Does anyone else feel that Cancer is all around them?

[Margaret]

Let me try and articulate myself a little bit better.

Other than a grandfather I never knew, no one in my life has ever had cancer. I would see on the news that it was rising in numbers and occasionally I would hear of someone famous, like Melissa Etheridge, getting cancer. Then we found out that Boyce had cancer and it lowered the BOOM on us. I thought at first that I was feeling ‘more aware’ of cancer since it was dominating our lives so greatly. But I am not sure.

Our best friend’s mother was diagnosed with cancer 4 months after Boyce and it is a very aggressive cancer.
Next, same friend’s sister was told she had thyroid cancer (35 years old).
Another friend’s brother (only 39) was told he has a very aggressive form of lung cancer and has been sent to Philly for treatment.
My neighbor found out she has breast cancer.
And now, my Aunt (we found out on Friday) has terminal pancreatic cancer.

It feels like this invasion attacking people I care about. I was not sure if anyone else was feeling this way too. That is why I need the LiveStrong tattoo, I figure there will always be a reason, or someone I love, to wear it for.

[TCLEFT]

You're not alone in this feeling. Besides multiple Family members and myself, I was amazed at the packed house of the Chemo Cafe. I would expect that of MSK and the other big names, but not my little Cancer Center in Hunterdon. For that matter, have you noticed many of the Hospitals, that were JUST Hospitals a few years ago, now have a Cancer Center as part of the complex?
Scary!

[Sans rt1]

Boy, do I hear you.

A few months before I was diagnosed, I could say that no one in my family and no one I knew well had ever been diagnosed. So, cancer must only happen to other people, right?

Then my brother-in-law was diagnosed and my awareness suddenly increased. A few months later, it was my turn to be diagnosed. Within a month or so, a cousin was diagnosed - and I remember at that time my extended family members were all saying "what's going on here, no one in our family ever gets cancer". In the year since, I have had a neighbor, a co-worker, and a close friend diagnosed. It is all around us.

I really think that until it touches your life, you can be in denial about it and pretend that it only happens to other people. When I was diagnosed, I was amazed by the number of people at work, for example, that I had worked around for years, that I did not even know were survivors until they heard about me and stopped by to offer support.

[Already Bald]

And now, my Aunt (we found out on Friday) has terminal pancreatic cancer.

Margaret, I am sure sorry to read abuot your Aunt.
Hopefully her struggle will be painless.

Cancer is everywhere, and it touches every family.
My mother died on my 29th birthday, colon cancer.

[jaybird]

I hear ya. I never thought about cancer until my grandpa died of skin cancer. Then my dad, then a friend, then I got it. It is strange how it can quickly enter our lives and so many loved ones. It is certainly a disease people do not like to talk about so unitl it effects you directly you may not realize how many people it effects.

[Fed]

"1 in 3 women and 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime."

I first heard of this statistic in a class I co-taught with my former postdoc advisor three years ago, and it just seemed too staggering to be true. Then things started adding up.

My first exposure to it was my Abuelita, who died of metastatic breast cancer right before I turned 21. In my immediate family, I came next. On my wife's side, it's more prevalent: her Dad had melanoma and his Dad died of prostate cancer. Brooke's maternal grandmother died of colon cancer, and her grandpa is dealing with a dual punch of lung cancer and Alzheimer's.

And to answer Margaret's question, "Does anyone else feel that Cancer is all round them?"... I see it every single day: from the little buggers I grow in the lab so I can blow them to pieces, to the patients I see in the elevator going to get their chemo, to the kids in the Jimmy Fund Clinic, to the people I met earlier while I was waiting to get my CT scan.

It's everywhere, but the fight (be it with love, wisdom, or stapled peptides) and having all of you along for the ride is worth it.

[Jay68442]

Does anyone else feel that Cancer is all around them?

Not sure if I fell that way. For the past 15 years or more I haven't had to deal with cancer directly. I was the first in my family to get cancer. I guess someone has to be the first but Thank God only one or two much older family members got it. Not trying to sound insensitive but these individuals were well into there 80's and lived very good lives until the end.

As I look back at my childhood friends I see many cases of cancer. 5 of my childhood friends have been diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives. There may be others but 5 that I know for sure. We all grew up in the same town (Amityville NY), all lived only a few miles apart. As Fed stated "1 in 3 women and 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime." so I guess maybe it could be coincidence statistically speaking.

