I have finally decided that I hate cancer. I know hate is a strong word and that you should only use it when you mean it ... and I DO mean it. It is one thing for me to be sick and suffering over these past couple months, but now I have been touched by stories of the people who read my website. Please know how much it means to me that you have shared your stories. I shall cherish your thoughts and feelings and keep them close to my heart always. When I get e-mails from my friend Kandi (who types to me while her baby sleeps in her lap) who now throws up every Thursday out of anxiety of her upcoming treatment I become so angry and my eyes swell with tears. I don't care what cancer does to me, but I want it to leave everyone else alone. I don't want to see anyone go through this ... I don't think I can possibly bare it. It needs to stop. And maybe you are following my story because you know me, or feel a connection having known someone who had cancer. Or perhaps you don't even know me at all, but have followed my journey and feel like we are friends having a conversation through my written word. Regardless of why you come to my website, you must know this ... you are not safe from cancer.
Before I was told the news that I had cancer, I knew of one person who had fought cancer ... my aunt. I remember it being winter and her coming over for the holidays. She seemed tired and weak, and we knew she had on a wig, but she still had such a glorious spirit about her. That was my knowledge of cancer and I am ashamed that I did not understand more of the severity of it at the time. Cancer is a word like pneumonia, or the flu ... everyone throws it around and yeah, people get it, but they get better, right? Wrong. And yeah it is horrible for people that have it, but I have no history of it in my family, so I am safe, right? Wrong. I always thought cancer was a disease older people got, so why should I worry about it? Thank God I am in touch with my body and knew that the lump under my armpit was not normal. Thank God I pushed my doctors to do testing to find out why I was so sick last fall. Thank God I found my cancer when I did before it made its way into my bones and blood. Others have not been so lucky.
Cancer stats for young adults aged 15-39 in the US ...
- annual diagnosis: 68,000
- percent increase since 1977: 100%
- annual deaths: 10,000
- improvement in 5-year remission since 1977: ~0
- current national efforts to change this: 1 ()
Bitter irony that young adults raise money for cancer research with charities that don't actually benefit them: priceless.
My friend has asked me to come on her radio show April 30 to talk about my journey and try to help bring awareness to others. (I will post the details of the show when I have them so you all can tune in.) Please don't read by website and not see yourself as a statistic. I am not just some random girl who was dealt a crappy hand of cards. I am one in eight women who will battle breast cancer in her lifetime. Encourage the women in your life (of all ages) to please be in touch with their bodies and do their exams. Life is much too precious and we need to find a cure for our daughters and granddaughters. Please, please find a way to help and don't see this as just another cause that won't effect you, because if you have more than eight girl friends ... I can assure you it will. And that's why I hate cancer!
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