Positive Cancer

It’s funny, I never really thought about Cancer except as something that either really young kids got, or something that older people ended up with. Now I can’t stop thinking about how few resources there are for people in my age category, that being the mid thirties, and wanting to do something about it.

Positive Cancer is the start of my support for people of all ages, but I will post articles from time to time specifically aimed at people in my age category. Cancer ages you, it makes your body older and more fragile, but have you ever stopped to think how people look at you when you tell them you have Cancer. I’m 35 but I feel closer to 70 with the looks I receive, and not the pity looks but the genuine perplexed looks from people who are thinking “You should be older,” or “You should be younger.” Well perhaps that is true, but Cancer did not give me the choice.

Middle thirties with young kids and life threatening Cancer isn’t a tremendous demographic but it is an important one. We are the ones whose bodies can take the most punishment, and whose minds have developed will enough to shield ourselves from negative thoughts. It is not by chance that I survived my massive operations and subsequent infections, hospitalizations, and setbacks. My age helped as my body was at a point where it was strong from years of use, but not weakened from overuse.

I vividly recall that a few days after the surgery as I was lying in bed, I overheard a doctor who was doing rounds and talking to my nurse. He must have looked at my chart because he asked, “Hmm, what kind of complications are we having with him?” The nurse replied, “None yet,” to which the doctor said, “What, that doesn’t seem right.” He then came into my room, and took one look at me and turned to the nurse and said, “Oh he’s young; you should have told me that.”

So the very lottery I had won, the one that gave me Cancer at 31 also gave me the benefit of being able to best fight it. See, Positive Cancer, that’s what I’m talking about.