connection between paycheck and cancer

A real search term that recently led Yahoo to send someone to my blog. Really. I don't believe I have ever blogged about any such connection. I've seen allusions, in a few articles, to income and a cancer diagnosis. Since I am hardly well-versed on this topic, I looked it up.

PLEASE read the following links and share them. They are easily shared in social media.

First. As I write, this article just came out YESTERDAY! "Your Income Might Influence Your Risk For Certain Cancers."  Melanoma, my particular cancer is mentioned. Lovely. Here's the paragraph: "In the wealthiest areas, thyroid and testicular cancer, melanoma and other skin cancers were more common according to the report, published online May 27 in Cancer."

Please read that article. It ends with "For more information about cancer and poverty, visit the American Cancer Society." Read that link as well because it's THIS article that brings education into the picture. Be sure and click on the 5 graphics! Now, this article is from 2011, so I searched the American Cancer Society's website and found

Cancer Facts & Figures 2014

Scroll to page 48 for "Cancer Disparities" and you'll see the subtitle "Socioeconomic Status" and you'll read, "People with lower socioeconomic status (SES) have disproportionately higher cancer death rates than those with higher SES, regardless of demographic factors such as race/ethnicity. For example, cancer mortality rates among both African American and non-Hispanic white men with 12 or fewer years of education are almost 3 times higher than those of college graduates for all cancers combined, and are 4-5 times higher for lung cancer. Furthermore, progress in reducing cancer death rates has been slower in people with lower SES. These disparities occur largely because people with lower SES are at higher risk for cancer and have less favorable outcomes after diagnosis. People with lower SES are more likely to engage in behaviors that increase cancer risk, such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, and poor diet. This is in part because of marketing strategies that target these populations, but also because of environmental or community factors that provide fewer opportunities for physical activity and less access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Lower SES is also associated with financial, structural, and personal barriers to health care, including inadequate health insurance, reduced access to recommended preventive care and treatment services, and lower literacy rates. Individuals with no health insurance are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced cancer and less likely to receive standard treatment and survive their disease.  For example, stage II colorectal cancer patients with private insurance have better survival than stage I patients who are uninsured. For more information about the relationship between SES and cancer, see Cancer Facts & Figures 2011, Special Section, and Cancer Facts & Figures 2008, Special Section, available online at cancer.org."
 

Keep reading the online document for there is a great deal more information. A wide variety of topics are tackled.

My thanks to Yahoo for sending some unsuspecting person to my blog. I'm pretty sure they did not find, at the time, what they were looking for, but their search led me on my own. While I am disturbed by much I read and learned, I am grateful to have learned it.

There is much to be done on many levels to level the playing field. If we're in this together, like I preach and truly believe we are, then we need to get busy. God bless us, everyone.

charis

For more about cancer and poverty, visit the American Cancer Society.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/health/cancer/HealthDay688173_20140527_Your_Income_Might_Influence_Your_Risk_for_Certain_Cancers.html#shm8lUFpoOVlpZpe.99F

In the wealthiest areas, thyroid and testicular cancer, melanoma and other skin cancers were more common, according to the report, published online May 27 in Cancer.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/health/cancer/HealthDay688173_20140527_Your_Income_Might_Influence_Your_Risk_for_Certain_Cancers.html#shm8lUFpoOVlpZpe.99

In the wealthiest areas, thyroid and testicular cancer, melanoma and other skin cancers were more common, according to the report, published online May 27 in Cancer.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/health/cancer/HealthDay688173_20140527_Your_Income_Might_Influence_Your_Risk_for_Certain_Cancers.html#shm8lUFpoOVlpZpe.99

In the wealthiest areas, thyroid and testicular cancer, melanoma and other skin cancers were more common, according to the report, published online May 27 in Cancer.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/health/cancer/HealthDay688173_20140527_Your_Income_Might_Influence_Your_Risk_for_Certain_Cancers.html#shm8lUFpoOVlpZpe.99

In the wealthiest areas, thyroid and testicular cancer, melanoma and other skin cancers were more common, according to the report, published online May 27 in Cancer.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/health/cancer/HealthDay688173_20140527_Your_Income_Might_Influence_Your_Risk_for_Certain_Cancers.html#shm8lUFpoOVlpZpe.99

In the wealthiest areas, thyroid and testicular cancer, melanoma and other skin cancers were more common, according to the report, published online May 27 in Cancer.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/health/cancer/HealthDay688173_20140527_Your_Income_Might_Influence_Your_Risk_for_Certain_Cancers.html#shm8lUFpoOVlpZpe.99

Leave me ALONE, for crying out loud! It's JUST a mole!

