Welcome to the Chasing Rainbows blog…

We’re glad you found us!  We’ve started this blog so that we will have a slightly less formal venue than our official website, where we can share news and links and photos, and also interact with people more directly. Please leave us a comment or several – we’d love to hear from you! Scroll down for current posts… but by way of introducing ourselves properly, here’s the 8-minute trailer for Chasing Rainbows: Young Adults Living With Cancer:

If you’d like to see the full length (43 minutes) film, you can order a copy of the DVD from the BC Cancer Foundation here.

Ottawa, Hamilton, Ontario and Austin, Texas

Wow Blog Readers:

I Chased Rainbows out to Ottawa, Ontario Sept 23 for the Go Public, Control Cancer Global Leadershop Conference where I found out that getting “Chasing Rainbows” transcribed into as many Global languages possible is one of my new goals.  The French Versioning is now finished.  Hindi, Spanish, Arabic, Malay, Italian are the next to come.  It is already in Dutch subtitles.  So much more to do!

Three more Screenings in Hamilton, Ontario came next on Sept 29 at the Juravinski Cancer Centre and at the Movie Palace Theatre, hosted by Wellwood in celebration of their new Women’s Young Adult Support group!  I met some wonderful new young adult cancer survivors who joined me at our presentations as quest speakers!  I love that part!

Next, I flew down to Austin, Texas for the LiveStrong Young Adult Alliance Conference for Nov 11-13th.  Fun! Fun! Fun!   Tons more of young adult survivors, great networking opportunity with USA young adult groups and Australia.  Met Drew from “BlameDrew’s Cancer”,  and Adam Garone, founder of Movember and Jack Bouffard from the Stupid Cancer Show.  Matthew Zachary was there, too.  Lorna of Team Shan, and  Pam of Ali’s Journey and Bill from Testicular Cancer Canada were the other Canadian’s there.  Energy, ideas and inspiration!  Great trip!

CAPO is next in May 2010.   Bottom Line:  Still much to do to support the young adult voice for cancer.  I am so grateful I can still continue to make Sara’s dream come true!   Love her, miss her, wish she was here!  I will keep Chasing Rainbows until the work is done!   Bye for now!  Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!   Pat

Hollywood or Bust!

“Chasing Rainbows” is off to Hollywood to be screened on August 6 at the West Hollywood International Film Festival in L.A. at the Regency Theatre at 4:55 PM.  www.whiff2008.com  Wow!  Sara gets to go to Hollywood!  She must be smiling over this one.  I am excited to be making our American Film debut in Hollywood.  Not only am I able to meet one more of Sara’s goal for her film, but I can do it in the city where the “stars come out to play!”  Maybe some of them will turn up to see the f ilm.

Other news:  I will be attending the “Go Public-Global Leadership Forum to Control Cancer” in Ottawa  from Sept 23 to 27th.   Then I will be moving on to Hamilton, Ontario to Wellwood and the Jurainski Cancer Centre for two Film Screenings and Presentations on Sept 29/09.   In November 12/13 I plan to attend the LiveStrong Young Adult Alliance conference in Austin, Texas!   All three of these events will allow me to interact with lots of young adult cancer survivors and I always enjoy that aspect of these tours.  SO I am Still, Chasing Rainbows…wherever Sara takes me.

Photo post: Sunset Cruise at CAPO

Chasing Rainbows recently sponsored a performance by Michael Booth Palmer on a Sunset Cruise held during CAPO’s annual conference, which took place here in Vancouver this year. A good time was had by all! Here are some photos:

Photo by Bejoy Thomas

Sound Check

A full house! (or, boat…?)

Photo by Bejoy Thomas

Michael Booth Palmer and Sarah Sample

Michael, Pat and friend

Michael with some new fans: Martina Quinn, Bernie Dunlop, Joan Dunlop, Liz Cole, Audrey Friedman, Pat Brown (and possibly others whose names we neglected to record?).

Photo by Bejoy Thomas

Uploading Young Adults’ Candid Cancer Conversations on YouTube

Sooooooo excited.  After attending the social media panel discussions on March 4 at the Women In Film Festival, I was pleased to have confirmed that if you have a YouTube video dream,  “take the risk,  work it, define it , then get it posted ASAP and once you are up and running, redesign it if necessary!”  YouTube, Twitter, web media sites are where little business and big business is happening.  This is the new media frontier.  So I am happy that Michael and I, designed it, shot it, edited it, added music to it and then took the risk to upload to YouTube our new Young Adults’ Candid Cancer Conversations – Parts One to Five).  We are all about facilitating the much needed support for the VOICE of young adult’s touched by cancer.  Hope this series helps service that goal.  Many thanks to our spokespeople so far: Peter M., Grace W., Andrea P. and our Sibling spokesperson, Graham M.    More to come.

Keep chasing those rainbows!

Pat

March09 – A fantastic Rainbow Month

Wow!  What a fantastic month March 09 has been for Chasing Rainbows. Monday, March 2, I was interviewed on live webradio by Matthew Zachery (of I’mTooYoungForThis.org) for “The Stupid Cancer Show” broadcasting out of New York.  Got some great feedback and some new website links supporting young adults living with cancer.  I will get Melanie to  post them on our “Chasing Rainbows” website. [Ed. note: they are also on the blogroll to your right...scroll down to see lots of useful links!]

Next:  Our March 5th “Chasing Rainbows Screening and Discussion” presentation at the Dunbar Community Centre here in Vancouver had a full house.  We kept having to add more chairs as people streamed into the room.

