Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Fertility Preservation and Cancer

It looks like I have gone from an extremely big to an extremely small opponent as I was diagnosed with cancer over a year ago now - and my encounter with the sperm whale leading to my sinking in the middle of the Pacific was just a few months before that.

My cancer grew so attached to her reproductive tract that it decided to keep it as a souvenir. As I had not planned on being a tourist ground for cancer and menopausal at 32, I sought help to preserve my fertility. This affected me so much that she worked with top physicians in the field to make a documentary to raise public awareness of these solutions. Fertility preservation options are little known to patients and physicians alike and many patients embark on irreversible sterilizing therapies before exploring options.

You can see the short video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFGg3yyDNYs

I now count on the frosted Mini-Nats to keep her spirits up! If she can dodge an 80-ton mammal, what's with a bunch of microscopic malignant cells! You can read about Nat's story and make a donation to sarcoma research at stories.beatsarcoma.org.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

BeatSarcoma

Hello hello hello -

We have launched the BeatSarcoma website - looks all shiny at www.beatsarcoma.org. Feel free to pass this around of course.
There are links to a summary of the Alien story as well as the Pacific Cup blog. The full Alien blog is not public (or at least not yet, debating whether it should ever become public or not) but like I said, I will be happy to send you an invite if you e-mail me.

Friends and family members have volunteered to translate the site into French so there are even a few pages in the language of Moliere. Hopefully, I'll be able to add some Spanish, Chinese, etc...ones too! One advantage of having gone to INSEAD...

Oh - and for anyone curious about who is behind this blog, you can find pictures on the site!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Update on fight against cancer

This is a repeat post from the Alien blog.

"Hi everyone -Sorry for the delay in posting an update. I am actually maintaining a private blog and it took up a lot of my time. I am still in treatment and still chatting with a bunch of doctors, fighting off the nasty Alien but I have some news. I also founded a non-profit to help with sarcoma research since it currently gets less than 1% of funds available for cancer research. Still very early stages but it looks promising!

I may not be able to update this blog regularly. I am tired from the treatment which annoys me greatly, trying to do some work and setting things up with the non profit - in addition to some sailing and maintaining the private blog.

I will post an update once the non-profit is ready for prime time."

Meanwhile, if you are interested in finding out more about the Alien story, please email me and we should be able to get you an invite to the private Alien blog.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

http://financemonkeyvsalien.blogspot.com/

I keep receiving a lot of emails asking me to keep blogging...So there you are! Talk to you soon!

My email address is still valid!

Sunday, September 04, 2005

I have not written much about the application process - which is a tough one since it is a process where you must relegate control of your "destiny" to a 3rd party. However, if you take a look at life circumstances, there is only so much you will be able to control, and that's ok.

I have been asked several times about this application process. It may be worth a post.

There are excellent blogs on how to write application essays or prepare yourself for business school. My number one recommendation is to plan ahead and take the time. Talking about oneself is difficult. Talking aobut oneself in a meaningful way requires more introspection, and most of it just comes with time, and maturity of reflection, not necessarily an active effort.

- people who will read your essays may read them at 2am. Make it clear and easy for them to understand. Tell them what you are going to say early, then tell them in more detail, then conclude by reminding them of what you were going to tell them :)
- try to find something "remarkable", including how you present stuff. Originality is likely to be remembered. Doesn't have to be in what you did but in how you present it. More importantly than this, be yourself. It is remarkably easy to spot something that doesn't ring true.
- don't just make statement, prove everything you say. For instance, if you say: "I care about others", show an example of this being true. otherwise, find something else that you will be more representative of who you are, what you care about, care enough to dedicate significant time and resource to it.
- take the time to write your essays, let them mature. Chances are your first draft will be very descriptive, let the story sink in, stop thinking about it consciously, then revisit later
- the challenge in this process is to get to know people with very little. Every detail counts. Make sure every word you add adds something to your story.
- don't try to assume anything else about the other applicants other than the fact that they will be of extremely high quality. you won't know them, so don't position yourself "competitively". Diversity is important in business school. Concentrate on your story, think about what it is you want to convey, make it real and clear.
- don't make suggestive statements such as: it is clear that I am the most qualified candidate because. state facts, talk about state of minds, talk about your path, how you matured, what you learned, how you learned, what you are passionate about. Talk about everything that makes who you are, let them decide.
- always remember the objective of the admission committee: they need to make a decision about you in their program. Write only about what will help them with this decision. What matters? your motivation, your likelihood to accept an offer they may extend (e.g. why their program in particular), your ability to follow the curriculum, your active participation to the program, what will you bring to the school (during your MBA and thereafter) and to your fellow participants, etc...
- It is true that past behavior isn't necessarily a good predictor of future behavior. However, in a lot of cases, that's what you will have at your disposal to help the Admission Committee find out more about you

I will write more if I can think of something else

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

I have received a few timid enquiries - yes I am still alive and happy to take questions! You can just email me!