Tonight I watched a movie about breast cancer. The movie was called Living Proof . It is about this doctor who was fighting one of the "Big Box" drug companies to conduct clinical trials of this cure for specific form of breast cancer. 12 years and 2 prior clinical trials later, the final phase was started.
This reminds me of my own possibilities. The possibility of me getting cancer is very possible. My mother had cancer, my brother had a rare form of cancer, both sets of my grandparents have had cancer. My brother had rabdomyosarcoma. Very rare form of cancer that is only in young kids. He was 5 years old, had a grapefruit sized tumor surrounding his lower spinal cord. It pinched nerves affecting his legs, and that is how it was located. How our lives changed.
We was in Reno visiting family when Jason started having pains in his legs. I remember it to this day. We was at Aunt Uvonne's house when Jason was experiencing these major pains, he refused to walk or do anything with his legs. Mom and dad took him to a hospital in Reno. It was there where the tumor, or growth at that time, was located. I remember when they returned we rushed to get out of Aunt Uvonne's house and back home, so Jason can go to Primary Children's Hospital. I'm not sure if it was the day after we returned or longer, but I remember I was dropped off at grandma and granddad's house when they got a phone call from mom that Jason had cancer. Granddad was so upset he hit his toe on their old coffee table. It was the only time that I heard granddad cuss.
I was then rushed to mom's friend Rosanne Crane, where I spent a couple of days with them and their family. Where my battle with food as a comfort began. I seldom slept that first few days not knowing what was happening with my brother and best friend. When food became my best friend.
I am happy to say that after 3 surgeries, 27 radiation treatments and 2 1/2 years of chemotherapy, Jason survived. Currently he is the only child with rabdomysarcoma to ever survive into adult hood. He has had medical books written on his survival and has had the chance to be studied by many doctors. Although he has had a few scares where they thought his cancer has returned, every test ended up the same way, free and clear of cancer.
This is one thing I worry about. I don't know what would happen if I was diagnosed with cancer. As I said cancer runs heavily in my family. Any and all of my family has a greater chance of getting cancer because one sibling had cancer. My mom is what they call a down winder and lived 30 miles from where the government conducted nuclear trials in the 1950's in Nevada. Mom tells stories where they were given instructions to build dugouts under their houses to survive during the nuclear tests but was never given instructions on when to use them. Mom says they sat out on the front porch of their house in Caliente Nevada watching mushroom clouds form and dissipate and lived during the fall out, amazed that it's "snowing" during the summer in the desert of Nevada. With this, this is the one reason why I'm afraid of cancer. And because of it, it is one of constant worry in the back of my mind. I worry for myself as well as my kids. I may not have cancer but I very well likely be a carrier and could pass it on to anyone of my kids.
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