January 2009
1 post
When you don't expect it
In total it took a little over a year to gather up all the information we needed to officially sit my little sister down and tell her it was cancer. It wasn’t the surgery that had been so hard. But this is coming from the observer. I’m sure if this were my sister writing it, you would hear a different story. Sitting in the hospital waiting room for hours seemed routine at this point...
September 2008
2 posts
2x Cancer Survivor and Living Life!
Disbelief, loneliness, fear, anger, despair, faith, hope and love. These feelings were all too real when I first heard the words “you have a liver tumor” and later “it turned out to be cancer.” Not once, but twice. Sometimes I wonder which was worse: facing cancer for the first time or dealing with a recurrence. The recurrence is scarier because you know what is ahead of you and how tough it is...
Delays in diagnosis and treatment among children... →
In the most recent edition of Pediatric Blood Cancer, there was this recent publication on AYA cancer and delayed diagnosis. Even in a country with universal health care, there is still delays.
Background:
Few studies have investigated delays in diagnosis and treatment among children and adolescents with cancer, especially from the perspective of an entire country. Detailed understanding of...
July 2008
3 posts
Patients of a Different Stripe
The SeventyK was chatting with Heidi Adams (Founder of Planet Cancer) and asked for her to contribute to the blog. Coincidently she was featured in an op-ed on Stand Up To Cancer. She wanted to feature this for you all- Thanks Heidi.
...
Jovens pacientes de câncer têm revista, festa e... →
A couple weeks ago JULLIANE SILVEIRA, a journalist from Brazil contacted us about what we were doing with SeventyK. On July 7th, 2008, the article was published and we wanted to share this with everyone. However, the link is translated through Yahoo! Babel Fish so it might be a little off.
What is most important for all of us is that this has moved beyond a national agenda and has become an...
Adolescents begins at 15...
I’m 15 years old and a survivor of cancer. It started when I was 12 years old and in 7th grade. I developed a large goiter on my lower neck. After many tests that came out suspisious I went in to surgery early morning of July 2005. It lasted 6 hours. I had my whole thyroid, 4 lymphoids, and 9 nodules removed all consisting of cancer cells and tumors. I’ll never forget that night when the nurse was...
June 2008
1 post
“the most dangerous weapon is your will”. –Bruce...
In December of 2007 I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Somehow I always actually thought that my daily dedication at the gym in the morning, the healthy lifestyle, constant positive attitude and attention to the golden rule I kept worked as some magical cloak around my shoulders that would protect me from things just like this. I couldn’t believe it, the words hit me like a ton of bricks.
...
April 2008
3 posts
Hospitalized
The weirdness of an individual cancer experience is what gets me. Perversely, you can enjoy it, as I did, because Hodgkin’s itself can be a relief compared to the effect of what Hodgkin’s caused. Or your humility can be so disarming that it’s very public and very heroic (Jon Lester is pitching right now for the Red Sox as I type this). Or you can lash out with 100% weirdness and...
Prevention Priority in Minorities →
One of the primary roles of cancer prevention strategies in adolescents and young adults stated by Dr. Archie Bleyer in an article in CA Journal, has been to prevent cancer in later adulthood by instilling lifestyles and preventive practices during formative years. This preventative tactic is already difficult enough to tackle among young adults, let alone reaching minority groups that...
The Quick Oil and Lube Jobs- A Cancer Princess...
The day I found my lump I was in the shower. I felt it by accident but in an instant, my stomach fluttered and air escaped me. I couldn’t breathe. I knew it was bad. I was in a hurry because I had a date with my boyfriend, Chad. Quickly, I dismissed it and even laughed at myself for thinking that I might have breast cancer at the age of 24. I was just being dramatic. So I put it out of...
March 2008
8 posts
Further cuts in reimbursement rates are forcing... →
“It feels like a gamble with his health” reads a quote from today’s LA Times news article on how physcians in California will be accepting less patients who are insured with Medi-Cal. For some of you non-california residents, Medi-Cal is medicaid in California and now the reimbursment rates for physicians are decreasing yet again. Thus, less physicians are willing to accept to...
The Cost of Living: No Cure for Cancer
Life is about choice. Remission is not a cure. Survivorship is all the rage. Why we fight … I was 11 years old the first time I sat down at a piano and asked my mother, “Where do you put your fingers?” She showed me a simple five-note scale with both hands and, almost instinctively, I repeated it with precision. The next words out of her mouth were, “You’re...
This is unfair
Something is not right with this. It seems like 1/2 the young survivors I meet online get really sick or have passed. I’ve been a “survivor”/”mAss Kicker” for 2 1/2 years now. I find this very disturbing because over the past 30 years there has been no improvement in the survival rates in young adult age group (15-39) while the survival rates in the pediatric and geriatric population have...
Cancer Funding: Does It Add Up? →
Adolescents and young adults who are affected by cancer essentially fall through the cracks of medicine. If there is a $6 Billion budget by the National Cancer Institute, how much of it should be for Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer (age 15-39)?
It is Official!!!!
Support SeventyK- The Adolescent and Young Adult Bill of Rights …. check it… There are approximately 70,000 people aged 15-39 diagnosed with cancer every year. For over two decades there has been little or no improvement in survival for this age group. By signing this bill, you are supporting the Adolescent...