Night at the Museum

P1050770On Wednesday night we drove downtown in the rain and wind to Dear’s company Christmas Party which of course they call a Holiday Event. For the next couple months Dear’s company is Dendreon Corporation. They are currently in Chapter 11 proceedings and the company will be auctioned off to the highest bidder on February 4th. In the meantime there are speculations flying around as to what large company might be interested in purchasing Dendreon. Dendreon has a treatment for Prostate Cancer. A very simple explanation about the treatment is that the patient’s own cells are treated to be able to fight the cancer.

10502129_10205489741431214_8961686982131276351_nWe were treated well with good food and drink. There were two signature drinks. Orange for Dendreon and Blue for Provenge, the name of the cancer treatment.

The party was at the MOHAI in Seattle, Museum of History and Industry. It was a great setting for a private event. Some of my favorite displays at the museum were the following.

P1050759“It is fitting that the Toe Truck will be included in the museum’s eclectic collection of local memorabilia. Built nearly 25 years ago, the Toe Truck became a local landmark for millions of motorists during the more than two decades it was displayed outside the Lincoln Towing yard at Fairview Avenue North and Mercer Street.”

P1050766The Rainier Beer R was a landmark for years just off the Interstate in Seattle. The original 12-foot-high Rainier sign graced the top of the Rainier Brewery from the 1950s until 2000, and now rests restored at MOHAI.

P1050772I was happy to see items from my favorite team amongst the museum sport team memorabilia.

P1050774When we left and were waiting for our car I snapped some photos of the Space Needle. By this time the rain had stopped. We were very happy the company provided free valet parking for the event, too.

More Xmas 006We are choosing joy as we continue to make preparations for the most wonderful time of the year and for all the unknowns of next year!

Good News For Seattle’s Dendreon and Us!

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Whoohoo!  The FDA has approved Provenge which was developed by the company my husband now works for. I know some of you are thinking huh? Your husband is working? We thought he was retired. Well his retirement was very short lived and yes he now has a different full-time job right here in Seattle. Good thing the FDA approved this treatment today or else Dear would have been out on the street with no job!! So the company is all a buzz. Lots of laughter and celebration going on in Downtown Seattle over this major announcement. Congratulations to Dendreon and 10 years of hanging in there over the development of Provenge and the approval process!! Congratulations to all the men with Advanced Prostate Cancer that can finally be treated with Provenge…

FDA Approves a Cellular Immunotherapy for Men with Advanced Prostate Cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Provenge (sipuleucel-T), a new therapy for certain men with advanced prostate cancer that uses their own immune system to fight the disease.

Provenge is indicated for the treatment of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body and is resistant to standard hormone treatment.

Prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer among men in the United States, behind skin cancer, and usually occurs in older men. In 2009, an estimated 192,000 new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed and about 27,000 men died from the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute.

“The availability of Provenge provides a new treatment option for men with advanced prostate cancer, who currently have limited effective therapies available,” said Karen Midthun, M.D., acting director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.