Cancer takes one person every minute.

Three major TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) joined in an effort to raise money for cancer research this past Friday night.

"Stand Up To Cancer is more than a rallying cry. It is a galvanizing force created to urgently move cancer research forward.

This is where the end of cancer begins: when we unite in one unstoppable movement and Stand Up To Cancer."

One person every minute. Cancer.

For the 60 minutes that the program aired, I was in the hospital with my dad and my mom. My mom, who has cancer. She was in the hospital because of a fever -- the visit was more of a precaution because the chemo she had the other week has virtually wiped out her immune system. Cancer.

While we were in the ER room watching SU2C, family friends were heavy on my heart knowing that the next morning, they would remember and celebrate the life of their husband, father, uncle, friend. Cancer.

And yet there was hope as I thought about friends who have thankfully been cancer-free for years now. And, grateful that my mom's cancer is in remission. Thankful, that research has been done that has likely improved treatment and prognosis for my mother's type of leukemia.

And hope... remembering that God is our ultimate HOPE and HEALER.

It was inspiring listening to the stories of people who have been affected by cancer and to see the entertainment industry -- so influential in our society -- stepping in to do something about it.

During my mom's very first stay at HUP back in April, I was in the nourishment getting my mom's morning cup of coffee. There filling up his coffee mug was a fellow patient with a baseball cap fitted over his head. On it the words... CANCER SUCKS.

One person every minute? Yes, it does.
But, things can change.