Have been diagnosed with blood cancer and need help!

[Villanova]

Sorry to hear about your illness. I wish you the best.

Have you considered Kickstarter or Indiegogo to fund the book or the show?

 

[kbg32]

Sorry about your diagnosis Kutay. I just checked your Flickr. Best, would be to put together a book. If you have the time and energy, take it to galleries or show it to independent curators where you live (Australia?). See if that would spark some interest. Usually these kinds of things, exhibitions, take time to put together and organize. Keep us informed of how things are going, health and photographically.

You have a big family here on RFF in your corner wishing you well! All the best.

 

[nongfuspring]

Also thank you so much for your offer to review my proposals. I will definitely send my draft proposal to you for your review and feedback when it's ready.

No problem, just pop it through to my private messages box.

 

[rfaspen]

First of all: Cancer *can* be beat. Both my father and I are examples. I believe you can too!

As the parent of an 18-year old now at university, I can say our children don't always pick up our interests (although I tried, and we did have much enjoyment doing photography together). I've come to realize what I was actually teaching my son was a love of creativity, self-expression, and critical thinking. My son will inherit my gear and I'm quite certain he will treasure it (my favorite cams anyway) but who knows if he'll use it. At least he has the competence and love of creative pursuits that make it possible.

BTW, its already been said many times in this thread, but a book is such a great idea. Well worth the time, effort, and money.

 

[Rom]

Hi Kutay,

I wish you also my best wishes and pray for you.

Just want to give my input as i was at the place of your son long time ago and quite young when he passed away.

I would like just to say that i have a full binder of all the film negatives of my father. Sometimes, i just open it, look at it and print one or two photos (for my mother and grandparents especially). The thing to "give life" to a film from my dad is, i don't know how to describe it, but, i am proud to print them. It brings me a lot of questions, why he took this one, why like this etc..

So it was just my advice of something you can prepare to transmit to him.

I profoundly wish you all the best

 

[robert blu]

Hi Kutay, sorry to know about your health. Be strong, fight and do not forget to smile. A good attitude can be very helpful. I second the idea of the book which will be an art object your son will appreciate when grown up. You already have many good advices, small prints are very helpful in the selection process.
robert

 

[bushwick1234]

All the best wishes for you and your family Kutay. Stay strong and you will overcome all obstacles.
I would pursue the book(s) idea, it will last for generations to come. There are plenty of on-demand publishing places worldwide that offer no minimum/maximum quantity, high quality printing, high end types of paper, a variety of binding options and hard or soft covers.

 

[kutitta]

That's a great advice Rom! My negatives are so disorganized at the moment, so I should get a negative folder and and group them according to the camera I used. Off the eBay now! Hope I can find a good one there as I have quite many of them!

Hi Kutay,

I wish you also my best wishes and pray for you.

Just want to give my input as i was at the place of your son long time ago and quite young when he passed away.

I would like just to say that i have a full binder of all the film negatives of my father. Sometimes, i just open it, look at it and print one or two photos (for my mother and grandparents especially). The thing to "give life" to a film from my dad is, i don't know how to describe it, but, i am proud to print them. It brings me a lot of questions, why he took this one, why like this etc..

So it was just my advice of something you can prepare to transmit to him.

I profoundly wish you all the best

 

[kutitta]

Many thanks Dave for sharing your experience and the thoughtful advice you have given. Such stories definitely make me stronger in this journey!

My Oly trip would be a good choice for your suggestion but I like the 35RC better! 🙂

Hi Kutay,
Like Tom A, and many others, I have been in similar situations, just remember you are not alone and take support offered even when you think you don't need it. Over my years of 'adventures' in healthcare its probably the best advice I can give.

Anyway during these sojourns a couple of my hobbies,once I've been well enough, have kept my spirits up, drawing and photography (even if its just been reading), then when I recover I cycle and snorkel. However what came to mind is that all of these are 'mindful' pursuits and have the ability of taking you away from harsh reality. HCB was conscious of this and this can be seen in his fascination with Herrigel's zen in the art of archery (I hope I've referenced that correctly). Other books that can be helpfull, Marcus Aurelius Meditations, and the wee Shambhala Rumi anthology, particularly 'the body is a rose'.

One of the most beautiful recurrent sunrises I've ever witnessed, is in Autumn when I have been a patient on the 7th floor of the Mater hospital in Dublin, when I was well enough I had a wee Oly XA 1 with me to record it (an opportunity was presented) . As to Tom A's suggestion of making a book about the process, I completely agree with him and with some sensitivity I'm sure your team will let you do it (Your Oly trip is wee and discrete enough for this), but widen the brief a teeny bit and include, anything that you give witness to, during the treatment period (not just illness related).

Like yourself I have bairns, two wee boys and the youngest of the two was fascinated with my film cameras, so for his last birthday we got him an instax mini, well 10 films later, he loves it! once treatment is finished your wee man can graduate to the Olytrip.

Anyway, all the very best and keep yer pecker up!

Dave

 

[kutitta]

Thank you all again for your kind and thoughtful advice! I got my first results after one week of chemo and it seems that the things are getting better. Still a long way to go, but it has been a positive first week apparently!

Enjoy the weekend and happy shooting!

 

[ashfaque]

Dear Kutay,

Very sorry to hear about it. 🙁 May God give you a quick recovery. One of my cousins suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, who was also diagonosed with brain tumour/cancer. Hearing about his DMD was probably the toughest day of my life as I have fed, cleaned my little brother since he was 2-3 years old, thinking that he will be gone soon. But he is still doing fine and now in his late teens (thank you to all the doctors and nurses in Toronto). With the excellent treatment facility in Australia, you should be doing pretty well. So keep your spirit up. All I can say is that may God shower you and your family with patience and fortitude in this trying time.

You have already been given some excellent ideas/advices by some very knowledgeable individuals. Anyway, here is a decent idea - perhaps you could get in touch with your local/national cancer charity for some advice and help for an exhibition. I know the charity organisations funds are now spent lot more carefully than they used to be (, largely due to the financial crisis, at least in UK). So they may not be able to help you financially/logistically. But it is worth asking them for their advice as they have lots of connection. Thus more exposure for your potential exhibition.

Best regards,

Ashfaque