March 26, 2012

Dear Friends and Supporters of Us TOO,

I am very pleased we are sending along the April HotSheet. It is hard to believe it is the end of March with the unusually nice weather many of us have been having. Here in the Mid-West the flowers and blossoms are out and the temperatures are more like June. It is energizing and inspirational I think. So, what is our focus now and during the months ahead?

You may have noticed from our emails and the news that the Federal government has started its budget process. It is time to get involved to support our number one advocacy priority, the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program funding. This is a program which Congress created and must keep moving forward each year; it is not in the President’s budget. Please keep your attention focused on it as we need your voices heard. We have included on page 4 of the HotSheet the letter which was sent this week to leaders of the Appropriations committee. Us TOO has signed on to the letter.

There are many events being organized which are coming soon to raise awareness, such as the Grand Bahamas Walk event in April, the May swimming event in Austin, June Dash for Dad event organized by our Joliet chapter folks, and here in Chicago to kick off our SEA Blue September activities. Bill Palos, our active Moline Chapter Leader and Regional Volunteer, told me today that he has Us TOO involved in the Birdies for Charity Program which is on again for 2012. It will be part of the July 2012 John Deere Classic. Great opportunities are surfacing for us to show our support and raise needed funds. Bill shared with me that Willie Cotton, one of our Us TOO volunteers from Arizona, actually guessed the right number of Birdies last year! Look for more information on how you can get involved this year.

The Us TOO Board of Directors and staff members are planning Town Hall meetings in Arizona and Washington in April and June in our efforts to “team” more and increase our Us TOO activities to new levels. These events follow our first such meeting here in Chicago a few weeks ago. Look for news about our plans over the next several weeks and months.

We have selected an interesting assortment of articles in this April HotSheet edition. The cover stories show FDA approval for a urine test to address repeat biopsies, news from the European screening study and the growing use of proton beam therapy in communities.  There are, of course, other stories on insights learned and clinical trial opportunities as well as the contributions from Drs Myers, Chodak and Moyad. We hope this HotSheet is helpful.

Finally, it is not too early to plan your September “Prostate Cancer Awareness Month” activities. I strongly encourage you to attend ZERO’s 2012 Summit on September 11-13, use the Us TOO code "ustoo2012" for a 30% discount at their registration site. See you there and enjoy our great weather in the mean time!

Sincerely,

Thomas Kirk President & CEO Us TOO International Downers Grove, IL 60655 Office: 630-795-1002 Toll Free: 800-808-7866 tom@ustoo.org