Introduction

The "Hotel Melanoma" moniker is a metaphor for living with my particular brand of cancer. Except for those lucky few of us deemed "cured", all we cancer survivors are guests of one of the many, many branded hotels in the "Hotel Carcinoma" chain. We can check out any time we like, but we can never leave. Meanwhile, let's be livin' it up; and please support cancer education, prevention, and treatment research.



Tutu Brothers

Monday, October 24, 2011

We Got The Fire Down Below

Was I dreaming yesterday or did I really see former Steelers coach and now CBS’ NFL analyst Bill Cowher doing a commercial promoting the breast cancer cause in honor of his wife? Nice gesture, Coach, but according to the New York Times she died in 2010 from melanoma. Is the commercialization of “the pink” now so dominant that even a sports celebrity who’s lost his wife to melanoma will jump on that bandwagon?

Yikes, but I guess we at this Hotel need to stick together and not count on any celebrity help to champion our cause. Melanoma is an indiscriminate bastard that strikes people of all ages, sexes (I say all because I don’t want to leave out our transgender friends), tax brackets, and skin tones. We may have but one common and un-chosen bond, but it’s nevertheless a bond of common experiences and interests that we should value and nurture. Melanoma is a sneaky disease that may be lurking dormant within even the most fortunate of us, and we share a deep-down and primal urge to do battle with that beast for our own lives and those of our fellow warriors. In short, we “got the fire down below”. And there just happens to be a great old Bob Seger rocker by that name…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJNxlG-0ZDk


Here comes old Rosie, her scans look mighty fine
Here comes young Nancy, she checked in right on time
Here go UV lights, bringin' on this plight
Here come old men, with scars hidden from your sight
All through this Hotel, ah we come and we go
With only one thing in common
We got the fire down below

Here come the rich man, in his big long limousine
Here come the poor man, both forgot to wear their ‘screen
Here come the banker, and the lawyer and the cop
One thing for certain they ain't never checked sun spots
When nodes all get too heavy
That's when they come and they go (they go)
With only one thing in common
They got the fire down below

Yea, it happens down in Houston, it takes a lot of green
In the clinic halls of Anschutz
New York City’s Sloan Kettering
And it goes on everyday and we’re keeping up the fight
Somewhere there's some doctor that’s treatin' somebody right

And we’re reaching out for Ipi, it’s working mighty fine
And we’re walking the streets for Black C
And we'll take your every dime
And with Black C we’ll bicker, bringing on the fight
Well we'll be slipping out of pinkness, wearing black with pride
Break through to spotlight
Watch us come and beat this foe (let’s go)
With only one thing in common
We got the fire down below
Oh, burnin' down below

Yea, it happens down in Houston, it takes a lot of green
In the clinic halls of Anschutz
New York City’s Sloan Kettering
And it goes on everyday and we’re keeping up the fight
Somewhere there's some doctor that’s treatin' somebody right

And we’re reaching out for Ipi, it’s working mighty fine
And we’re walking the streets for Black C
And we’ll take your every dime
And with Black C we’ll bicker, bringing on the fight
Well we'll be slipping out of pinkness, we’re wearing black with pride
Out from the shadows
Watch us come and beat this foe (oh let’s go)
With only one thing in common
We got the fire down below
Oh, we got one thing in common
We got the fire down below
Only got one thing in common
We got the fire down below
Cancer free!

2 comments:

  1. .........wait. Did she really die of melanoma and he somehow forgot? I need to research this. I am disturbed.

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  2. I just caught a bit of the "commercial" with Cowher in a pink tie during the CBS broadcast of yesterday's Broncos game, and couldn't quite believe what I was hearing. The fact his wife died in 2010 of melanoma has been widely reported. I'd love to hear from anyone who saw the spot. Maybe it has something to do with CBS' contract with the NFL and the NFL's sponsorship of breast cancer?

    ReplyDelete