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RUSH: It is our 22nd annual Cure-A-Thon for leukemia and lymphoma as we continue in our unbridled efforts to cure the blood cancers. In addition to that, we’re gonna do our regular Open Line Friday where you get to talk about pretty much whatever you want to talk about. So let me give you the call-in number for the program first. 800-282-2882. And the e-mail address, ElRushbo@eibnet.com.

Now, I want to give you another number, and make a note of that on your smart phone or a piece of paper, whatever. The donation number today that we’re using is 1-877-379-8888. 877-379-8888, or you can make a donation at RushLimbaugh.com. That has been a favored way that people have contributed to the Cure-A-Thon in recent years. So 877-379-8888 or RushLimbaugh.com. And we’re gonna be using Twitter today. We’ve got a hashtag @RushLimbaugh or @Limbaugh that we want you to retweet. It’s explanatory there, and it will take our message above and beyond the radio program audience. We’ve done this now for 22 years, or this is our 22nd year, and we don’t go wall-to-wall with this. We do the Cure-A-Thon and we do the radio program all combined into one bundle.

This Hilary Rosen thing, it just keeps on giving. The White House has set out — and Karl Rove is right. Karl Rove is right. This came from Chicago. This was intended. They tried to weaponize Hilary Rosen, and they ended up weaponizing Ann Romney. That’s what they’ve ended up doing. They turned her into a weapon, which is being used against them. Can you imagine how Obama must feel now? He’s gotta feel just like the North Koreans feel. They launch a missile, breaks up in the sky, falls apart, nothing goes the way it’s planned. Obama’s gotta be commiserating with the North Koreans today. Everything is falling apart and we’ve got great sound bites on this.

A TV reporter in St. Louis, I’m stunned, a TV reporter in St. Louis actually asked Obama, “Do you think that it’s really wise for you and your family to be taking all these vacations all over the place in separate airplanes when so many people in the country are not doing well?” And the guy still has a job today, from last reports. KMOV-TV in St. Louis. So that’s just a minor, very small list of what all is coming up on the program today.

But first, folks, this is the 22nd year of our Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Cure-A-Thon, 22nd consecutive year. We have not missed one. It’s a one-day event where we take the broadcast to you to help in the fight to cure the blood cancers, and it’s amazing what you have done over these 22 years. Over $30 million has been raised. One day a year, and not even all three hours devoted to it. It literally is amazing. You people in this audience continue to humble and surprise me and make me one of the happiest people on earth. Throughout the years you have come through time and again, surpassing every year with increased generosity. You have never failed to come through for this great cause, and it is just one of many reasons why you are the best radio audience in the world. Your steady support has produced tangible advances against killer diseases.

In fact, in the 21, 22 years that we’ve been doing this, some of the greatest medical advances have taken place. They wouldn’t have happened without you. They wouldn’t have happened without your money. They would not have happened without your great big beating hearts. And this year is no exception. And during the program, as we always do, I’ll be sharing intermittently during the broadcast some of the advances that have taken place since last year.

Now, let’s take a look what we’re up against here. Imagine you’re in a doctor’s office and you hear leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, blood cancer. Those are words that no one wants to hear, especially if it’s about one of your children or another loved one. During the three-hour program today, across this country, 48 people will be told that they or a child or a loved one has leukemia, or lymphoma, or myeloma, or one of the other blood cancers. During the next three hours, 48 people. That’s over 140,000 people in a year. In this same three-hour period, 18 people will lose the battle with blood cancer, one every ten minutes. That adds up to 53,000 a year. Many of you might say, “Yeah, you’re right, Rush, but for me my life’s been touched by a different cancer,” not just leukemia or lymphoma. And that’s totally understandable. But what you’ll also learn today is that the advances made possible by the efforts of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society go beyond treating just the blood cancers.

Some of the drugs that have been developed in the research and development to cure these diseases have been found to be effective in treating others as well, and they are happily shared. Since 2000, 39 anti-cancer drugs have been approved by the FDA. Half of those were blood cancer drugs, and five of those now treat nonblood cancers, which is an example of how the R&D and the discovery ends up crossing the boundaries. Fourteen of these blood cancer therapies are being tested on solid tumor cancers, not blood cancers. Some of the therapies that work with the blood cancer is now being tested on solid tumor cancers, including four for breast cancer. Breast cancer research is benefiting profoundly.

My point in telling you this is, I know you can’t give to every cause, and you can’t give to every malady, but when you do donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, participate in our Cure-A-Thon, rest assured that the money that you donate ends up in research and development and discovery that leads to knowledge in treating other cancers. And it’s something 22 years ago nobody could anticipate, nobody could imagine. Your support goes to successful applications beyond the leukemia field that no one could imagine 22 years ago.

Now, yesterday I made mention of survival rates. They keep expanding. And on the surface that’s fabulous news. And it’s undeniable. But when I talk about the progress made against blood cancers, the survival rate figures I think need to be put in a little personal perspective, a little personal context. The advancing steps in survival rates give blood cancer patients a real sense of purpose and hope. If you get diagnosed with a certain kind of blood cancer and they tell you the survival rate’s three years or five where it used to be much less than that, that alone is wonderful news. But it’s also very sobering. It is an exceptionally important period of time that people have been afforded.

