I am a wife, a mother and a mesothelioma warrior. I have a story to tell, one that starts with tragedy but ends in triumph.
Having been a former outpatient at a pediatric health center, it was a unique experience for me to be on the other side of the fence talking about the experience of pediatric patients transitioning from pediatric to adult health care. I had the opportunity to catch up with Mike Lang last week to ask him about his adventure therapy organization, Survive & Thrive Expeditions.
When you're diagnosed with cancer, there's all this pressure to get out and "live your life," and anxiety about being judged for taking life for granted now that you're staring your mortality in the face. But living life to the fullest doesn't mean the same thing for everyone.
Integrative cancer care does not only include medical visits and treatments. In combination with necessary conventional cancer treatments and other integrative therapies addressing the entire body, cancer patients need to use self-care daily.
There I was on one end of the phone trying to sound calm, cool and collected because I wanted to protect her. And there she was on the other end of the phone, offering consoliatory words in an effort to protect me, her daughter.
Every day, young adults are diagnosed with cancer. Every day, people tell them it will be okay, or it isn't so bad. These quotes are some things that were said to me by various people in my life. These things didn't really help me.
I am happy that my story brings others encouragement,
And I don't think any of this is a mistake.
I just wish people would stop telling me "I can't imagine how you do it"
And instead realize, "You're just like me."
Being a young cancer survivor is a paradox. On the one hand you have a long life ahead of you. On the other hand because you're younger you'll have many years of testing to make sure there are no recurrences.
If I allowed it, I could "what if" myself into a state of total paralysis. But I'm not going to do that. Fear is the only thing keeping me from living a full life, not cancer or car crashes.
Talking about cancer can be difficult. And for many, the thought of sharing their actual feelings about cancer with those they love can feel insurmountable.
Getting cancer as a young adult seems so unfair. And holding all these conflicting and difficult emotions inside can cause an emotional cancer that takes almost as great a toll as the physical disease itself.
Is it possible to transform anger, guilt, loss and grief into acceptance and forgiveness? Can you be peaceful in the face of the relentless life threat of cancer? In Valleys: Episode 5, Amy struggles with this conflict as she tries to find release from tormenting anger and guilt.
Well, my friends, that cancer circus began eight years ago today. And in my books that makes me an eight-year survivor. I feel an emotional connection with today. It's right up there with my birthday and the birthdays of my three kids.
Most cancer books or support groups are more like self-help books. Don't get me wrong, we all need a pep talk to move us along but sometimes we need to be in touch with reality as much as we need to dream and have hope.
The 2013 Stupid Cancer Road Trip was characterized by new connections. One of the best parts about my job is observing the meaningful conversations that take place when you put a group of people affected by young adult cancer in the same room together.
There are many times when I am so happy! Many, many people say they'd never know that I was sick. But right now, living feels like so much work. And the wait to get better keeps getting longer and longer.
Rankin, the acclaimed British photographer who shot subjects like Kate Moss and the Queen of England, is arguably best known for his celebrity-centere...
An Oklahoma cancer survivor whose "F CANCR" license plate was recalled might still have hope of keeping it. In a case that has gained national atte...
It is day six past my chemo session and the side effects this time are by far worse than before. I had been told that the affects are cumulative and that each time you will feel worse, for longer, but well, quite frankly I guess I didn't want to believe it.
Obviously there's nothing funny about cancer or its various treatments. But I felt that my options were either laugh at most of it or just crawl under my covers into the fetal position and stay there. Thankfully humor won out most of the time.
When I was diagnosed with cancer I was 26 years old. I wasn't the youngest person in the world to deal with such an ordeal, but I wasn't the oldest. And as many young cancer fighters would say, younger than they ever thought they would be to be diagnosed with a serious health problem.
My medical oncologist asks me how I'm doing "psychologically." And the truth is that most days I'm fine. Although I wish -- of course -- that I didn't have cancer again. I am calm and methodical about my cancer and how I will go about treating it, because now it is just a part of my life.
Once you've been diagnosed with breast cancer, the word "worry" takes on a life of its own. You worry about the treatment working, the cancer coming back, the cancer spreading, how you're supposed to live a "normal" life. You worry. But you live. Because you have to.
Once you've hit remission and maintenance, beating cancer becomes less about the physical battle and more about the mental and emotional one. They say you're a survivor from the day you're diagnosed, and I agree.
I take my role as a Colondar model very seriously. When a patient first gets diagnosed with colon cancer, or any cancer, and sees that there a dozen people this year, and dozens more previously, who have not only survived, but thrived, it makes them feel that they can be one as well.
