is a cancer that is most common in people over the age of 65. At the time of his diagnosis, we were living our dream in Alaska. We owned a small business and had decided that it was a good time for me to go to college full time. Because we owned our own business, we didn’t have any health insurance, but we were both young and healthy and weren’t all that concerned about it.

Living in Alaska has its perks; however, state-of-the-art cancer treatment wasn’t one of them. On October 18, 2006 we were on a plane heading back to Wichita, KS so we could be near family and meet with some doctors here. They told us that Jeff’s bone marrow was 80% cancer and there was no way we were going back home. With the help of our friends, we sold our house and put our belongings in storage. We moved in with Jeff’s parents and got to work fighting this disease.

Over the course of the past two and a half years, Jeff has participated in clinical trials, undergone two heavy rounds of chemotherapy, and had two stem cell transplants. It was almost a year into his treatment before we found an insurance company who was willing to insure him. It wasn’t cheap, but was something we desperately needed.

This cancer diagnosis changed every aspect of our lives. Suddenly we found our priorities changing. Things that used to seem so important just weren’t anymore. We decided to stop saying “some day we want to do this” or “someday we want to go there” and we started taking small weekend trips just to get away from it all and spend time together. We didn’t know how much time we had left together so we just started making memories.

We had so many people reach out to us and want to help us, and I soon realized how much I wanted to help other people as well. I involved myself with the American Cancer Society and sat on the committee to help plan the Cattleman’s Ball. We started going to support group meetings at a local organization called Victory in the Valley. I volunteered some time working in their office and it wasn’t long before I was asked to head the support group meetings. Unfortunately, our small group started to fall apart so we no longer meet. I am still the contact person for all new myeloma patients and family members if they would like to talk to someone who understands what they are going through. I also learned of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and contacted them. I was amazed at how much they do to help people with blood cancers in our communities. I signed our family up as a team to help raise money for Light the Night. In 2007, Team Wooten raised almost $7,500 for LLS. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was and how grateful I felt to all those who supported us. I continue to stay involved with Light the Night, even though we haven’t come close to that number again!

We just celebrated Jeff’s 40th birthday this past weekend (his birthday is March 3rd). Two and a half years ago we were told that we might only have six more months together. In one week we have his one year post-transplant doctor appointment and are crossing our fingers that we hear the words “Congratulations, you are still in remission!” In honor of this milestone, I have decided to cut and donate my hair to help give another woman her confidence back.

We look at everyone we meet so differently now. You can’t tell just by looking at us that we struggle with this thing every day. There is no cure for Jeff’s cancer. We know it’s going to come back. We just don’t know when and that is always with us. All we can do is be kind to one another, smile at a stranger, and give back whenever we can.

That is our story. I don’t know if this is what you are looking for or not, but I still wanted to share it with you. Thank you for taking the time to read it.

Sincerely,

Dawn Wooten

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If helping families devastated by medical bills is worthwhile to you, please join us in this historical endeavor by recycling your cell phones with Cells for Cells.

Most importantly, if you know a deserving family, battling cancer, who desperately needs help paying medical bills (perhaps it’s your family or a co-worker’s), please put them in touch with Cells for Cells.

Connecting in Kansas City: genKC networking event review

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(photo: vasta)

The genKC event on March 26th at the Sprint Center ROCKED.

genKC is billed as “the catalyst for young, area professionals engaged in shaping Kansas City’s bright future, and in return, enhancing their own opportunities to achieve, enjoy and thrive in our vibrant community…”

…and they delivered! It was fun and exciting and there was food and drink and music and tons and tons of people.

Here are the specifics:

First, the genKC website is really well done and they made registration very easy. As you would expect with any online reg today, it was a few clicks – fill in your name and cc – and done. The intro vid and tune is perfect and upbeat and contributed to my decision to go. (I would love to find out what tune is playing on the site – wondering if it is a local group.)

Secondly, genKC is backed by a powerhouse of founding members. I have to point out members like Perceptive Software, UMB, Time Warner Cable, HNTB, and Black & Veatch because they are all Cells for Cells partners. You see where I am going with this list: The most cutting-edge companies in KC participate in the most important events and activities. So…the brightest, young professionals from THESE companies are going to be…

…you guessed it…at the cool events like genKC!

Lastly, I got to meet some of the coolest and brightest young professionals in KC like

  • Andy Metzler, VP of Marketing & E-Commerce for Ultra International – a very cool wellness company out of Lee’s Summit, MO
  • John Owens, CPA at Preferred Finance Partners, Inc. – entrepreneurs who are finance guys – that is one of the best combos when you are looking to have a CPA in your corner
  • Sarah Hemme, Development Assistant for KU’s Audio Reader – it’s “Radio for the Print-Disabled.” I spent a lot of time talking to Sarah about her research project and the tie-in to the genKC event – very cool stuff.

But the very coolest, sharpest, brightest professionals I met were the two fellow twitter-ers (is that a word?) @BrianSchmid and @swolfe09. That was cool to run into them after I saw their tweets. (Yes, tweet is a word. It is the act of twittering.)

I have recently begun to understand the power of Twitter and Search.Twitter.com and I searched to find out who really, IN KC, is using the tools of today’s new social market. It was only Brian and Sara and a few others, including Perceptive Software.

So here, finally, is my only criticism of the genKC event. No Social Marketing/Media/Promotion is BAD, VERY BAD, in today’s world. I looked and looked for anyone and any company that was using today’s tools to promote, record, or just create buzz. I found virtually zip, zero, nada. With the exception of those I mentioned, I am really shocked that the KC Chamber is not using one of the most powerful (most powerful, some say) social media/marketing tools. Especially at an event that targets today’s YOUNG professionals.

I hope by the next genKC event, everyone will tweeting to everyone else how cool and rockin the genKC networking events are.

Cent’ anni,

Jason

Your Wellness Connection has added $500 in services to March’s Giveaway

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(Photo credit: ibeginz)

Kansas City’s own wellness super-guru and founder of Your Wellness Connection (YWC), Dr. Michelle Robin has added $500 in services to the Cells for Cells March giveaway.

That means that our first Extreme Medical Bill Makeover winner will receive $500 cash and $500 in YWC services (either on-site in Shawnee, Kansas or consulting via telephone).

Thank you, Dr. Robin for inspiring us to be WELL!