Anna Peled, our young adult cancer survivor speaker, kept us laughing with her jaunty delivery while Sarah Sample, a counselor from the BCCA, informed us of the ongoing support counselling services available for patients and family members offered at the BCCA.  Michael Booth Palmer charmed the audience with his usual evocative balladeer style.

The big surprise to me and to the crowd was Angelo Vakakis, a young man from the film, who showed up unexpectedly and gave us a quick update on what he has been doing since shooting the original Chasing Rainbows film footage in April 1998.  He looked good and is walking strong and unaided…just as he hoped he would be someday, after his leg was amputated below the knee due to cancer more than eleven years ago.  Soooo great to hook up with him again.

March 9 I received an email from Lorna Larsen of Team Shan saying she was coming out to participate in the Canadian Association of PsychoOncology (CAPO)’s annual conference here in Vancouver and we plan to hook  up and share our future goals to support young adults living with cancer.   Check out www.TeamShan.ca for more info on the marvelous work Lorna is doing on behalf of young women with breast cancer.

March 5th Michael Boot Palmer and I launched Parts 1 to 5 of the new YouTube videos interview series we have titled: “Young Adults’ Candid Cancer Conversations”.  Check it out and let us know what you think!

So it has been a month of getting things done…reaching out…and helping support.  More to come…stay tuned!

– Pat Taylor

Upcoming: Chasing Rainbows on RADIO and on SCREEN

CHASING RAINBOWS ON THE RADIO
March 2, 2009
9:00 – 10:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (6:00 pm in BC)

Chasing Rainbows’ producer/director Pat Taylor will be interviewed on “The Stupid Cancer Show”, a live, interactive social webcast giving voice to more than 1 million young adults affected by cancer. The show is hosted by Matthew Zachary, founder of the I’m Too Young For This! Cancer Foundation. You can listen to “The Stupid Cancer Show” live online here.

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FILM SCREENING & DISCUSSION
Chasing Rainbows: Young Adults Living With Cancer
Dunbar Community Centre (4747 Dunbar St. at W. 31st)
March 5 2009, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
Free Admission: all welcome! (Call 604-222-6060 to register)

Producer/director Pat Taylor hosts a screening of Chasing Rainbows: Young Adults Living With Cancer at the Dunbar Community Centre. The event includes a post-film discussion/Q&A with young adult cancer survivors Anna Peled and Vikram Bubber and BC Cancer Agency family counselor Sarah Sample, and live music by singer-songwriter (and Chasing Rainbows co-producer) Michael Booth Palmer.

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Join the Chasing Rainbows group on facebook!

Fall Tour 08/Concert 09 Update

Since Michael and I returned from our Chasing Rainbows Screening and Discussion Tour last April/May we have spent time meeting people who could help us producea young adult cancer awareness concert for Fall 2009 – that we plan to stream live , on-line across Canada and further, if the technology allows it to be so. We plan to make sure there is a website in place for follow -up support. I will keep you posted as we get closer to making our goal a reality.

This past November, Michael and I were invited to screen “Chasing Rainbows” at the Canadian Cancer Society, Ontario Division’s first”Surviving Cancer and Living Well Conference” in Toronto. It was one of the first Screenings at a Plenary Breakfast Session for a Conference of that size for us. Young adult cancer survivors Peter Mazereeuw and Lisa Kramer (from the film) spoke, Michael played and sang and the film brought chuckles and tears to the mixed audience of cancer survivors of all ages and health care professionals.

December 1 to December 2 we  screened the film in Regina and Saskatoon at the Saskatchewan Cancer Agencies. Again, it was early morning sessionsfor the staff of the oncology departments. Again, the film and music moved people to laughter and tears. It feels good to see my daughter Sara’s goal being met. She is still making a difference.

On these past two tours Michael and I also startedvideo taping young adult cancer survivors for an on-line support website and published young adult cancer survivor anthology of short stories. I believe the more support there is out there for young adults the better.

Well, that is it for now. As I prepare for the holidays, I think of all the wonderful people I met on our 2008 Tours. It is truly the highlight of our trips.

Happy Holidays everyone!

More in the New Year!

Pat

Happy Holidays Everyone. More news to come soon.

Chasing Rainbows…worldwide

The BC Cancer Foundation has made the Chasing Rainbows DVD available for sale online here, which – in theory – means that anyone with internet access, anywhere in the world, can get a copy. We were thrilled to receive a sales report in August that proves this is actually happening in practice! Here is the list of places from which the BC Cancer Foundation has received online orders for copies of Chasing Rainbows:

North Adelaide, South Australia
Vancouver, BC
Bonn, Germany
Burnaby, BC
Richmond, VA
Fresno, CA
Eugene, OR
Calgary, AB
St. Catharines, ON
Belleville, ON
Kingston, PA
Thunder Bay, ON
North Vancouver, BC
Bala, ON
Richmond, BC
Melbourne, Australia
Nanaimo, BC
Durham, NC
Mississauga, ON
Glen Ellen, CA
Deroche, BC
Kamloops, BC
Fredericton, NB
Washington, IN
West Montrose, ON
Toronto, ON
Sooke, BC
Moulton, AL
Winnipeg, MB
River Ridge, LA
Bowling Green, KY
Montreal, QC
Roseville, CA
Drumheller, AB
Rochester, NY
Victoria, BC
Gibsons, BC
Chapel Hill, NC
Kfar-saba, Israel

Pretty cool, no? (Huge thanks as usual to the BCCF for making this possible.)