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Thank you Tall Allen

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Posted 6/22/2016 6:35 PM (GMT 0)
It is very clear here - we are all family. We like and respect Uncle Allen. Just like in my biological family, sometimes second cousins by marriage say things that the rest of the family responds to very strongly in defense of an aggrieved loved one. We show grace to the offenders, we do not always know what is going on in their lives - pain, loneliness, financial hardship, hurt or maybe they are just miserable. Over time they learn that our family respects everyone and everyone has a place. We know that overtime death or divorce takes care of the really smart axxes! LOL
Posted 6/22/2016 10:03 PM (GMT 0)
Can't add anything substantial to the well-written messages in this thread!
Thanks for your many contributions Allen, and good health from another brother.
Posted 6/23/2016 3:04 AM (GMT 0)
I have also been helped by Tall Allen several times as well as by many other members in my journey to beat this disease.

I only wish I had found the forum a little earlier in my journey.

Many thanks Allen and others for your time and interest!
Posted 6/23/2016 3:10 AM (GMT 0)
He's my go to man for info.

When he says it, just believe.

Andrew
Posted 6/23/2016 3:31 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks travelled for sharing your story and for starting this thread. I too feel I am getting my best shot at fighting back because ta guided me to clinical trial within 48 hrs of my first post on hw.

Thank you tall Allen. I carry in my heart more hope for the future right now than I would have without your help.

Rf
Posted 6/23/2016 2:29 PM (GMT 0)
TA is da bomb for sure! ;-)

Seriously though, TA is a model citizen in so far as his desire to persistently give back to a community of prostate cancer survivors and patients - a community very much in need of people like TA who are willing to give of their time and knowledge for the benefit of us all.

I especially appreciate both TA's focus on evidence based medicine, and his list of questions to ask for RP and RT practitioners. When I first got here, I was headed toward PBRT, and it what some of TA's posts to others from an evidenciary perspective that encouraged me to learn about and seek out a few other alternatives in my search for treatment. I'm glad I did. I've learned a ton from him and expect to continue to learn from him as he passes along his knowledge here on our forum.

Kudos to you TA, and thanks for all that you do for all of us! cool
Posted 6/23/2016 10:17 PM (GMT 0)
I also thank TA for his insights, his knowledge and his ability to communicate information in a way that allows a person to deals with a bad situation in a logical way.

My husband's diagnosis of prostate cancer happened 6 years ago and it was a time of anxiety and fear. What cut through the anxiety and fear was information. TA would have been amazingly helpful had he been here at the time.

A good support site is not merely a site where you get sympathy and get to hang around people with the same disease. Anecdotes are interesting but can be totally unhelpful when making a decision because one persons bad story may be a very rare occurrence and may swing you in against a treatment choice. That is actually the danger of sites like these. What makes people like TA so valuable is ability to share information that allows you to work with the medical team you have on a more equal footing. Doctors are not God, good doctors like working with informed patients as this results in the best outcomes.

Thank you TA for your approach to prostate cancer patients.

An
Posted 6/23/2016 10:41 PM (GMT 0)
Allen,
Add me to the long list to thank you for you time and energy and posts and encouragement and constant source of website info ,etc, etc, etc. It seems you keep track of a lot of us individually and that means a lot. Also thanks for posting your email address on your profile, Bless you my brother,
Dan at Edwards AFB 90 degrees right now turn
Posted 6/24/2016 12:27 AM (GMT 0)
..Tall Allen, the amount of accurate in depth information that you have collected in your cyber library, and are so generous in always sharing, is nothing short of a small miracle for so many that come seeking hard facts & knowledge..

..I thank you kindly sir, Appleseed..
Posted 6/24/2016 6:57 AM (GMT 0)
Allen,

You share your depth of research knowledge (routinely with references included!), your personal experiences and your compassion with all of us here. And your suggestions too. Lucky us! And thank you.

For me personally, you have shone a lot of light on this dark and confusing path, and let me off-load on you my sometimes nutty or overly-analytical or emotional perspectives of what I'm thinking or considering to do next. You've patiently suggested understandable and successful directions. I feel confident in where I am and where I'm going with this disease. Thank you so much.

I don't know how I would re-pay you or many others on this site who have shared their time and guidance with this community and with individuals like me. The best I can think of is to continue to try to help and share with others, and pay forward in my own way. In my meeting group and with a couple of guys on-line, I try to provide guidance and support when appropriate. Often I pause and think about how Allen answers a similar question or fear, or how he provided suggestions to me. Thanks for the role modeling. You've demonstrated to me and others how to support and help more brothers in their fight with prostate cancer.

Best wishes along your own path too!

Jim
Posted 6/24/2016 2:09 PM (GMT 0)
I would also like to add a huge Thank You to Tall Allen!!
Allen, you are one of the rocks in my world...

Lisa
Posted 6/26/2016 5:54 PM (GMT 0)
I wanted to thank you all again for all the loving comments. It's easy to see why I devote so much time to this with people like you. I have printed this out and hung it on the wall by my desk. The next time I feel "in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes," I have only to lift my eyes, "For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings /That then I scorn to change my state with kings."

- Allen
Posted 6/28/2016 3:42 PM (GMT 0)
And he even quotes Shakespeare sonnets! Amazing!

