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Durham, NC 2014 Miles for Meso
Davis Duo
Durham, NC – A couple of weeks ago I agreed (wholeheartedly) to help captain a virtual team for this year’s Miles 4 Meso race in Alton, IL.
TODAY I REGISTERED!! And I hope you will too.
To make it easier – and possibly more fun, especially for my local peeps – I’m offering to donate another $5 for anyone joining me Saturday September 27th at 8:30 am at Durham’s Northgate Park! For each person who makes the commitment to come out and run or walk with me in honor of Mesothelioma Awareness Day & the 6th Annual running of the Alton, IL Miles 4 Meso event, I’ll donate to the cause in your honor. *If you bring your dog, I’ll donate another $5!
Meso Awareness Day is actually September 26th. The day will most certainly be marked by Mesothelioma Awareness Research Foundation Warriors in Times Square, as my father joined in while he was alive. The weekend of MAD he would also try to run the Simmons Hanly Conroy race.
courtesy CureMeso.org
So in his honor I will try to run, or at least walk, a planned course in the Northgate neighborhood (300 West Club Blvd).
YOU can register for the ADAO Mesothelioma Warrior Virtual Team.
I signed up and created the group Durham Davis’s and added I was running in honor of Larry Davis!
** Also, if you join me, in addition to donating $5 to ADAO for you, I’ll provide Saturday morning snacks at my place!
Me & Mary from MARF in 2012
Miles4Meso 2014 & ADAO
6 years ago the Simmons Law Firm in Alton, IL began a race called Miles 4 Meso. Since then numerous groups, companies and individuals have started their own M4M races or rides all across the country. My father organized his 1st the following year, in 2010. The proceeds all going to advancing the little knowledge the world has in regards to the devastating cancer, Mesothelioma, and trying to find a cure.
This year the original race, held the weekend of National Mesothelioma Awareness Day, has pledged their support to the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization and President, Linda Reinstein.
I personally don’t think I have run a race since the M4M event a few months following my father’s death in 2012. It 
certainly brings up a number of feelings, many that are not worth mentioning here, but at least one of anger that the US has not yet banned the use of asbestos in many household and automotive products – or that they didn’t when politicians learned asbestos was killing people.
Reinstein recently held a campaign to bring more awareness to Congress #message2congress about the dangers of asbestos. That, in addition to traveling the world for asbestos related hearings and visiting the many victims and families of this horrible killer.
I look forward to helping her bring visibility to this year’s Miles 4 Meso, ADAO and the dangers of asbestos exposure.
Please join us! Either in person or as part of the ADAO Mesothelioma Warriors Virtual Team . XO~Courtney
Changes to the Meso Foundation Symposium
I’m well behind the updates to this year’s Meso Foundation Symposium. I ran into a huge road block in my personal life trying to make sense of a Meso related death and all that has happened since and I have clearly not been strong enough to keep up like I did when I was up keeping this site for my father.
A lot has changed, even in the last year, and things are changing within the Foundation and with the Symposium. But rest assured the most important things will absolutely be the same.
There will be an incredible outpouring of support and caring. People like Mary Hesdorffer will be there with amazing insight and availability (don’t get me wrong, she’ll be super busy, but somehow she defies the space-time continuum with personal conversations and help). The Meso Foundation team will put on another outstanding conference and the attendees will all have experiences to share. If you haven’t made plans and can, definitely go. You will find a support group who will help you every step of the way. And as I read earlier, ‘give yourself permission’ to miss something or cry or express yourself. I didn’t and it only hurts me now.
A few things to note this year … there are 2 events happening. 1st the International Symposium on Malignant Mesothelioma and 2nd the Mesothelioma Scientific Seminar. You will be able to see much of the event via their LIVE STREAM . It has moved from Vegas last year back to the DC area. The host hotel is the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center. Also as you may have seen it is much earlier in the year from the 2012 Symposium.
For more info check out the Meso Foundation website http://www.curemeso.org and Like their Facebook page & find communities.
2014 Five Guys 5/10K [formerly Miles4Meso]
For all those of you out there who are feeling nostalgic, generous or other wise trying to carry out your New Year’s resolutions to get fit;
REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR THE FORMER SOUTH FLORIDA MILES FOR MESO!
The event is now called the Five Guys (Burgers and Fries) 5K/10K Run/Walk. It’s their 2nd annual since taking over the SF Miles4Meso race after my father, Larry Davis, died in 2012.
This race gives a $1 donation for every registered applicant to the Larry Davis Scholarship fund. It was established by the Runner’s Edge Foundation. The scholarship money is given in dad’s name to 3 worthy, college-bound runners in the South Florida area. I believe you have to be a graduating high school senior to apply.
You can also give directly to the scholarship fund, as I am, by sending your donation to:
Larry Davis Scholarship c/o Runner’s Edge Foundation 3195 N. Federal Highway Boca Raton, Florida 33431It would be amazing if runners and walkers alike would wear their tribute & team support shirts for the friends and family they’ve lost to Mesothelioma. It’s still at Spanish River Park in Boca Raton Valentine’s weekend. This year it will be held on the 15th. You can register race day between 6am & 7am. Go time is at 07:15 .
