Never Too Young

There's not much to say about my cancer tonight. Generally, every day that passes without taking Xeloda is a day that I feel better, and my focus is turning from cancer to final prep for Spain and making arrangements for some future legs of the GCW Tour. 

At the same time, I've been finding myself having more conversations about absurdly young people who are being diagnosed with, and dying from, cancer. Might just be my opinion, but as bad as cancer is when it's found in the very old, and as unhappy as I am with my diagnosis, I can't imagine being someone in their twenties or thirties having to deal with this. In some ways, this almost strikes me as worse than the pediatric cancers. It's terrible to think of kids suffering, but kids are generally resilient and, even when not sick, already live inside the support structures of their families. Young adults, on the other hand, have just become independent and are setting off on their lives and going out into the world. 

How terrible to be in that position, have the cancer bomb dropped on you, and be forced back into the environment you were ready to leave, perhaps never to gain the independence you were preparing for. That, I think, might be the worst hand to draw. 

To this end, I thought I'd pass along the info about the Colon Cancer Alliance's Never Too Young program, which can be found at ccalliance.org/nevertooyoung. They're finding more and more cases of colon cancer appearing in folks younger the fifty, the current threshold for routine colonoscopies, and this site has a lot of information about risk factors that should lead to earlier screenings, and other ways folks can avoid joining the cancer club at a young age with stage three or four cancer. 

In retrospect, I must admit that I really wished I'd had my first colonoscopy at forty-five, just as a matter of routine, rather than at forty-six, when my advanced tumor caused enough problems to warrant a CT scan which prompted the colonoscopy.

And here's to all the twenty-somethings who were just setting out on their paths when cancer got in their way. Strength to all those who are still fighting, and sympathies to those who never got the opportunity to actually head down the road.