dear joe,Good and Wonderful People of Texas; Friends / Family of Joe!
Not to hijack this site with politics, but this is relevant to our Joe and the condition of PSC (and help finding a cure, furthering research, etc…) This is also, per his own words to us, what Joe hopes we do.
To quote Joe: "I hope you will engage in constructive activities, like supporting research towards finding a cure for the disease that took me down. Be watchful for the government attempting to block or prevent the research of new kinds of treatment, including stem cell research, and also other, as yet unknown, potentially controversial treatments.”
With this in mind … the following information has come from the Texas Freedom Network, who are offering very simple ways to support (stem cell) research in Texas.
The next seven weeks will be critical to the future of embryonic stem cell research in Texas, and it all starts this week. On Thursday, the House State Affairs Committee will hear testimony on seven bills related to stem cell research. But you don't have to drive all the way to Austin to have a voice at this hearing.
TFN has already received more than 1,300 postcards in support of stem cell research, and with our help we intend to double that number by the end of this month. They need you to sign up TODAY to become a postcard captain.
It's easy - if you know 10 friends and family members who will sign a postcard, you're already qualified.
E-mail them today and they will send you the simple Postcard Captain Packet with tips for collecting signatures, a bundle of postcards, and a return envelope.
Not everyone has time to come to Austin and address the Texas Legislature, but everyone can join this campaign to support scientific research that provides so much hope to so many. And it's simple:
The first step is to sign the petition yourself (if you haven't already done so).
Then, e-mail Val at TFN to get your Postcard Captain Packet and help your friends get involved in this campaign.
I have already emailed Val for the packet and signed the petition. I don’t know how much (if any) weight signing a petition or sending in postcards carries, ultimately – but if it gets attention, proves a point or generates a second-thought about controversial treatments (like stem-cell research), it’s worth doing.
Thanks!
-Devonie
In Memory of Joe Warmbrodt
Astrology Zone's Beloved Friend and Engineer
February 9, 1974 - March 26, 2007
Dear Astrology Zone readers,
Our beloved friend and engineer, Joe Warmbrodt, died of liver cancer at 2:15 PM on March 26, 2007. He was 33 years old.
Everyone here at Astrology Zone is feeling terrible grief. As I write this, I am heavy of heart, and in my hotel room in the city where Joe lived, in Austin, Texas. The memorial service for Joe took place this morning. It was filled with people, most very young. The ceremony had all the qualities that I would use to describe Joe: intelligent, at times very funny, and filled with genuine affection and emotion. The music he loved best, from the Beatles and Bach, was played.
Joe and I first met in 2001 when I was looking for top-notch engineers for Astrology Zone, a search that took me to cities all over the United States. AZ had been on Time Warner and Disney servers, but it was time to go onto our own.
It was actually an executive at Barnes & Noble who sent me to Joe and his brother Tom because the Warmbrodt brothers had built part of the Barnes & Noble site. BN was very pleased with the Warmbrodt brothers' razor sharp intelligence, solid practicality, and spot on problem-solving ability. Tom, Joe's younger brother, had a consulting service, and both brothers were to work with me to get Astrology Zone safely transferred to our own servers, and after that, to care of the site each month.
When I first met Joe and told him I am an astrologer, in my mind the thought flashed that because Joe is a man of science, he might make disparaging remarks about my interest in astrology. Joe surprised me - his reaction could not have been more different from what I expected.
Joe told me he was quite an astronomy buff and had studied the planets with his own telescope for years. He told me he was quite curious about what I could tell him about the planets he had studied, from an astrological standpoint. I knew immediately that we would be good friends. What I saw on that first day was very "Joe" - ever curious, funny, and without exception, kind.
Joe, Tom, and I began working together in August 2001. Tom wrote new HTML code for us because Disney would not give back the code I had bought from Time Warner. Had Tom not done the writing of the code - a monster job that took many grueling weeks for Tom to complete - Astrology Zone would have been wiped off the Internet immediately. Astrology Zone debuted on independent servers on September 11, 2001, having left Disney servers the night before.
Tom told me that his brother, Joe, would handle the day-to-day care of Astrology Zone and do the postings each month. From that day forth, Joe and I had the most contact, and we enjoyed our frequent conversations. Joe had a strong philosophical bent, and so do I, so there was a ready-match.
Joe first became ill one year ago at the March 29, 2006 eclipse. We all almost lost him last year, as he had a reaction to the medical procedure he was given at the time, and he went unconscious for weeks. When he came out of it, doctors were surprised. All us thought he had finally beaten his health problem.
