A day and a dinner with ZimKids

http://www.zimkids.com/new/

Carpe Diem.

My time with the lions

http://www.lionalert.org/index.html

Carpe Diem.

A drive around Bulawayo

Carpe Diem.

What timing

Allan "Goldfish" Goldstein, one of my closest and dearest friends (and fellow UPS pilot) wrote an article about me in our pilot union daily online newsletter. Here it is:

B757 Capt. Adrian Suskin in ‘Remission”

In this photo, submitted by MD-11 Capt. Allan Goldstein, you can see Capt. Adrian Suskin making the lions laugh in much the same way as he makes his flight crews laugh when they fly with him.

We are very happy and relieved to tell you that B757 Captain Adrian Suskin has been told by his doctors that he is now in "remission" status from his lung cancer.

Chemotherapy stopped last March for Adrian, and in about a year, he will revisit his AME to discuss the possibility of returning to the cockpit.

As you may know, Adrian became ill more than two years ago. In addition to fighting the lung cancer, he has devoted his time and efforts to an AIDS orphanage in his birth country Zimbabwe. As a consequence of nearly 60% of the population of Zimbabwe being HIV positive, there is a desperate need for orphanages for the numerous children left wandering the streets as a result of entire families dying of AIDS.

The IPA foundation, working closely with Adrian, made a generous $10,000 donation to the orphanage in 2009. This gift alone comprised nearly a third of the annual operating cost of the facility.

Adrian's philosophy is that doing good for other people is a therapeutic distraction. Right now, his concern is for long time UPS Training Scheduler Tom Thomas, who was recently diagnosed with lung cancer.

Since Adrian is now feeling a lot stronger, he has the time to live every day to its fullest. Last week, he flew to visit friends involved with the orphanage. He took the time off to go to a reserve that rehabilitates injured or orphaned lions and returns them to the wild.

Crewmembers may drop Adrian a note via email at asuskin@hotmail.com.

The IPA Executive Board and staff send our best wishes to Adrian! We thank Capt. Goldstein for providing this update and photo to share with the membership.

This article was published Friday May 7th. The same day as my PET/CT scan and my brain MRI. All was ok. He was allowed some poetic licence! Oh, by the way, I cannot use the word "remission". I simply prefer all is ok right now.

Carpe Diem.

I'm baaack

Well, I just couldn't stay away long. I have some cool stuff to tell you about. At least, I think it's cool. Hope this doesn't bore you too much.

Carpe Diem.

Re-starting my Blog

I will have lots to talk about and pictures to show in the next few days. Please stay tunned.

Carpe Diem.

The Wall

I've hit the wall! I've reached the stage in my blog that because things are well and stable right now I will be taking time off from writing. I am incredibly delighted at current developments even though I fully understand that no one knows for sure what the future will bring..

The initial intent of the blog was to keep a journal of my little "war" and keep friends and family up to date with my trials and tribulations. I have been deeply honored and flattered that so many of you had shown an interest in keeping up with the blog. I am eternally grateful.

I have found it incredibly fulfilling having talked to a number of different people with various forms and stages of cancer. I find it therapeutic and helpful for me and will continue to do this as much as I can.

In the mean time.................................................

Carpe Diem.

Bio 3 ( Round 1)

It's always so nice (right now) to be able to say that all is well on the medical front. I'm tolerating the maintenance therapy well and everything is stable. As mentioned previously, the type of tumor I have seems to be a very slow growing one. Good, come back in 30 years from now!

Carpe Diem.

The MouseSkin update

Here is the MouseSkin update from Sara Parkerson:

Dear Adrian,
It was nice to hear your voice this afternoon. As promised, here is an email update on your Tumorgrafts.

In our Texas facility (START) there are 3 mice with small tumors growing.
In our Maryland facility, we recently transplanted 5 F0 tumors into new mice and 2 tumors were explanted and shipped to START. The growth continues to be slow.

I hope you had a nice trip to NY.

Sara Parkerson, RN, MSN, OCN, CCM
Director Personalized Oncology Services
Champions Biotechnology, Inc.

Carpe Diem.

Mr. Gomez goes to New York

AKA Max and I drove to New York to be with my Mom and the rest of the gang for Passover while Diana went to Toronto to spend Passover with her Dad and family. We had a great time with everyone, ate lots, yada, yada, yada.

Carpe Diem.