JACKIE FARRY was a highly successful rock and roll tour manager, who in the late-90s hosted the MTV show Superock. In Winter 2003, while on the road with one of her bands, Jackie was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer. With little insurance, no work and a pile of medical bills, she organized the "F*ck Cancer Benefit Concert and Raffle". The benefit featured many bands including Cat Power, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Har Mar Superstar and was a sold-out success. Since then Jackie has been in and out of treatment. She has beaten cancer twice and is now struggling to maintain her remission, a term she is reluctant to use. She is currently performing in a band called The Love Loves, where she plays a variety of instruments, including a mean tambourine.
MELISSA GONZALEZ is a 31-year-old wife, mother and CPA who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 28, ironically on April 15 — tax day. When she got the news, Melissa was seven months pregnant. After receiving a month of chemo while pregnant, Melissa gave birth to a healthy baby boy she named Andrew. Melissa continued with several more months of chemotherapy and radiation, and after relapsing received an autologous stem cell transplant. Today, Melissa is cancer free and is currently trying to overcome the difficulties of having another baby after the transplant.
ONI FAIDA LAMPLEY is an award-winning actress and writer. Her first play, Mixed Babies, won the 1991 Helen Hayes award for Outstanding New Play. It was subsequently produced by Manhattan Class Company and published by DPS. Her play The Dark Kalamazoo earned another Hayes nomination for the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company world premiere. It debuted in New York with Drama Department and has been published in The Fire This Time Anthology by TCG. Her play about breast cancer survivorship, Tough Titty, was commissioned by South Coast Repertory and recently received its premiere at Williamstown Theatre Festival.
As a member of Juilliard's Playwriting Program, Lampley received The Lincoln Center LeComte du Nouy Award. Other grants and commissions include the Smithsonian Institution, the William and Eva Fox Foundation grant, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, a commission from Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and an NYSCA grant via Brooklyn Information and Culture. Ms. Lampley made her magazine debut in Mirabella in 1993 with her personal essay The Wig and I. She has also been published in Elle and Self magazines.
ERIN ZAMMETT RUDDY, an articles editor at Glamour magazine, edits features and oversees the production of the relationship and advice columns. Since her diagnosis with leukemia, Zammett Ruddy has been writing Glamour's award-winning Life with Cancer column, chronicling her battle with the disease. She has been honored with a Clarion Award for the column and a Front Page Award from the Newswomen's Club of New York, among others.
Zammett Ruddy is a frequent guest speaker and an active volunteer for numerous cancer organizations and serves on the board of directors for both the New York City chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Denise Rich's G & P Foundation for Cancer Research. She has raised tens of thousands of dollars for cancer research and has appeared on several television programs, including Nightline, The Today Show, Dateline and Good Morning America. She is the author of the memoir My (So-Called) Normal Life, which was published by The Overlook Press in May 2005. Her cancer is now in complete remission.
