Raising Awareness about Cancer at All Ages

My infection continues to haunt me but I believe I am over the major hurdle.  I am waiting to see how the next few days play out.  I am so sick of taking those antibiotics.  I am deeply hopeful that this is over.  But that's not the topic of this post.

Last week, we sent Mike's youngest to the Annapolis Wellness House for a camp for kids between ages 6 and 12.  He had just turned six last month.  We have been trying to help him understand what cancer is.  As a child of Deaf adults, he invents signs that make conceptually sense to him.  He started signing cancer by initializing the letter C and moving it across the abdomen.  I showed him the surgical incisions on my stomach.  That's how he made the connection.  I tried to explain that cancer is not only localized in the abdomen but it can be found anywhere in the body.  I explained that his father, also a cancer survivor, had lymphatic cancer in his right armpit.  He continued to sign C across the abdomen.  I spoke with the social worker who coordinates the camp.  She said that it's very common for kids at his age to have rudimentary comprehension of cancer and that the camp would educate the kids.

The camp is for kids who have family members with cancer or have cancer themselves.  After the first day, he said he understood that cancer makes people really sick and that some people do die from it.  He met kids whose parents died of cancer.  He met a kid who had cancer since the age of 3. He met a kid who does not have much time left.  We could see in his eyes that he was impacted by the experience.  We were happy to see he had this educational opportunity.  The experience was so positive and profound for him that he asked if he could come back next year.  He remarked that he may not see the kid with cancer again next year.  Today, he was telling me that he felt he had more friends here than in Texas because the kids he met at camp were 'real friends' not 'fake friends'.  I asked him to explain more but he did not.  It is possible that he had meaningful connections with the kids at camp rather than just playing like many kids do.

I think it is great that he is getting the exposure.  It made me think of my own exposure to cancer I knew of cancer.  I have heard of cancer.  I have seen some friends battle cancer.  One dear friend died.  It was like I was one of the untouchables so it did not really affect me.  Now that I have had cancer, I am meeting more people who are currently battling cancer or have survived.  It can happen to anyone, really.  Awareness is key.  The more we know, the better prepared we are to fight cancer head-on.