Open letter from Mike Peters

I began Love Hope Strength Foundation as a way to payback medical science for the skill and dedication shown to me by the Doctor's and Nurses in my hometown, which has so far kept me alive and in remission and to provide others with the support network I had to win my battle.

Once in 1995 and for a second time in 2005, I was diagnosed and treated for Chronic Lymphocyte Leukemia. I owe my life to the patience and selflessness of others.

Through cancer I have encountered some of the most remarkable people who have helped me to cope with the highs and lows associated with diagnosis, treatment and remission. Complete strangers who heard of my own plight gave of their time and energy to help me and my family, to encourage and inspire and to offer advice and guidance based on their own unique battle with the Big C.

My own experience tells me that cancer affects everyone in an individual way. No two cancer stories are ever the same. There are always unexpected twists and turns in each telling. Cancer is a devious disease seemingly forever outside our grasp, always just beyond the reach of our understanding. Well I believe science is on the verge of discovering how to unlock the dark secrets that cancer has guarded so mysteriously throughout time.

For once I feel that cancer is on the run. In my own treatment regime I was given a remarkable drug called Rituximab that helped to bring my white blood count down from a staggering 500,000 to a normal reading of 6.5 within a few short months. At diagnosis on December 7th 2005, my white blood count was so high that it would not register on conventional machines in the hospital. I was in extreme danger of thrombosis and my neck, spleen and liver were swollen with the visible signs of enlarged lymph nodes. I will never forget sitting at the breakfast table on Christmas Eve with my wife Jules and young son Dylan after coming home from my first run-in with Chemotherapy and being overwhelmed with the rush of hope when I realized that all the lumps in my neck had virtually disappeared.

This was all down to the wonder drug Rituximab which literally attached itself like a marker to all the 'bad' white blood in my stream, allowing the 'good' white blood to finally do it's job and eradicate them from my body. Amazing. Who invented this drug? What made someone think of it? As far as I can work out it seems to be a combined effort of research, trial and error and the sharing of knowledge. This is what we hope to encourage with Love Hope Strength Foundation, the people behind the thought process, the human endeavor that lies behind these breakthroughs, the companies and teams of people (who dream up the long unpronounceable names!), and make all of this possible.

More and more people who had previously been given days / months / years to live are now being treated and cured every day, giving hope for future generations. Through Love Hope Strength we will be asking the world to help us help others to find the cure. To show the world the new face of cancer. To illustrate that through the endeavor and perseverance of the worldwide medical community, cancer need not be the death sentence it once was.

Mike Peters 2006