The Latest on Rick & How You Can Help

[This is a re-post from Becky DuFour, originally published on Rick DuFour’s Caring Bridges blog.]

Rick is in day 3 of his new clinical trial and so far, so good! He has not had any side effects from the two new oral medications he’ll be taking each day. The doctors and nurses at Virginia Cancer Center monitored him and his vital signs for four hours after he took the first two pills Monday morning. Likely because he responded so well, right before they sent him home, the nurse informed Rick the drug company had just placed him in a “special” cohort of trial patients – as of Monday afternoon, they doubled his dosage of both meds. Take that, you #*&@% lung cancer!!

Unlike the previous trial drug, Nivolumab, the new meds are not immune boosters, but rather will put a drain on Rick’s immune system, similar to the effects of chemotherapy. So, in addition to getting a flu shot last week, the nurse advised Rick that he should:

• Wash his hands frequently (Soap, water and Purell are always close by. If we washed more frequently, we’d have no skin left on our palms!);
• Wear a mask if he’s around sick people or is sick himself (we’ve got a stash of masks, but I doubt you’ll ever see one on Rick);
• Stay away from public buffets (no problem… neither of us can handle “all you can eat”), and
• Avoid crowded places – Woooooaahhh, stop the presses!! Airports, hotels and convention centers are once again in our very near future, because of the work we are privileged to do, thanks to our publisher and dear friend, Jeff Jones and the entire Solution Tree family.

Since the publication of the first Professional Learning Communities at Work TM book in 1998 by Rick DuFour and his best buddy, Bob Eaker, Solution Tree has hosted events to support and promote the PLC process. I was honored to join Rick (in more ways than one) and Bob in 2002, and today we are joined by an international team of almost 100 associates who have lead the PLC process in their own schools and districts. We have all been truly amazed by how educators across the world have brought the PLC process to life in a variety of settings and cultures. And yet, there’s so much more work to be done!

In addition to the ongoing training and events that Solution Tree and our PLC team provide, we have a big dream that involves Rick’s latest book, In Praise of American Educators: and how they can become even better.  You may recall that Solution Tree is generously donating one dollar from every copy sold to StandUp2Cancer. Rick and I are big supporters of the organization, “a groundbreaking initiative created to accelerate innovative cancer research that will get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives now.” One of the things that impresses us most about this organization is that it creates interdisciplinary “Dream Teams” of doctors and scientists from around the world to collaborate on better ways to fight, and ultimately cure, this dreaded disease.

Our dream, along with that of our “PLC Dream Team,” is to get the ideas in Rick’s new book into the minds of policymakers at every level – educators, parents, Boards of Education, union leaders, and state and national legislatures – so that students and adults alike will have greater opportunities to grow and learn at high levels.

This is where we need your help. If you’ve read In Praise… and have not yet written a review, please do so here.

Many of you have asked, “What can we do for you?” So this is it: Help us fight cancer and transform schools for the sake of current generations and those yet to come.

With Much Love & Gratitude for All of Your Support,

Becky

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