Buffalo native, Roy Vongtama, MD, is a board-certified radiation oncologist, a working actor, and an executive producer. His impressive yet unconventional career is the result of an unwillingness to settle. “I refused to believe I could only be one thing,” he said.
Young Adult Cancer
To kick off National Young Adult Cancer Awareness Week (NYACAW) I’m headed to Roswell Park’s Annual Young Adult Wellness Retreat this Saturday to speak with patients and survivors about important topics that impact their lives.
During my cancer journey, I relied heavily on peer support. I needed to vent my feelings to someone who knew exactly what I was going through. I needed advice from young patients who walked this path before and understood the obstacles and emotional strain I dealt with on a daily basis.
Adult women, starting at age 20, are encouraged to perform a breast self-exam at least once a month. The key to a successful self-exam is consistency.
Cancer patients and survivors struggle with a lot of tough questions. Will I be cured? Will I relapse? When will my body be back to normal? These are just some of the questions I think about on a daily basis, but they have an even stronger presence at the start of a new year.
I am 28 years old and I have a plastic surgeon, but it’s not the circumstance that one would want or hope for. After having a double mastectomy, my plastic surgeon and his medical team reconstructed a brand new chest for me.
There is a lack of expectation that young adults get cancer, yet it is the number one cause of disease-related death in this age group.
"But you're so young." These words have resonated loudly in my mind over and over again in the last year. Yes, statistically, a 28-year-old should be planning other major life events that do not include a double mastectomy, 16 rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, endocrine therapy, and several reconstructive surgeries.
At age seven, I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. After my main surgery to remove the cancer, I had to go through weeks of chemotherapy and never stopped asking questions during the process.
I won't deny it, chemotherapy is tough. But during my time in the Chemo Infusion Center, I learned some tricks that helped me cope with treatment.
I was 24 years old and dating the man of my dreams. The first year of our relationship was perfect. But when I was 25, I started to get sick. I had monthly doctor’s appointments for an entire year to figure out what was wrong.
A complex and unexpected mix of emotions sometimes follows the end of cancer treatment. While you are relieved that your cancer is in remission, it’s normal to feel worried that the cancer could come back.