More info can be acquired by calling 561-361-1950 or emailing tvladimir@aol.com .
Please run, because he can’t …
Up for a Vote HR 982 – My letter went something like this:
It may not be perfect, and it’s a little on the late-ish side, I just hope it conveys my message.
Good morning Congressman,
My name is Courtney Davis and I spoke to AJ yesterday about urging you to vote NO on H.R. 982 (Furthering Asbestos Claims Transparency Act). I am new to your district and wanted to follow up. I also wanted to say that despite my somewhat disjointed thoughts on the phone yesterday, AJ was very nice and I felt as though he was interested in passing along my concerns.
My father died last year as a result of asbestos poisoning. The 6 years he suffered with this disease (Mesothelioma) were unbearable. At first (2nd & 3rd) he was misdiagnosed, he almost died because of a small incision to his colon, and then continued to fight bravely for 5 more years to get funding, & more information to victims, caregivers and law makers about the devastating effects of asbestos.
My concerns with House Res 982 (FACT Act) are similar to my concerns w/ the new NC voting regulations. Yes, there may be 1 person out there trying to derail the system- isn’t there always, but that does not outweigh a person’s civil liberties. Both of these would restrict good people from getting their voices heard and ultimately discriminatory!
It was awful watching my dad waste away as he could not eat real food for the last year of his life because of multiple tumors in his abdomen. He was a marathon runner, who could no longer exercise. And we would frequently have to clean a stint in his belly that would get clogged w/ bile because his organs were no longer functioning properly because of a man-made-cancer.
I say man-made because although these giant businesses knew asbestos was harmful, they continued to use it! It was up for a ban decades ago, but the Bill was voted down. We still have asbestos in our everyday lives: siding, brake pads, insulation, etc. Corporations knew asbestos was deadly and yet the industry hid the real facts and continued to put people, like my dad, at risk. And there are huge bills associated w/ treatment and there is no cure. This Resolution will put social security numbers on a list on a public website, delay possible compensation and basically tell the nation that Big Business means more than the little guy making things happen – and dying for working hard.
Thank you for your time. I sincerely look forward to living in your district!
For more information on the effects of asbestos go to:
https://actionagainstasbestos.wordpress.com/larry-davis/
Sincerely,
Courtney Davis
To find your Rep: http://www.house.gov also see ADAO for a template and more info: http://www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org/archives/24133
H.R. 982: Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2013
According to the US Government Printing Office the full title is as follows:
Thank you Sokolove Law for the amazing info graphics.
“To amend title 11 of the United States Code to require the public disclosure by trusts established under section 524(g) of such title, of quarterly reports that contain detailed information regarding the receipt and disposition of claims for injuries based on exposure to asbestos; and for other purposes.”
As many of you already know, the use of ASBESTOS was never really banned here in the U.S. ASBESTOS exposure is currently considered the leading cause of the terribly debilitating and deadly disease Mesothelioma. It is a cancer that attacks the mesothelium, basically the layer of cells that surrounds our body’s organs. In my father it did not attack his lungs as it has many of it’s victims, but rather the linings of his lower internal organs. Ultimately the meso tumors grew so large around his intestines, they blocked his bowel and forced him onto a purely medical, liquid diet. He grew weaker and thinner and he was unable to move around, let alone continue to run marathons and have a pint at the pub.
Just a couple of weeks before my dad, Larry Davis, died.
Fortunately he had health insurance at the time of his diagnosis, however the extent of the bills I can only imagine, was overwhelming. Had it not been for his lawyer and their hard work advocating for victims of Mesothelioma, then my father would have never seen the producers and users of asbestos punished for killing him.
From what I understand this FACT Act, H.R. 982, currently before the 113th Congress, was designed to cut down on potential fraudulent claims that asbestos is killing people. I can promise you that my father did not make up this disease. I can promise you that he was not pretending to die. And there are millions of other victims who also died as a direct result of asbestos poisoning … and only 1 claim of fraud in those millions has been identified.
So instead of creating a Bill to ban the use of asbestos completely, Congress is working to approve a bill that may very well place road blocks in the way of patients seeking financial help and compensation for their pain and suffering and medical bills. This bill is also expected to totally invade the privacy of the little guy, the victim and the family, by allowing these giant corporations who’ve continued using this known carcinogen to access client information including confidential settlements, exposure points, work history and the like. Effectively making each victim’s personal information available outright and creating a situation where these businesses can continue to pass the buck or at the very least continue to look for loop holes and outs and prolong the potential (and sometimes essential) compensation.
To help & support victim’s rights you can log on to on www.cancervictimsrights.org now and sign up to TAKE ACTION.
Also write your congressmen & women and let them know you have SIGNED THE PETITION.
Action Against Asbestos 