Causecast

by MELISSA JUN ROWLEY, Contributing Writer

A little over a month ago, a friend of mine in San Francisco forwarded me an invite to a going-away party for someone I had not yet met.

“His name is Drew Olanoff," said my friend. “The two of you know a lot of the same people. You’ll probably recognize him from Twitter. He’s a great guy. He has a lot of tattoos, and he’s a total geek.”

Twitter, tattoos, and geeks are three of my favorite forces of nature these days, so I headed over to the party destination, fondly referred to by its occupants as the Honeycomb Hideout, to crash a splendid gathering of Bay Area bloggers and tech enthusiasts.

—-Crank up Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give it Up,” or some other fun-loving soiree melody that evokes visions of beautiful young yuppies having a good time.—-

Guitar Hero blasted in the background, and flowing wine and conversation filled the room, as Drew and two of his friends showed off the matching pixilated triple-heart Legend of Zelda tattoos they got earlier that day – a sweet symbolic gesture of solidarity.

After just a few minutes of talking with the man of the hour, I realized that this was the same Drew who recently auctioned off naming rights for an addition to his body art collection via Twitter, and gave all the proceeds to the Make a Wish Foundation. In February, one Melanie Mitchell tweeted a winning bid of $2112. Soon after, Drew had the Twitter address @MelanieMitchell inked on his left forearm. Talk about putting your money/charity where your mouth is.

Shortly after the bon voyage bash, Drew was off to make his move to Los Angeles, where he had just landed a new gig as Director of Community for the mobile tech start-up Gogii. Before heading south, he took a detour to the east coast to visit family and friends. But the trip quickly turned into more than a social visit when he discovered a small lump on his neck. On May 20, Drew was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Stage 3.

—-Abrupt vinyl record SCRATCH – silence…fade to white.—-

*******************************************************************

Drew is now undergoing chemotherapy every two weeks for the next six months. His treatments have started to become draining. He’s going to lose all of his hair soon. And the full move to Los Angeles is going to have to wait. But this self-proclaimed geek is doing anything but complaining about his cancer. On the contrary, the online innovator is blaming every other misfortune in his life on his condition, and he’s gone to compulsory measures to urge everyone else to do the same.

Drawing from the same ingenuity and good will that led to his Twitter-tattoo-charity initiative, Drew and his friend and Hodgkin’s survivor Mike Demers launched the website BlameDrewsCancer.com, which collects any tweet that blames Drew’s cancer for a mishap and is accompanied with the hashtag #blamedrewscancer. The objective is to have corporate sponsors donate $1 for every unique participant to the American Cancer Society and the Make a Wish Foundation.

“Since the nature of Twitter is following people you trust, when someone tweets something like #BlameDrewsCancer, it gets your attention,” he said. “It’s perfect for charity, because you can’t be everywhere at once. The internet can make that happen, kind of.”

Demers, who’s been in remission for 12 months now, says he’s happy the Twitter community is embracing the movement with open arms.

“I think we’ve both been pleasantly surprised by people’s reaction to the project,” said Demers. “There’s a certain type of macabre humor that you adopt when you go through an ordeal like cancer, and we were concerned that people who aren’t dealing with that might not ‘get it’".

But it seems that people are indeed getting it. Most if not all of the tweets are good-natured and on the more humorous side. As of June 8, Drew said the most memorable remark so far has been from @torrenikki, who blamed Drew’s cancer for her broken fingernail.

Since the site’s official June 4th launch, more than 6,000 people have blamed Drew’s cancer on about 9,500 things.

Demers says the overall goal is for Drew to have beaten his cancer in six months, and for the campaign to have made a difference through fundraising and awareness.

“We really excited to have gotten off to such a fast start, but we are very aware that this is more of a marathon than a sprint,” he explained.

Word of the Twitter trend is spreading quickly throughout cyberspace and the American Cancer Society, as well. ACS Chief Mission Delivery Officer Terry Music had plenty to say about Drew’s crusade.

“Over the years, people have found all sorts of creative ways to raise awareness of and help support our work,” said Music. “We’re gratified to see the Twitter community joining in. It’s inspiring to see a cancer patient like Drew use humor to help energize not only his own personal fight against cancer, but also the nation’s fight against this disease.”

The interwebs are doing their part in making sure that BlameDrewsCancer is kept in good company. A certain tweeter, who goes by the handle @LanceArmstrong recently blamed Drew’s cancer for his broken collarbone in Spain.

Drew says he’s looked up to Armstrong for quite some time, and sees him as a tremendous role model.

“Even before I was diagnosed, I had heard him speak in San Francisco at a tech event and he was inspiring,” said Drew.

And that’s all it takes. That’s how change begins. Sometimes one simple moment, a single gesture, an idea, or a declaration can spark a chain reaction of enlightenment. If we stop, listen, and stand still every now and then we may be lucky enough to observe miracles, changes that at one time didn’t seem possible, happening all around us.

Now before you all start thinking I’m trying way to hard to sound like Oprah, I’m going to end this entry with a few personal words to Mr. Olanoff.

Dear Drew,

I’ve already blamed your cancer on the June Gloom in Los Angeles and the overcast skies in San Francisco, and for my car breaking down in the middle of the desert, and for the zit on my chin. So all I can do now is thank you. On behalf of Causecast, the American Cancer Society, the Make a Wish Foundation, and anyone seeking hope and inspiration, I thank you and your web developing guru Mike Demers for the uplifting example you’ve set by merging your technological talents with your desire to help others. Taking the challenge you’re currently facing and using it to serve a greater good is a gift to us all.

One of my best friends in the world found out she had cancer when she was 27 years old. While sitting with her during her chemo treatments and hospital stays, I was able to experience the strength of her light. You have the same light about you, and you’re doing a remarkable job at sharing it.

<3 <3 <3,

Melissa

—-The first few guitar riffs of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” begin to blare.—-

To blame Drew’s cancer on your latest trial or tribulation, please tweet away and remember to add the hashtag #blamedrewscancer. You can also become a member of the BlameDrewsCancer.com Facebook group, which has raised $1375 to date.

To learn more about the man behind the movement, click here.

Photo by Drew Olanoff