30 people from 4 continents and 7 countries have just arrived in Tokyo for Mount Fuji Rocks. The latest of the Love Hope Strength pilgrimages to raise money and awareness for global cancer care. The first day was rather chaotic with planes landing and the long 2 hour drive to the hotel in downtown Tokyo. As I sit here in my room staring at the Tokyo Tower and countless ancient shrines, there is a knock at my door and Oli has just brought the prayer flags to my room. Actually makes me teary eyes to see them, kind of like seeing an old friend.

The flags have become our symbol of why we do the crazy things we do. Let’s face it – who decides to do concerts on top of mountains or buildings? I think it is a great time to reflect upon the flags and the places they have been and touched to help you understand how we came to this day.

In 2007, we carried 40 prayer flags bearing the names of our loved ones to Everest, resulting in the first mammography machine and the first brachytherapy (internal radiation) machine for the country of Nepal.

In 2008, we loaded up a backpack with 400 names as we journeyed along the Inca Trail to Machu Pichhu, and funded a mobile cancer unit which will screen and treat 20-000-30,000 patients per year in remote regions of Peru. Due to the recent floods, the project has been delayed but should be back on track shortly. We built a new wing for a cancer care center in Wales and purchased a transport vehicle for a children’s cancer center in New Jersey.

In 2009, we carried 6,000 names to the summit of Kilimanjaro and are funding the construction of a children’s cancer center in Tanzania which is currently under construction. We conducted over 100 bone marrow drives at venues such as The Pepsi Center and Red Rocks Amphitheatre, festivals such as Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Mile High Music Fest, Union County Music Fest and Austin City Limits. And we purchased the most advanced equipment for Leukapheresis to improve the stem cell transplant procedure for the country of Wales.

Now, it’s 2010, we are carrying the flags of thousands (trying to get them all counted now) of your family and friends who have been affected by cancer to the symbolic peak of the Land of the Rising Sun – Mount Fuji. The flags are already a bit weathered and worn as pieces of them have blown in the wind atop Pikes Peak and Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado, the Summit of Snowdon and Valley of Rhondda in Wales and now here they sit in my hotel room in Tokyo – ready for our Monday journey. This year we have increased our total number of registered marrow donors in the United States to over 7,000, located 35 potentially-life saving transplants, and conducted the very first saliva-based marrow registration drive in the United Kingdom. We are in the final edits of an eye-opening documentary that takes a closer look inside the lives of 3 men all in need of a marrow donor. More To Live For will be hitting the theatres in the Fall and is bound to change the way that we all look at bone marrow transplants and the importance of registration. We are proud to now be working with the International Coalition of Cancer (UICC) to make saliva based bone marrow registration a global initiative and Mount Fuji Rocks in one of many events that will help us reach that goal.

PLEASE, join us in saving lives, one concert at a time by donating to Love Hope Strength. It is as simple as clicking on the link above or picking up your cell phone and texting the word LOVE to 50555 to donate $5. A $5 charge will be added to your next phone bill.

Check back daily for images, music and stories from along the trail and watch as the flags arrive atop Mount Fuji.

Shannon Foley

August 21, 2010

Tokyo, Japan

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