• Wish Love Hope Cure •
For those of you who don’t know, the man in these photos is my daily inspiration; Andrew McMahon (frontman of both Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin).
Back in 2005, Andrew was diagnosed with ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) and since then has overcome his battle with absolute positivity to be where he is today.
In 2005, an organisation was formed called 11:11AM. It’s name was taken from the lyrics of the well-known Something Corporate song Konstantine - It is believed that this is the time when one should make a wish as all digits are the same. AM because in 24-hour time 11:11PM becomes 23:11, and also because it stands for the initials of our man of the hour - Andrew McMahon.
I still have my very first orange wristband which I bought in support of 11:11AM back in 2005.
Andrew never fails to amaze and inspire me, and him and and his music has saved me more times than I can count. Once upon a time I never though I’d ever get to see him perform live in Australia, let alone meet him - yet in 2007 all my dreams came true as I got to complete both those goals and have since completed them many times more.
Back in 2011 as a thankyou for me flying around to follow him on tour, Andrew rehearsed and played my favourite song in the world for me solo - Watch The Sky. I cannot express in words what that meant to me. Hopefully one day there will be another Something Corporate show somewhere in the world and I can finally hear him play Konstantine too.
You may have seen the license plate featured above before. The 3rd photo is of me which Andrew posted to his Instagram/Twitter account (“A Legit Plate”) and the 2nd is of Andrew taking the photo. He was amazed that this was my real registered West Australian license plate and that I actually had to unscrew it from my car. It took a lot of effort to get this personalised plate, but I feel so proud that I can share Andrew’s story with anyone who asks about it. I was originally going to purchase an orange plate as orange is the colour for Leukemia awareness, but instead chose blue. I’ve always associated the colour blue with Andrew as he references both the sky and the colour in many of his songs - I’d rather be reminded of those happier moments, than of a time when he was sick.
This plate is my way of sharing awareness.
If you took the time to read this, please visit both the 11:11AM and the Dear Jack Foundation website. Donate. Do your daily good deed and help somebody :)
This is AWESOME! Thank you so much for your support. People like you are what keeps this organization growing.
Here is the trailer for my upcoming documentary, Fifty-Two. The documentary itself will explain what it’s like to work with a non-profit while traveling on the Vans Warped Tour for Fifty-Two days. In the final product, you’ll see interviews, scenes, and tour life experiences on what can go on during tour. I’ve been asked many times, “What’s it like to work for a non-profit on Warped Tour?” I’m determined to answer that in this film.
If you are interested in supporting this project, you can purchase a 12x18 poster print for $12 (free shipping) here or visit http://deangelisphotography.bigcartel.com/product/fifty-two-film-poster-12x18.
Re-blog please! One random re-blogger will win a free 12x18 documentary poster.
PS. I recommend letting it load all the way first and leave comments to let me know what you think!
Hope everyone likes the trailer!
Here is the trailer for the documentary, Fifty-Two. If you are interested in ever touring for a non-profit, this might interest you! I’ve been working on Warped Tour for quite some time, documenting every chance I got.
-Adam
We are proud to announce that on behalf of the 11:11 A.M. team, $500.00 was donated to this cause. Read more about the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation below and help them win the $25,000!
Over the years, 11:11 A.M., Matt, and his family have become great friends. When Matt passed away, it really hit everyone at 11:11 A.M. pretty hard. Matt and I would correspond through email and facebook from time to time and his battle with cancer was a huge inspiration for me. When I first heard about his family creating MCMF, I knew that we would be making a donation ASAP. When I heard about their recent project, I knew it was a perfect time to make a donation.
-Adam and the 11:11 A.M. Team
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Mozilla Firefox will be donating that amount to the charity that raises the most money between December 13th and January 11th… and how AWESOME would it be if our foundation won?! We can do this!!
Here’s the story:
Matt was a 22-year-old junior art director for Marshall Advertising, who loved the L.A. Galaxy soccer, A.S. Roma, the Flight of the Conchords, The Dandy Warhols, Jack’s Mannequin, The 88, and Will Ferrell movies, when he got a really bad case of mono. We thought he’d recovered until six months later when Matt started getting extraordinarily high fevers, his blood pressure dropped, and his blood counts cratered. His doctors were confounded, especially when they concluded it was not mono. It was only after he went into respiratory failure that his doctors at USC learned he suffered from EBV-induced Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (EBV-HLH), a blood disorder affecting only 1 of every 1,000,000 persons (after a bone marrow biopsy, the doctors decided he’d had mono earlier). While EBV-HLH is not cancer, it acts and is treated like a cancer. The disorder destroys healthy blood cells, and is treated with chemotherapy, and a bone marrow transplant, if necessary. EBV-HLH often induces lymphoma, which it did in Matt. One month after his EBV-HLH diagnosis, Matt learned he was also battling NK T-Cell lymphoma, one of the most aggressive and least researched blood cancers there is.
