Category - Cancer Support

When my brother was diagnosed with cancer, my family’s priorities were clear: his health came first. But eventually, we also had to return to work. 

We were not sure how to talk about how the "C" word was affecting us with co-workers, how the constant worry and uncertainty made it hard to focus or plan the way we used to. In fact, we are still learning how to talk about that. But we have learned some lessons along the way.

The poem below was submitted by one of our readers, Elizabeth, as a loving tribute to the relationship shared between her mother, who is battling stage IV breast cancer, and her father. 

They have been married for 40 years,
But he loves her the same as he did on their wedding day.

He wakes up every morning,
Already knows what the day will be like,
He looks over at her and sees the girl he fell in love with,
You would never know just by looking at her the amount of pain she lives with.

When my brother was diagnosed with brain cancer, it changed all of our lives, in ways big and small. The texture of reality shifted as anxiety and uncertainty set in. All of our future plans were placed on hold. And a new kind of normal began to replace the old, one in which doctor’s appointments were as common as coffee dates. 

As we head into the month of November, Lung Cancer Awareness Month, I want to share some facts about the deadliest cancer in the United States. Lung cancer kills more people than colon, prostate, and breast cancer combined. More women die from lung cancer than breast cancer and it kills more men than prostate cancer. The high fatality rate is a result diagnosing the disease too late, at a time when surgery is no longer an option.

Unfortunately, even though it’s such a problem, there is very little public dialogue about lung cancer.