It was not to be. On December 22, 2006, this past Christmas time, Joe was diagnosed with a certain kind of liver cancer, an autoimmune disease that is genetic. He was not on the list for a liver transplant, as his body would have attacked his new liver. He called me and asked, "Susan, are you aware of the seriousness of this?" I was, but I tried hard to sound calm yet optimistic.
Joe was married to a lovely girl, Jenn, whose voice and manner is as soft as perfume, but who also has a powerful inner core. Joe adored Jenn. She had been Joe's rock throughout his ordeal, which we learned stretched back many years, as far back as 14 years old. Joes' father told me that Joe had spent years in and out of hospitals.
Jenn is not only lovely but also a person we all admire. The couple did not have any children. Jenn has been at Joe's side every minute. Joe was glad he had the past weeks at home, where he was happiest.
Everyone here at the Astrology Zone office feels in crisis. None of us can believe Joe is gone. In January, just after he was diagnosed and just prior to beginning heavy-duty treatment, he and Jenn took a little holiday to Las Vegas. I know he was really looking forward to getting away and spending some fun, quality time with the girl he loved with all his heart, Jenn. He told me that he planned to use the time he had fully, with gusto. There was to be no gloom and doom.
Today, at the service, his friends read two letters they had found in Joe's computer. One letter was a goodbye to all of us, his friends, collectively, and one letter was addressed to Jenn, his wife. Both were read, and they had Joe's usual wit and humor throughout. Joe was always hilarious, and never more than now. Aside from the lighthearted parts ("I am sure there will be rioting in the streets as soon as news of my passing is announced. The National Guard will have to be called in to stop the looting.") But a deeper serious side was evident too, one that showed he was very concerned about how we would feel, and how we would get along in the future.
A talented musician on the side, Joe wrote a song for Jenn, and told his brother Tom that he regretted never having the pleasure of recording it for her. His friends looked at his notes, and saw the song was fully complete, with all the musical notations and lyrics done. His friends recorded the music and sang the song to that music live for Jenn at the memorial. There was not a dry eye in the group. It ended the ceremony - there was nothing more we could say.
Thank you for being there for me today, dear readers, and for caring so much about our beloved friend of Astrology Zone, Joe Warmbrodt.
I know you have been sending prayers for Joe for months, and I know Joe appreciated them so dearly. We shared your messages with him and his family from time to time. Your ability to comfort others is enormous, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your tenderness, sensitivity and compassion.
Thank you too for the poems you posted on the Astrology Zone Message Board for Joe after his passing. Many posted beautiful poems of famous poets that we all have found comforting. I have given Jenn copies of those poems. One reader wrote an original poem, very simple, and yet very heartfelt. I will share it with you. It was submitted by "playfulpisces" on the board:
Joe
We never met,
But it was plain to see,
How much you did here,
For all at the AZ.
We enjoyed the scopes,
It raised our hopes.
Was that way for me.
And all because
You worked diligently
So I say goodbye,
With tears and a sigh
See you again
At your home in the sky.
Farewell.
Thank you for all you did for us, and for everyone you touched, Joe. We love you.
Susan
“I have created this site for people who are interested in helping with a memorial benefit in Joe's honor to raise funds for PSC research. PSC Partners has already agreed to partner with friends of Joe to make this dream a reality”.
Joe's father said:
I want the people who hear or read this to understand that the cancer that killed Joe didn't just pop up out of the blue, but is actually the culmination of a single disease process that started in his early teen years. A small percentage of the general population gets IBD (inflammatory bowel disease, either Crohn's Disease or Ulcerative Colitis), a small percentage of IBD victims get PSC (primary sclerosing cholangitis), and a relatively large percentage of PSC victims get a specific type of liver cancer. The PSC and liver cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) are relatively rare, and there is not much research money going in their direction...
"This should change"
"The fact is that Joe surrounded himself with amazing, talented, and generous people. Collectively we have the power to help this cause. Please join the community if you are interested. The purpose of this community will be to discuss and plan the memorial benefit.”
-Dawn
http://community.livejournal.com/hotbread/
Sweet People … this is a tremendous opportunity for us to really do something awesome to honor our dear friend, and to hopefully save other cherished “Joes” from the same struggles with PSC (and the PSC/Cholangiocarcinoma Cancer Combo). I can think of no better way to honor his memory and spirit, and I can certainly think of no better group of people with which to do so … If you join the community, you can read the communications between Dawn and the PSC Partners org.
Hooray!
@(-_-)@
-Devonie