In December 2008, Matt received his bone marrow transplant. While it temporarily put him in remission, his lymphoma returned in February 2009, and in June 2009, Matt learned it had returned in the form of an inoperable brain tumor. After chemo failed to put him in remission, Matt began radiation treatment. Before finishing it, he was readmitted to the City of Hope in late September 2009. At that time, Matt was in a weakened state, with his EBV levels extraordinarily high that it was debilitating to his liver and kidneys. Unfortunately, the doctors were unable to administer any treatment that could reverse the affects of the EBV and its impact on Matt’s vital organs… And at midnight on October 3, 2009, he passed away with his family surrounding him.
Please help us fund medical research for EBV and EBV-associated diseases, including blood cancers. We need cures and NOW. Let’s do this.
To learn more about the Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation and what we want to accomplish, please visit: http://www.mattcwiertnymemorialfoundation.com
Thank you!
HAPPY BLACK FRIDAY!
Check out our collaboration shirt with Veil Arms Clothing for only $20.00! All proceeds go towards raising awareness for young adult cancer research. Support a good cause and rock this awesome T-Shirt!
Sponsored by Hopecore.com and Indie Vision Music.
Tim Mathews: Guest Blogger
Below is an inspirational guest blog from our friend Tim. Please take the time to read this.
Whenever I sit down to write something about my experience, it’s always tough to get that first line, because even to this day it’s weird sometimes to go, “I’m writing about how I had cancer?” When you’re at a young age, as I was at the age of fourteen, the furthest thing from my mind was cancer, I thought it was just something that happened when you got old. I had very little understanding of the subject. During my 8th grade year, I developed a pain in my rib that was just thought to be possibly a cracked or bruised rib, as I was always an active kid outside. However, on a hunch my doctor ordered blood tests which eventually led to my diagnosis of leukemia.
When I was first given the news of the possibility of what my low blood counts meant, I was like, alright, well what do we do, it didn’t really hit at first because I’d never heard the term leukemia before. During the conversation though, that word was interchanged a few times with the word cancer, well at that point it was more like, “whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on, what about cancer?” Suddenly this became a much bigger deal in my mind as you can imagine. When the news that I did actually have leukemia came — that I had cancer — the whole world just froze; but my mind raced so fast through every possible thought and scenario to the point that I couldn’t make out what any of them were. My family stuck by me though, and we all set out to do everything we could to make me better.
Throughout my treatment, it was the classic description of a roller coaster. There were the ups, the downs, and then of course the loops. Family, friends, music, and laughter were the four big things that got me through every step of the way. I can’t even begin to count the amount of times my dad and I watched Dumb and Dumber while I was getting chemo. I was able to keep a pretty positive view on everything for the most part, but after so many chemo treatments, pills, spinal taps, bone marrow tests, and side effects, you can’t hide the darker side and the fear of waiting forever for the other shoe to drop. I was always getting some kind of side effect or running into some issue which easily sparked the need for answers from so many unanswerable questions. Wondering why me or any other kid should have to go through such a thing. The worst side effect I had was getting diagnosed with a vascular necrosis (AVN). This caused my hips to collapse, eventually putting me in a wheelchair for most of my high school years. You’re forced to grow up fast when something like cancer rips the remainder of your childhood away from you. My family and friends were incredibly helpful getting me through times like these. They, along with my doctors, helped me achieve my goal and dream, which was to walk across the platform when I graduated. I stayed strong and I finished treatment August 23rd, 2005. I got a double hip replacement that winter, worked hard in physical therapy, and I most certainly walked across that platform to collect my diploma with the biggest smile ever. It was an incredible moment and to know I finally made it through and it was all over — or so I thought it was. When there were no more treatments or physical obstacles being a constant distraction anymore, that’s when the heaviest of the emotional effect of cancer occurred.
When I first went off to college, I tried to hide that I had cancer; didn’t want anyone to know. I soon realized it was getting harder and harder to keep that all hidden away. The next few years in my story are still a portion I have the most trouble talking about. I really struggled with what I went through, who understood and who didn’t, and pushed away a lot of people I cared about who were always there for me. Luckily, most stuck by me anyway and wanted to help me get through this even though they didn’t quite get what I was going through. Having all this amazing strength and hope from all the people around me in my life, no matter what obstacle I’ve come across, I’ve kept fighting, and stayed strong. I couldn’t have done it without any one of them.