I live my life day to day and only when it happens will I think about it. "What Ifs" will kill you.

liveStrong

[CharlieFL]

This is all true, but the same can be said of a bad car accident -you see it in the news, you pass by it on the road but it's always someone else's issue, not yours until someone hits your car and it becomes very personal. I had an Aunt that had stomach cancer and that was it for the cancer history in my family until I came along and started the party going. But I have indeed seen it up close at work, with friends and their relatives. So much so that for the past 4 years we have participated in the Relay For Life campaign of the ACS in support of our friends.....This year it will obviously take a different meaning for me.

Echoing what Fed said, getting my CT Scan was quite a wake up call as it was done at a cancer center and other patients were there for different tests. But this forum has been the biggest education of them all for me because although my brother is a doctor, I'm in the financial field and medical situations were far fetched until I became the patient myself. I've learned first hand what is really going on and how unaware I really was about the whole cancer issue.

[Margaret]

Margaret, I am sure sorry to read abuot your Aunt.
Hopefully her struggle will be painless.

Cancer is everywhere, and it touches every family.
My mother died on my 29th birthday, colon cancer.

Thanks Joe. She is on heavy medication and they have called hospice so I do not think she will have much longer. She must have had it for a long time before they discovered it. She did have stomach pain and her doctor mentioned he thought maybe it was a kidney stone. I guess it wasn't.

[fuse929]

I only feel what I let myself feel. I have a few family members who have beaten cancer, and a few who have also died from it. I'm of the mindset that you can't change the past, and you can't see the future, so I try not to dwell on things. What keeps me from getting overwhelmed with situations I can't change, is realizing I can't change them by hoping, questioning & wondering. Keeping positive, living a healthy life, and getting pro-actively involved in the cancer community is what keeps me above water emotionally, and in return, physically.

Bobby

[icoe]

Let me try and articulate myself a little bit better.

Other than a grandfather I never knew, no one in my life has ever had cancer. I would see on the news that it was rising in numbers and occasionally I would hear of someone famous, like Melissa Etheridge, getting cancer. Then we found out that Boyce had cancer and it lowered the BOOM on us. I thought at first that I was feeling ‘more aware’ of cancer since it was dominating our lives so greatly. But I am not sure.

Our best friend’s mother was diagnosed with cancer 4 months after Boyce and it is a very aggressive cancer.
Next, same friend’s sister was told she had thyroid cancer (35 years old).
Another friend’s brother (only 39) was told he has a very aggressive form of lung cancer and has been sent to Philly for treatment.
My neighbor found out she has breast cancer.
And now, my Aunt (we found out on Friday) has terminal pancreatic cancer.

It feels like this invasion attacking people I care about. I was not sure if anyone else was feeling this way too. That is why I need the LiveStrong tattoo, I figure there will always be a reason, or someone I love, to wear it for.

ve
Hello Margaret.
My first dealings with CANCER was in 1988 I was pregant with my twins
my mam was diagnosed in the March with bone and lung cancer she was only given 3 months to live due to the stress and anxiety of all this I went into labour 3 months early Kevin and Garry were born May 22nd 88 Garry died
31st May and mam died 13th June 88 , 2 funerals within 2 weeks is more than any can take. Kevin gave me and his dad the strength to carry on aswell as his 2 sisters. Then my father-in-law got Lung cancer he died 93. then my dad had wide spread cancer he died 2004. Just seemed to be getting over Dad and our world was rocked again this time KEVIN was diagnosed in March 06 aged just 17 with T/C he was just starting college and looking forward to the big wide world but it was not to be he lost his fight in Feb 07. Also in september 06 Kevins Cousin was diagnosed with a rare ewing sarcoma she is 28 yrs old with 3 young children but is still fighting and just finished a year of solid chemo, surgery, and R/T. so when people say you will soon get back to normal I often wonder what normal is anymore.
Irene...... Take care everybody

[tom c]

There is way to much cancer out there, maybe the air we breath or the food we are eating who knows what it is, my dad had lug cancer he had his left lung removed lasted 10 years and got bladder cancer he died last year at age 78 my mon died at age 50 wih breast cancer, uncle died of prostrat cancer aunt died of ovarian cancer, you think someone would find a cure already maybe there is too much money in treating cancer they don't want to find a cure.We all need to enjoy every day we have on this earth and try to positive. I understand when you get older that something is going to get you. but it sould not happen to young children and young men and women that just is not wright.