It all started by making a commercial or PSA (Public Service Announcement) for cancer awareness.  We were struggling to come up with a script that was not to serious and morbid.  We thought, we don’t really want to do what others do and start throwing numbers and statistics at people; it’s already been done!

What better way to promote a message than with song and music.  That’s where it all started; creating something that we would all be proud of, bringing new and old; tears and smiles and most important of all asking a group of Iranian singers to get together and sing together on one project and appear in a music video side by side,  holding hands, one voice ; Stand Up 2 Cancer!

It took a lot of sleepless nights and hour and hours of scheduling and then rescheduling!  But it all fell into place in the end and everything worked like clockworks.

Raha Etemadi wrote the lyrics, Babak Amini composed and arranged the music and Gobi Rahimi agreed to direct the music video and it all happened at Rusk Sound Studios.

Erfan wrote his own lyrics for his rap performance which came from the heart and offered comfort to those suffering from Cancer and their loved ones.

With the dedication and selfless cooperation of over 13 singers we shot the music video in 13 hours on Monday September 29, 2008.

It was amazing, so much energy under one roof, everyone arriving early and eager to help in any way they could to make this project reality.  Over 15 people in the video production crew worked round the clock and a lot of behind the scenes support from the PACI volunteers and friends.  Special thanks to Frank of Pastina Trattoria who fed us two lovely meals during the shoot and we are ever so grateful to him.

The video is currently being edited and will be released for broadcast to all Iranian satellite channels around the world; simultaneously.  There will be appearances and interviews on various television shows and we will try to notify everyone via our blog and website.

None of this would have been possible without the support of Mrs Sadler and Dr Sadler who believed in my vision from day one when I presented them with the proposal.  I am grateful to them for letting me manage this project and make a dream come true and take a step forward for PACI.

In the hope that we will be able to touch one person, even just one person suffering from consequences of cancer, by this song, and bring awareness as well as hope to our community.

Please click on download music and listen to the song, or download. This is free and send it to as many people as you like.  Don’t forget to leave your comments so we know what you think of the song.

Marjan Abbassi

As a young person and an active member within the Persian community of NorCal, me and my friends are always looking for a way to throw a party or participate in events. When my 15th birthday was coming around, me and my friend Roz, who was turning 13 decided it was time to throw ourselves a birthday party.

The only problem we were confronted with was what to do about presents. We couldn’t ask everyone to bring us two presents, and there wasn’t anything that we wanted or needed anyway. Then we realized that instead of receiving presents we could just donate our presents and not just to any foundation, but to PACI. We wanted to help people with cancer and we believe PACI has a very noble focus. After being confronted with cancer within my own family several times, I was constantly looking for a way to help out, but most other foundations would not allow me to do much other than donate, but PACI gave us a chance to do more.

After our great success in raising money at the party and talking with the inspirational Mrs.Sader, we decided to get sign ups from all of our friends and start a group in Northern California to support PACI. Mrs.Sadler then even took the time to fly out here and meet with all of us and tell us more about PACI. She brought with her t-shirts for us to sell and brochures to pass out, so we took the initiative and began passing stuff out at every community gathering which we could. We soon became aware of the IWSF conference taking place in Berkeley and decided it would be the perfect opportunity to promote PACI.

We had a table there where we sold t-shirts, gave out pamphlets, and told people about PACI. We successfully sold many t-shirts and enjoyed being a part of such a great cause. PACI has become a great part of our lives and we look forward to much more cooperation with them. -Mitra

We are proud to bring you PACI Blog to be able to create a community where you can leave comments and share ideas about your experiences with cancer.  Whether our personal battle or sharing the pain of a loved one; we are here to offfer a free forum for discussions and we hope we can help in any way we can to minimize the effects within our community.  Please feel free to leave a comment about how your life has been touched by cancer and if PACI can help.  Now is the time to get involved and take an active role in the fight against cancer.

“Prevention & Early Detection Save Lives”