As I mentioned, music was a huge part of my whole experience as well. I’ve always loved music, and always felt very connected to it. Throughout treatment, I listened to music all the time and I certainly found ways to interpret songs in my own way to fit my situation. But there weren’t really any that flat out said what I needed them to say. As a class project in my senior year of high school, I started a band with my brother and two cousins. We called ourselves “Ode To An Adventure,” the idea being to make a record that told my story of my battle with leukemia. This project was shortened to an EP because writing and singing about these experiences became too difficult emotionally. It was like after you make a joke and you go, “too soon?” Well yeah, it was too soon. It became an EP that depicted the lead up to the diagnosis and the diagnosis itself. As I’ve grown as a person and learned so much more about myself and what I really went through, I’m very proud of what we accomplished together.
These days, almost a decade after this whole adventure started for me, I am a part of a different band. This group started as just two best friends deciding to write a few songs together to kind of close the story of the Ode EP. It quickly became something more. My best friend’s name — Bobby — and I are definitely much more like brothers. We’ve known each other our whole lives really as we grew up across the street from one another. He was seven years old when I was diagnosed, and we have stuck by each other every single step of the way. Our band is called, “Backyard Heroes,” a huge part of what we do is to help the fight against cancer. Our first live performance was at a Relay For Life in New Jersey and we just released our first EP which has a dollar from every CD sold donated to Keep A Breast Foundation (in honor of it being released during Breast Cancer Awareness Month). We love putting songs out there for everyone to relate to, including people like me, so that when they hear these songs they can hear what I needed to hear when I was in treatment and say, “wow, this guy really knows what I’m talking about.” We write about everything from growing up, to love, loss, cancer, and survival. Three songs we’ve released so far have featured the cancer story. My Old Stories is a song about two people so in love that they’ll do whatever it takes to keep each other strong, and that scars and loss of hair don’t matter. Chetwood is the first of the Bobby\Tim friendship songs. This song has us singing to each other, as I was getting ready to move away; we reflect on everything we went through together. Then the most recent, a song called Survive. We premiered this song in front of over 200 kids and adults who have had cancer and many other amazing volunteers at The Valerie Fund’s Camp Happy Times. This is an amazing camp for children with cancer; back in 2005, I took my very last chemo pills with the whole camp standing by me in support. It was the most amazing feeling in the world to share this song with them now that I am past my five year mark and considered cured. This song is pretty much the flagship song of our band and is the second of the Bobby\Tim friendship songs so far. Survive is entirely about fighting cancer together and features the view points from both sides. We’ve dedicated this song to everyone out there fighting cancer, whether you’re the one diagnosed, or you’re watching someone you care about go through it. We’re all in this together, as the line says, “side by side, back to back, look at us, we’re heroes tonight.” After everything I’ve been through, there’s nothing I enjoy more than being able to share my story in different ways in the hopes that it may help anyone affected by cancer in any way. So, while I had once tried to run and hide from everything I experienced, I’ve certainly learned to embrace it, and take all I’ve learned to help others. That is exactly why, as I sing in My Old Stories, this whole adventure was a “twisted gift arrived in disguise.”
-Tim Mathews
CHECK OUT OUR COLLAB WITH VEIL ARMS CLOTHING!
In addition, 11:11 A.M.’s founder Adam DeAngelis was featured on Hopecore.com with Veil Arms Clothing. Check out the interview HERE.
Do you own any of our 11:11 A.M. apparel? If so, show your support and wear it today! Feel free to photo reply with pictures!
- 11:11 A.M.
I was going to do an 11:11 11/11/11 drawing telling you all to get over it.
But I thought I’d post this instead, since it’s for charity.
You can still buy the HOPE poster I designed in the 11:11 A.M Store
Only $5!
During Warped Tour, I met another person with an 11:11 A.M. tattoo. It’s always great seeing them and puts a huge smile on my face. I thought I would post this today and added a little text for the special date. For 11:11 A.M., today happens to be a favorite of ours.
Happy 11.11.11 everyone!
Tomorrow is 11/11/11, the big day! Who is going to the Dear Jack foundation benefit show in Los Angeles? If anyone wants to live blog from the show, tag your posts and photos with (1111am, dear jack benefit show) and we will reblog you!
We will also be posting flyers tomorrow to promote the Light the Night fundraiser, as well as an inspiring guest blog. Keep checking back for some awesome posts, and maybe a few surprise contests ;)
- 11:11 A.M.
