Stupid Cancer

So it's February again. Time for my yearly check in to see if cancer has reared it's ugly head. I went in this morning to kick off the week long round of injections with a blood draw and injection of thyrogen, the concoction that will trick my body into thinking it has gone hypothyroid (low thyroid levels) to get a read on whether cancer might still be lurking.

As I am poked and prodded I am quickly reminded that I never actually got my all free and clear card that boasted a clean bill of health last time. After my round of injections last year, the test came back that the numbers weren't perfect, but not alarming enough to need to do anything until the following year. Most of me thinks I'm fine, but how would you like to have the devil on your shoulder for a year, whispering that you never got the ok from your doc? Yeah, not so much.

However, I count myself lucky on this World Cancer Day (http://www.worldcancerday.org/) that I really am healthy (or at least, I think I am). Just last night I attended a memorial service for a 9-year-old little boy who lost his battle with cancer just last week. Nine years old. Though I didn't know him personally like many other attendees I suspect, it would have seemed the entire community showed up to say goodbye. I guess they are all as mad as I am that cancer has to be such a deadly killer.

I winced this morning at being stabbed in the arm and at the sting of the injection that followed, but thought quickly about how scary that would have been for a child fighting cancer. Not only a needle here and there, but much more and much worse, I am sure. It's a tragedy in every sense of the word.

So here I am waiting for two more weeks. Two weeks to when I am hopefully given the news that some families don't get: the all clear to move on with my life. Or move on for now, at least. I'm hoping it goes that way, because another round of radiation treatment could wreak that much more havoc on my body than the first round already did.

So today I am thankful that I still have my chance, but I am remembering those who don't. I have mentioned SuperTy, Ty Louis Campbell, the 5-year-old who lost his battle with cancer in October, and his wonderful mom who has launched the TLC Foundation to fight pediatric cancer. Here is a picture of his brother standing up for him.

You can read more about Ty in his mother's blog at http://www.superty.org/. This is Ty and his superstar mom trying to do what she can to fight this cowardly disease to avenge her son's death, her words (perfect words if you ask me). Maybe we can help her.

And finally, we need do more than hold out hope in finding a cure. I know we don't have a cure, but take a look at the 2008 documentary Food Matters http://www.foodmatters.tv/ and its compelling message on why we are where we are. I think it gives some hope. Let's have hope together. Let's stand up together.