1 Year Cancer-versary, A Personal Take

I've put together my thoughts about this year of cancer in a little voice/ picture/ movie combo

https://voicethread.com/share/4559159/

I feel so emotional and personal about this whole business, that words didn't feel sufficient. Still.. there's a transcription below of my basic message for anyone who prefers the written word!

SO!  Here we are. 365 days after my mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 Displaced large blood cell lymphoma with possible central nervous system involvement... It's difficult to even begin to express my gratitude and bewilderment with the events of this past year, but I'm going to try.

My motivation comes from the memories of my first few days coping with the diagnosis. I dived into the black hole of despair that is internet research and tried to emerge with some tangible pieces of advice. It was useful to see graphs on the effectiveness of the drug Rituxin and hear anecdotes about average hospital stays, but I also yearned for something more empathetic and emotional.

What do you do when your mother is diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease? How do you cope with that stress while continuing to start a career? In what way can you serve as a caregiver when you live across the country. Hopefully, by sharing my experiences, I can give some comfort to someone out there dealing with the same crisis or I can help my own community of support understand where we our on this path to a cure and how they can participate.

Twenty-something cancer chronicles: Nobody likes you when you're 23!

I wanted to quickly draw attention to an overall theme of my experiences in the cancer community: being a twenty-something is HARD.

We all know the drill. Young adults get to experience the joys of existential crises. We try to figure out the great mysteries of life: what is my purpose, who should I love, how am I ever going to find a job in this economy etc etc etc. The early twenties are a time for messy experimentations, for trial and error, for successes and failures. They are not, ideally, a period in which you should worry about life and death!

Nonetheless, no matter how much it hurts to think about it, many men and women have an up close and personal experience with their own mortality at a far too early age. Being a young adult with cancer is a particularly difficult battle. Everything is up in the air (including health insurance for many) and it is not an ideal time to be trapped in a hospital bed. Bloggers like Suleika Jaouad and Ethan Zohn have done a fabulous job drawing attention to an age group of cancer patients who can be overlooked both in terms of 1) societal attention and  2) research.

I'd like to add onto that conversation with the benefit of my own point of view:  Being a young adult "caregiver" is another unacknowledged challenge that completely and utterly sucks.