It’s about having that conversation with your child, that they’re too young to grasp in the next two years. Imagine that you are 38, 40 years old, you’re diagnosed with lymphoma or leukemia, and you have a child who’s seven or eight years old. They can’t possibly understand it. You’ve got a three-year or five-year survivability rate. You have time because of the expanding survivability rate to have important conversations with your child. It might be too young at the moment you’re diagnosed, but in the three years, five years, sometimes up to ten years, I’ve met people who said, “All I want is ten years. Please give me ten years. That will get my kids through high school. I can see them graduate and into college. Just give me ten years.” People that face these diagnoses do so profoundly maturely and soberly, but this is where the survivability rate really is put into perspective. A parent diagnosed can instruct a child, for example, in how to face fear.

A lot of people think they know what fear is, until they get a diagnosis such as this: One of the blood cancers, or any other terminal disease. The child who is diagnosed, the opportunity for conversations that otherwise would never happen at that young age, must take place. Because of the survivability rate, it changes forever the relationship that parents have with children and vice-versa. The expanding survivability rate — which is a result of your donation, which is a result of all the research and development — helps us people conquer fear, overcome fear, deal with the reality of the situation. It helps to tackle it, to not be afraid of failure, because there’s no other option. You must fight it, you must deal with it. And in the process, you overcome fear of failure.

You’ve heard people that have been close to death say, “I’m gonna live every day like it’s my last.” These people do. People diagnosed with the blood cancers do, and it is actually an amazing perspective that they ended up having and an amazing perspective that they’re able to share. Conversations, like I say, that they’ll remember the rest of their lives; that their kids will remember they had for the rest of their lives. Conversations that would not have happened, perhaps, at all or much later in life. In those few years of survival, some very important moments still have a chance to take place. And these survival rates are increasing, all because of you, all because of the generosity that you have engaged in over these 21 years.

It’s not just the R&D.

It’s not just the advancement in technology and drugs and so forth.

But the human aspect of this allows families hit with this diagnosis to deal with things that they may have never, ever, thought they would have to deal with. Very important moments still have a chance to take place because of the expanding survival rates. And your donations make possible some critical time, as well as advancing the goal of long-term survival — real long-term survival — and cure. Not just remission, but cure. And it’s slowly getting closer, almost by the day. The number is 877-379-8888, or RushLimbaugh.com. And there will be no other solicitations. You’re not gonna be put on a mailing list and you’re not gonna be hounded by these people, either.

And we always have some premiums that we offer with certain levels of donations. So here we go. A donation of $75 to $99 gets an official Rush Limbaugh T-shirt. (All this information, by the way, is at, RushLimbaugh.com.) It’s a white 100% comfort cotton T-shirt with a full-size, multicolor “Rush Limbaugh 2012” logo on the front. It only comes in size XL. (Don’t complain.) A donation of $100 to $359 entitles the donor to commemorative T-shirt plus an official EIB hat. It’s a royal blue, six-panel hat with reinforced backing. It’s decorated with the official EIB signature (that’s mine) and the EIB logo in red-and-white thread — and it is adjustable. It has a matching Velcro sizing strap. One-size-fits-all. (Don’t complain) and a donation of $360 or more…

Now we’re talking!

Now you get an official Rush Limbaugh EIB golf shirt and hat. It’s a waffle-knit golf shirt constructed in 100% polyester. It features UltraCool system control, like ClimaCool. It’s acccented with a narrow three-button packet, cuffs, square bottom with side vents. It’s royal blue. The official EIB logo embroidered on white and left chest, my signature and the 2012 year embroidered on the left sleeve and custom sizing is available: Small to XXX. (Don’t complain.) Snerdley says, “I wouldn’t complain!” So we’re off to the races. Now, folks, as always, every year, I never ask people to do something I wouldn’t do. I am not one of these telethon emcees that considers the donation of my time to have some sort of monetary value, ’cause it doesn’t. So I always kick it off with my own donation, and I always mention the number one time. Just once.

