Baldies' Blog began originally in the UK by a 26 year old journalist with a blood cancer on a mission to inform the world about bone marrow donation.

He has since died, and I took on the cause of making cancer care more transparent for everybody.

Cancer is a disease that will touch everybody through diagnosis or affiliation: 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed and 1 in 3 woman will hear those words, "You Have Cancer."

I invite you to read how I feel along my journey and
how I am continuing to live a full life alongside my Hodgkin's lymphoma, with me controlling my cancer, not my cancer controlling me.

I hope that "Baldies' Blog" will prepare you to handle whatever life sends you, but especially if it's the message, "You Have Cancer."

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Saturday, December 27, 2008

Coming Through For You

“One person can make a difference.” –John F. Kennedy
Is your girl coming through or what?
I said, at some point, I would link up the survivor/patient network on the world wide web.
If you know nothing about me, I’m a woman that comes through on my word.
You want stories? I got your stories, straight from the source.
Did you have any idea there were so many of us in the world sharing our stories?
I don’t think so, because I didn’t either.
When I started this, I never imagined the ranks I was joining.
It’s time to band us all together in our similar battle.
There is more than one common theme beyond the obvious loss and grieving, most of us are damn funny! Just check out the titles” “Cancer is my bitch.”
I’m thinking most of us did what I did. I took inventory on what I had to offer the world in the presence of my disease and resitrictions. I wanted to a purpose, but good jobs are hard to come by when you can’t be near people.
We’ve all found the socialization teaching loop hole. GO CANCERVIVORS!
First things first, please check out Kara’s blog, and consider donating directly to her. You can do so with a credit card on her site. http://karalees.blogspot.com/
She is a single mom in need of a caregiver for her and her daughter to undergo treatment.
What she is saying is true: most organizations that have helped us previously are now BROKE!
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society announced recently that they will no longer have a “Co-Pay Assistance Program” due to lack of funds.
You can know add another $5000 to my tab of health care costs.
I, however, am not in her unfortunate position. She has no support person to rely on.
If there was a study done on women in situations such as hers, my guess is the results would say that this subgroup has a higher incidence of death from her disease.
Stress can be a killer in the presence of cancer.
Don’t let it happen. Check out her child, and don’t let that baby grow up motherless!
Patients: if you have ever felt alone and like you were the only ones experiencing the weight of life you are, now you know where to find those like you.
This information and reassurance is priceless. Need a support group?
No need to leave your home at a specific time to go to an uncomfortable room and share your tears face-to-face. That structure is not for everybody, it is certainly not for me.
We can know link up at 3 am if that’s how our bodies feel! Fabulous.
I will not be attaching EVERY SINGLE BLOG that I can find out there right now, but hopefully someday I’ll get to it. Keep your fingers crossed.
Here is to an educated, empathetic New Year.

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