This year, Femcat is running to help beat cancer
once and for all, and
you can help.
As many of you are aware, the Eric Overton, the
lead photographer and a major driving force behind the Cougars and Kittens project, was diagnosed
with Stage III cancer in late summer of 2002. Prior to his diagnosis, he was an avid marathon runner; and
he held the record for the city of Austin, Texas for the largest number of "Distance Challenges"
(a series of endurance races each Fall and Winter) completed. To a lot of people, he was the Cal Ripken
of the local marathon running scene, since many years and many thousands of miles went by, and he
was always out there running. Thus, his diagnosis - along with a prognosis that included an extremely
low survival rate - came as a shock to everyone, Femcat included. The 2003 and 2004 Cougars and Kittens
calendars only just barely got out the door - having been done while he was on high-dose chemotherapy.
Luckily for him, he got referrals
to some of the finest doctors in the world at the University of Texas' MD Anderson
Cancer Center. And locally in Austin, his medical oncologist was a fellow who
was on the team that brought Lance Armstrong back from the dead. That, combined
with remarkably good genetics and a history of training for endurance events
saw him through those critical first two years of treatment, when the cancer
is most likely to come back. And as of September 7, 2006, he's been declared
clean of the disease and been dubbed one of MD Anderson's "miracle babies."
With that, he's back to running
again, while at the same time raising money for his neighbor Lance's "Livestrong"
program.
And Femcat and the Kittens are
there to help. The 2007 lineup of Kittens includes one young lady (Shiley Carter)
who nearly died of childhood Leukemia herself. And it also includes a pharmacologist
(Laura Oeschler) who - in the small world department - dispensed chemotherapy
drugs at the very same clinic where Eric was treated.
Beyond that, the Cougars
and Kittens Calendar folks are now selling 8x10
photos of your favorite Femcats, with a portion of the sale proceeds to
benefit the "Livestrong" movement. We're making arrangements now to
get them autographed for a small additional fee (also to benefit Livestrong).
We've also be posed a downloadable
screen saver featuring favorite Cougars and Kittens photos; and although
that'll be free for your enjoyment, we'll encourage you if you like it to chip
in a few bucks to the cause.
And of course, if you'd like to
jump right in and
make a fully tax-deductible contribution now, you only have to click on this link to help make sure nobody
ever has to have his running (or swimsuit calendar shooting) interrupted by cancer again.
