This is a little different, and more personal essay. I hope you don’t mind the slight diversion.

When we receive a cancer diagnosis we realize that we cannot always choose what we want to do and how things should be done. We call ourselves victims and stumble along at the mercy of the disease. I disagree, and since my diagnosis I have been making decisions to bring awareness to my community and contribute where I can to help find a cure for cancer. As a result, I have become passionate about my survivorship.

So wrote my sister Carrie on her application to become a Yoplait Champion. Each year the yogurt company selects 25 cancer survivors and promotes their lives and triumphs over their diagnosis. This year I am very proud to say that Carrie was one of the women selected. You can view her details here.

I think about Carrie whenever I am barefoot. You see, a few years ago we both were walkers in one of the three-day Komen walks in Philadelphia. My toenail broke and was a reminder of her diagnosis and how she became a true cancer survivor. champion.

Carrie didn’t just accept her diagnosis, get treatment, and move on with her life. Instead, she has taken control over treatment, channeling her energies into being a mentor and a source of support for others who have been diagnosed. Along her journey to come to terms with cancer, she has built a Web site for survivors, raised more than $25,000 to support cancer research, enrolled in several clinical trials, and served as an advocate and peer reviewer. She has been an inspiration to all of us, and it is great that Yoplait has honored her this year.

Cancer runs deep in our family: we lost our mom to lung cancer more than 20 years ago, and many other family members have died from a sad array of several other kinds of cancer too. But Carrie has become this beacon of support and inspiration for all of us, even those who don’t have any chronic illnesses. Interestingly, it didn’t start with her diagnosis, or even her treatment. It started when she came back from a retreat called Life Beyond Cancer. That transformed her. She has since returned there for a third year last fall, this time as a motivational speaker and to help our 45-year old cousin deal with her own cancer diagnosis.

Let me talk about her Web site, SurvivorsRetreat.com. She put this thing together on her own, paying for the graphic designers and hosting costs with her own money. It took months to assemble the information on various retreats that are available to survivors, but Carrie wanted others to have the opportunities that she did, and help motivate and inform others the same way she was when she went on her retreat. And even her doctor has blogged about her here.

But wait, there is more. Carrie has been volunteering on several peer review research committees with the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the Department of Defense Directed Medical Research Program, and others. Over the past several years, she has helped identify promising protocols and worked alongside oncologists and researchers. And the stipends that she receives for these activities don’t go into her own pocket, she turns that over to Komen or Avon or wherever she is walking.

To participate in these walkathons, you have to raise several thousand dollars. Carrie and I have well-developed networks of donors, but what she does are sheer genius: she throws a party at a local New York restaurant. Last year more than 250 people attended, and every one of them donated at least $25. But she doesn’t just take these funds and send them in. She – and I – find people who are walking who are having trouble fundraising and help put them over their minimum. It is just another random act of kindness and inspiration. We had a wonderful time hearing other survivor’s stories as we walked around the city. It made me realize how far she has come with dealing with disease and how many people she has touched as a result of her efforts.

Carrie is truly the embodiment of a Yoplait champion, and I can’t tell you how pleased I am that she has been selected. She is an example to me daily of how not to be complacent about your diagnosis, but to take control over your cure, and bring this message to others. She has shown me that the healing process has to start from within, and involves more than just eating more fresh fruits and vegetables and getting regular exercise. She has mobilized her family, her friends, and now thanks to the Web, anyone that comes to visit her site, to take control and to move beyond being victims of cancer.

During the Philadelphia Komen walk we had awful weather, so bad we had to be evacuated. We spent one night sleeping on the floor of a local high school. Despite the bad weather and the blisters, it was an experience I won’t forget. My only regret is now my toenail has grown back. But I still think of Carrie when I am barefoot, and being a Yoplait champion will give others the opportunity to be inspired by her example as well. As she says, “my passion is for my cancer survivorship projects.”

We both share this passion. Indeed, I have coined the term “accidental fundraiser” for these efforts, and have since gone on to work with Carol Weisman, a professional speaker, author and philanthropy adviser, to create a series of podcasts at accidentalfundraiser.com to talk about some of the issues involved when ordinary people decide to become involved in their causes. I would urge you to listen to a few of them for your own inspiration and enlightenment.

So what can you do? If you are looking for a charity to support, please take a moment and write a check to help support Carrie’s Avon walkathon this fall. Please make out your check to “Avon Walk for Breast Cancer” and email me for instructions on where to send it. Carrie is asking for checks, rather than using the online donation system, so that your donation can go to other family members who are less adept at fundraising – she is walking with all of her sisters-in-law this fall, and I have volunteered as one of the support crew.

You can also send in an online donation for my own charitable fundraising effort to support the National MS Society at the link below. I will be riding my bike with my friend Steve, who has MS and who joined me on last year’s ride.

If you are going to be in New York or Southern California in October, let me know and I can give you instructions on how to cheer us from along the route.

Thanks for your time and anticipated support. I really appreciate your readership and comments over the years as I continue to produce these weekly essays about technology. I promise this will be the last fundraising solicitation you will receive from me this year – think about my request as a subscription fee. And to give you another incentive to donate, I promise that if you have become an accidental fundraiser of your own, please send me a link to your personal project and I will match whatever donation you give to us this year. We all have the ability to become accidental fundraisers and inspire others to do good deeds. As my sister says on Web site:

Ask yourself, “What am I proud of? What do I enjoy?” How can I become more inspired today than yesterday? How can I bring a little light into my life?