I'm not on the forum very often these days, but I'm so glad I saw this thread! It was just over a year ago when we got Steve's dx. To say I felt like I'd been sucked into a big, black hole is an understatement and I know that everyone on this forum truly understands what I mean by that. On one of my frantic, late-night internet searches on this horrid disease, I stumbled onto HW and was suddenly thrown a life raft by SO MANY caring and reassuring members. HW brought three things to me that night -- information, support and HOPE.

I am so grateful for all who held my hand those first couple of weeks as we prepped for the biopsy and weathered the devastating results. Legions of members reached out with kindness, grace and candor -- Tudpock, Nomar, halbert, Pratoman, Michael T, Andrew, Sonny, samster, Jazzman (to name just a few) and, of course, Tall Allen.

Allen - I so sincerely agree with all that has been said. You are such an asset to this forum. And while I understand your disclaimer about not being an MD, there were times when Steve & I trusted your words over those we heard from medical professionals. You calmed us on so many occasions -- talked us right off the edge. Your advice was usually given in the form of 'an option to consider' and helped us to research a wide range of treatments, facilities and surgeons/ROs, and to confidently choose the right path for Steve.

As you have admitted, this thread has embarrassed you but I hope it helps you to understand what kind of impact you've had on so many lives.

God bless you, Tall Allen.

Suz
Posted 6/28/2016 3:59 PM (GMT 0)
Until this bumped to the top, I realized I failed to give my thanks to TA. He was one of the first to reply when I first posted on this forum. I was on my original journey just to find my PCa, and was asking general questions. That is how we all learn and become educated in our disease. Without specific doctor answers, community sites like this help us all and it is posters like TA that help guide us with useful information. Thank you my friend. -JR
Posted 6/28/2016 4:01 PM (GMT 0)
I was away last week and missed this thread. Please let me add to Allen's embarrassment. Obviously he is our go-to guy for information. It is really incredible to see the depth of his knowledge about our disease. On a couple of occasions I have emailed Allen to ask for help for friends who need assistance. He has always been willing and able to provide his time and talent in these situations and for that I am grateful. I am also grateful for everything he does for our forum and our members. We are indeed fortunate that he found us.

Thanks, Allen!

Best regards,

Jim
Posted 6/28/2016 9:21 PM (GMT 0)
I would like to chime in here as well. Last year TA's reply to my post about DH's proposed (G9) treatment plan helped us realize that radiation was a better way to go than surgery. We are so thankful for the eye-opening advice.
Posted 6/29/2016 1:37 PM (GMT 0)
Yes,Thank You, your Tallness.You made my life so much less complicated.Always there for us.You stand Tall amongst us all.SemperFi
Posted 7/6/2016 10:05 PM (GMT 0)
I too owe a great deal to Allen. He brought considerable order to the chaos of trying to educate myself about prostate cancer and viable options.

And, to further put him on the spot, I listened to Dr. Chris King praise him in terms very similar to the posts above.
Posted 7/7/2016 1:47 AM (GMT 0)
I also wanted to thank Tall Allen for taking the time to read and answer my posts. You have helped me so much with knowledge and encouragement at times when I had almost lost hope and in a panic.
I am so fortunate and thankful to have found this forum and the knowledge I have gained from people like you.

Thank you from both me and my husband.

Sue and Chris
Posted 7/7/2016 4:35 AM (GMT 0)
I also wanted to jump in and thank Tall Allen as well.

A number of times I've seen a great question posted and
have shared it with friends/family with a little note attached:

"Let's see what Tall Allen has to say about this."



What a great resource!
Thanks Tall, for all you do, I can't thank you enough.

Best regards,
-Matt
Posted 7/8/2016 12:14 AM (GMT 0)
Hoping that TA won't mind one more to add to the loud chorus of thank yous being expressed here. Well deserved and much appreciated!
Posted 7/8/2016 1:55 AM (GMT 0)
Just noticed this thread. Add me to the list of many who owe a debt of gratitude to TA.
Posted 7/8/2016 2:35 AM (GMT 0)
Tall Allen....I've got you in some small, dimly lit command center (not unlike the cockpit of an airliner at night) sitting a big chair located in the center of the room...monitoring multiple computer screens showing the latest in all things prostate cancer... scoured from all over the globe in real time. This information, sorted and cataloged by yet another one of the many computers surrounding you, is then forwarded to the appropriate questioner.

How you do this, while remaining a real human being...making yourself as available as my next door neighbor...is truly amazing...and beyond me.

But I just wanna take the opportunity to thank you for doing what you do no matter how you do it. You're a valuable asset to this community.

And I'm gonna ask my uro about those enzymes that melts stricture scaring!!!

Thanks Allen
Posted 7/8/2016 12:01 PM (GMT 0)
My thanks are already posted, but now for a suggestion. I visit the site once a day and read the items of interest. Then I go to the Tall One's page and the list of his last ten postings, and read those. The problem is that there are often more than 10 postings in a day, hence I miss some of the wisdom. Could not Healing Well grant special dispensation to the Tall One and arrange for his Member Profile to retain postings for, say two or three days, regardless of number?
Posted 7/9/2016 9:05 AM (GMT 0)
TallAllen, as you can tell you are very important and appreciated. Thank you for all you do and say. Ron's cancer is considered "cured" but I still peek in from time to time. He has had his share of additional problems. Last week, it was surgery for a hernia. I don't know where to get some info, but I will say he's unable to drive.

Hello to my "old' friends, particularly An and David.
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