Well, let me take a break. I gotta get a break in, I’m way long here.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Folks, as I say, we’re gonna cram a lot in here today as well as our annual effort to cure leukemia. And again that number is 877-379-8888, or go online at RushLimbaugh.com. Again, I always kick things off myself ’cause I’m not an emcee that considers their to be any kind of financial value to my so-called time here. I would be here anyway. So I always jump-start it. I never ask people to do things I don’t do. So I decided during the break I’m gonna kick it off with $400,000. I try to increase it a little every year, and I think this is an increase over last year. I didn’t look it up but I think it is. So we’ll start with that and we’ll see how things turn out. We’ll run it up to three o’clock this afternoon Eastern time.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I just got a note. “Rush, I just donated $75 and yours makes mine piddling.” No, folks, don’t look at it that way. There’s nothing that’s too small here. Don’t look at it that way. We got 22 million people-plus in this audience. If everybody just gave a dollar it would set a record. There’s no amount that’s too small. It all adds up. It’s cumulative. Don’t be embarrassed by that. I realize that most of you probably can’t afford to give anything. That’s what’s always been amazing about this Cure-A-Thon over the years. We’ve done this during real, genuine economic recessions, and we’re in one now. And every year we’re blown away and surprised because every year is always up over the previous. I think there’s been one down year. It might have been 2001. I’m not sure which. But it was a small amount. But there’s no amount here that’s too little. Don’t be bamboozled by these numbers that get the premium and so forth. There’s no amount that’s too small. Don’t think that it’s piddling.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: It’s our Cure-A-Thon, folks. It’s the 22nd annual Cure-A-Thon for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of America for the blood cancers. And the great part of this effort, and why your donations to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society are so important, is because blood cancer drugs and treatments and therapies funded by the society are providing hope and survival for other cancers and diseases. Do you remember Gleevec? We’ve been talking about Gleevec for a number of years now. We spotlighted its development during one of our Cure-A-Thons. Gleevec’s initial focus was on a really tough form of leukemia called CML, chronic myelogenous leukemia. Five-year survival rates were less than 50% at the time.

A very exciting recent long-term study at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is now showing a major increase in those numbers. The study is not under 50%. A solid 67% of chronic myelogenous leukemia patients on Gleevec have survived not five, but ten years longer. Remember in the previous half hour I spoke at length about the importance of these survival rates. It’s probably the most human element of this. Because after you get the diagnosis, the first thing you want to know is: What are the survivability rates? And the news you get changes your life forever, as does the diagnosis — and how you use those remaining years and how old your kids are.

If it’s one of your kids diagnosed, what do you do in those ensuing years with your kids that otherwise you wouldn’t have done? It totally changes your life. I don’t care how hard some of us might think we have it day to day. This is something, until it happens to you, you can only try to understand it. You cannot possibly relate to it. So when you are told that this drug, Gleevec, is expanding survivability rates from under 50% to now over 67% — and not five-year survivability, but ten-year — then you know success. That’s not all Gleevec is doing, though. It is also approved to treat a rare form of stomach cancer with the acronym GIST, G-I-S-T.

They had no idea that was gonna happen, but it did. Blood cancer therapies are pioneering treatments for other cancers. Using blood instead of invasive and risky procedures that aren’t feasible for some solid tumors, researchers are able to study primary cancer cells from patients rather than relying on cell lines or animal models. And this provides a better chance of producing effective diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. For those of you who have had this happen to you or your family or you’ve known somebody, you know all of this that I’m talking about. You’ve seen it. When I mention something like effective diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, you know exactly what that means.

It’s just words to people on the outside. But “diagnostic and therapeutic strategies” means: “How do we attack this? What is the best way to go about it? What is it going to cost?” All of these things, people are faced with. Their perspective on life changes immediately. And they are immediately filled with gratitude and hope when they learn what the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is able to do because of donations like yours. For example, there are immuno-therapies where immune system cells are genetically modified to attack cancer and leave the healthy cells alone. That’s just one thing.

Finally, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society provides a host of services to patients and families, too. Many of the people working there have been touched by these diseases in some way. In fact, do you know for the 22 years we’ve been doing this it’s the same group of people? The first day that I did this, I met the core group that we work with every year. It’s the same people, and they’ve all been touched by it. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is one of the most efficient charitable operations going, too. It has some of the smallest amount of overhead that you could imagine. Most of these people are volunteers. They’re doing it from their hearts.

They care about it because it’s affected them. And they provide support groups, peer counseling and financial aid as well as information provided by oncology professionals on the most current clinical trial information. And believe me, when this happens, you want to know everything. You want to become an expert in what’s happening to you. You want to be intimately involved in your own treatment. Lance Armstrong. It’s exactly what he did. He became an expert in testicular cancer when it happened. This is what happens, and that’s what these support people are there to do.

People with certain blood cancers who find it difficult or impossible to afford drug co-pays or health insurance monthly payments might be eligible for a program the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has called the Co-pay Assistance Program. Eligibility is subject to available funds, and that’s where you come into play again. It’s another reason your support is so badly needed and greatly appreciated, too. I tell you what makes it all worthwhile is the profound progress everybody’s making here. In expanding the survivability rates, the drug there’s an that are taking place, the education that’s benefiting other kinds of cancers as well.

Here’s the number again: It’s 877-379-8888.

You can also donate at RushLimbaugh.com. [There will be no additional] solicitations.

And there are premiums for certain levels of donations. Those premiums are also explained at RushLimbaugh.com. But just know that the people involved here, at the end of every Cure-A-Thon every April that we do this, are always blown away. There are no expectations going into this each and every year. Nobody expects that each year will surpass the previous year. Everybody hopes, and everybody prays, but nobody expects. So when it happens — and even the one year we fell a little short — the degree of appreciation for those of you in this audience, I wish you knew. I wish you could see the tears. I wish you could see the joy on the volunteers’ faces here that we deal with.

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