Mike Dewey is offering a $1 billion reward to anyone who discovers the cure for breast cancer. Mike's more than a husband dealing with breast cancer, he's also a father who's two girls will also have breast cancer if they follow patterns in the family. Even though Mike doesn't haven $1 billion of his own dough, he's raising it through a nonprofit foundation he's established.
As a husband, I just want to do something to "fix" the cancer and make it go away. As much as I want to be a good problem solver husband, breast cancer is one thing guys can't just go out and fix.
The article I linked to above has some comments from the medical industry saying Mike's not going about it the right way. It's more about luck than a reward.
"I think sometimes there is a belief that if we have the right incentive, anything can be solved," [Arthur Caplan, chair of the department of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia] said. "This isn't a problem of incentive. It's having the right luck, the right breakthrough, the right science to get the problem solved."
I kind of know what they're talking about -- you can't make the discovery of a cure happen faster just by offering somebody a lot of money, err... maybe. You never know what an incentive like Mike Dewey's might do. It could just inspire someone to pursue a path or take a chance they might not have otherwise pursued. That one thing could lead to another, then another, and another... and then... some luck. An advancement or even a discovery might come of it.
Who was it that said you make your own luck? Maybe that's what Mike's got in mind.
Kudos, Mike.
If you'd like to find out more or support Mike's foundation and the $1 billion Victory Project, his site is http://www.deweyfoundation.org.
Oh wow. This is wonderful. I'll spread the word. There are a lot of organizations that will get on board with you on this one. I lost a sister to breast cancer right after she decided to have breast reconstructive surgery. She never got the chance to see her son grow up, but others can when a cure is found.
Posted by: breast reconstrutive surgery | July 18, 2010 at 05:07 AM