Wanted: Five Minutes of Your Time

If you have or had breast cancer, or know someone who has, we need your help in creating a national program of education and support.

The Cancer Support Community, uniting The Wellness Community and Gilda's Clubs, is developing a nationwide educational series called Frankly Speaking About Cancer: Spotlight on Breast Reconstruction - and we need input from women who have or had breast cancer.

This workshop will be presented to thousands of women across the country. The Wellness Community Valley/Ventura has been selected as the first site for this workshop, tentatively scheduled for mid-January, 2011.

If you are a breast cancer survivor, please take 5 minutes to answer these survey questions. Your insight is critical in developing this national program of support and education.

If you know women who are either in treatment or are post treatment for breast cancer, you can help by sending them a link to this blog post.

Thanks for your help - we really appreciate it!

Learn about other topics in the Frankly Speaking About Cancer series at The Cancer Support Community's website.

Laughter is the Bridge

“People only talk about cancer in a negative way… stricken, battled, died… but why can’t we focus on the positive… diagnosed, treated, survived! Life is terminal, cancer isn’t.”
-Merv Kopp

On March 14, 2005, at the age of 70, Merv Kopp was diagnosed with Leiomyosarcoma (LMS), an extremely rare form of cancer. From that moment on Kopp would spend much of his time laughing and bringing joy into the lives of others.

Merv, a UCLA graduate and father of two, recalls the first time he realized something was wrong. “I used to ride my bike during my lunch breaks. During one of my rides I discovered I could not breathe out of my right nostril.” After his first trip to an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist it was revealed that he has a deviated septum. Additional X-rays concluded that Merv had a small mass blocking his nasal passage. The mass was removed on March 9, 2005 and a few days later he received a call saying it was cancerous.

Merv’s passion and zest for life never allowed him to have a moment of self-pity. He recalls his first thoughts as being calls for action, “What do we need to do to take care of this? Who do I have to see?” He underwent wide margin surgery to ensure the removal of all cancerous cells and after 33 doses of radiation he thought his journey with cancer was over.

In early 2010, Merv began to experience shooting pains down his arm and abdominal region. After many tests and trips to the doctors it was revealed that the LMS had in fact returned and the cancer treatment started up once again.

Through all of this Merv has managed to keep a smile on his face and even bring smiles to those around him. After attending the Lance Armstrong Cancer Survivor Summit in 2006, Kopp had an overwhelming sense to give back to the community and to help those with cancer. What better way than to provide hope and smiles to those diagnosed with cancer?

He began producing Stand up for Cancer Survivors, an annual fundraising comedy event for The Wellness Community Valley/Ventura. “I like laughing and having a good time,” he says. “Laughter is the bridge we take to leave the dark side and get to the other side.” (Merv is pictured, left, at the 2009 Stand Up for Cancer Survivors event.) Along with planning the annual comedy night, Merv diligently works on bringing comedians to The Wellness Community once a month for a series called Comedy Night: Laughter IS the Best Medicine. (Wellness Community participants are pictured, right, enjoying a Comedy Night event.)

Merv describes himself as always being the class clown. “I liked the attention when I was younger but now I can use humor in a positive way.” His favorite aspect of Comedy Night is “seeing all the people laughing - that’s when I know the plan has come together.” He continues by saying, “I am so happy to be able to work with the people at The Wellness Community and the organization itself. It’s awesome, the programs and the attitudes of everyone there.” With his contagious smile and enthusiastic spirit it is no wonder he brings joy to all those he meets.

You can see photos from the Comedy Night series on our Facebook page.

Consider Naming TWCVV as a Beneficiary of an IRA

Special thanks to Guest Blogger and Board member Ken Kossoff for contributing this article. Ken is a certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Probate & Trust Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.

Naming The Wellness Community Valley/Ventura (TWCVV) as a beneficiary on a retirement account can be a win-win situation - benefiting both TWCVV and the family of the account holder.

Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) are a great way to save for retirement: (a) taxes are deferred on earnings – hopefully there are earnings, in spite of market gyrations, over the lengthy period of time that most people accumulate their retirement savings; and (b) income tax is paid by the person who created the IRA only on the amount of the distributions that are taken out of the IRAs. Thus, most people think it is best to take out as little as possible, meaning they do not take distributions until they are forced to, and even then, they take only minimum distributions.

The problem with minimum distributions is that retirement accounts were really created by the government to encourage people to save for retirement. They were not created to pass to the next generation, but by taking only minimum distributions, many people leave retirement accounts with substantial savings to their surviving family members.

Regardless of whether the funds in an IRA are taken out by the person who created and funded the account or their after-death beneficiaries, income tax will have to be paid on the amounts withdrawn.

Moreover, if the account holder's estate is subject to estate taxes, the beneficiaries of the IRA can end up losing 70% to 80% in taxes. That means that for taxable estates, the beneficiaries of IRAs will get only pennies on the dollar. While there is no estate tax in 2010, in 2011, any estate over $1,000,000 is taxable at rates starting at 55%.

The only exception to paying income taxes on IRA proceeds is a donation to a qualified non-profit organization like TWCVV. If TWCVV is named as a beneficiary of your IRA, TWCVV would pay no income taxes on the IRA proceeds. At the same time, your family could get a valuable tax deduction – check with your CPA or other tax advisors on whether you would get the valuable tax benefits that are available to many taxpayers.

Thus, for someone who supports the mission and work of TWCVV, even in the absence of tax deductions, naming TWCVV as the beneficiary of your IRA can be far more valuable to the organization than it would be to your family, because TWCVV would get 100 cents on the dollar – far more than your family would get even in the best of circumstances.

Last year, there was an exception that allowed people to give their IRAs to qualified charities such as TWCVV during their life, without having to pay income tax on the proceeds before contributing them to a charity. While that tremendous benefit expired, Congress is in the midst of negotiating an extension of that law to December 31, 2010. If that happens, we will let you know.

To learn more, please contact Suzanne Drace at 805.371.0417.

Learn ten more ways to leave a legacy of hope through Planned Giving.