I said that many times when I was a teenager. When I was in my twenties. In my thirties. Even on into my forties. I said it to my Mama the most. I said it to my Daddy. I said it to my husband. I said it, a bit nicer than that, to complete strangers. But that not all I said.

"It's not going to kill me or anything!"

That completes my dramatic response to anyone who did not like the looks of the mole on my upper left arm and dared to say anything about it. To tell you the truth, I got sick and tired of hearing how I "was going to have trouble with it one day," or "do you know you have a tick on your arm?"

Seriously? Anyone who knows me, at all, would know that if there was a tick anywhere on my person, I would find it, remove it, flush it, and certainly not tote it around with me for the fun of it! And anyone who knows me knows that I do not voluntarily show up at a doctor's office and ask to have something removed. Especially something as innocuous as that mole. It didn't bother me. Why couldn't other people just shut up about it?

I did show it to my OB-GYN one time, to get her learned opinion. And she agreed with me: it was two moles that overlapped and that's all it was. Nothing to write home about.

But. Dang it. When I was 48 that mole reared up and bit me. Mama was proven right after all those years. Double dang it. I found out the hard way that a mole really can bring me down. Can we say "RATS!" OK, this calls for strong language. Garden peas! (Don't blame me. My Mama's a baaad example!)

My story is scattered throughout this blogsite so I won't be redundant. But I won't be remiss either.

We're in Melanoma Awareness/Education Month all May long. And we, in the melanoma community, step up our efforts to open the eyes of people who are enjoying dangerous habits so that they stop their fool-hardy ways and take their own steps to avoid joining our exclusive community.

We tell our stories, we share pictures, we get facts and information out there. And what happens? Well, I'll tell you. The vast majority of people get sick and tired of it. Many can get downright rude. People who tan in tanning beds or bake out in the sun (especially without proper broadspectrum sunscreen of at least 30, 45-50 is even better) ignore us or call melanoma "just skin cancer" and display a high level of ignorance and arrogance. And we, in the melanoma community, get hurt and we get angry. We say, "THEY know my story and what is happening to me!"

And we wring our collective hands because we know that many won't get it until they get it.

Just like we did.

See, I'm not the only one who blasély ignored pleas and went ahead doing like I wanted to do. And besides that mole...well, I have a family history of melanoma. And you know what? I still didn't know what melanoma is and what it means to have it. I failed to take it seriously.

I've never seen a tanning bed up close and personal. But I know way too many who have. The warnings are everywhere! And, yet, today, right now, around the world, countless people are killing themselves over a tan. They know about the dangers. But they just do not think it can happen to them.

I got mine from sunburns as a teen. I didn't dare use sunscreen. Nah. That stuff in the 70s smelled like coconut. I used Johnson's Baby Oil! I had no clue I was lighting a lingering flame under that mole that would erupt decades later. No clue. Mama didn't either...not the laying out part...she just never liked how my mole looked. Countless people, all races and who are now middle-aged, were out in the sun for a variety of reasons, unprotected, and melanoma is biting my age demographic hard. We really do pay for the transgressions of our youth, even those transgressions that we don't realize are transgressions. Tanned skin is damaged skin and skin does not forget and it does not forgive. That's a law of nature. Break it and nature can frown really hard.

We people, as a rule, just do not think melanoma or skin cancer can happen to us. To ME. We think we can do as we wish and nature will turn her head and bat her eyes and pretend we really aren't doing what we're doing to harm our skin. People with a lot of skin pigment will think they're immune. People who have never been in a tanning bed or laid out or who don't fit the "profile" will think it WILL NOT happen to them.

You know what? If you have skin..or if you have a body...and from what I've seen, that's 100% of the human population...YOU CAN GET MELANOMA! YOU! At any age, anywhere IN or ON your body...anywhere...even those places where the sun don't shine. OK, your teeth cannot get it...but anywhere else in your mouth can. And, strands of hair cannot get it, BUT hair follicles can. Anywhere else, in or on, your body that you can think of...CAN GET MELANOMA. And it can present at any age. Children. Teens. On up into your 90s. And every demographic imaginable is seeing a dramatic rise in the rates of diagnosis.

And you know what else? I'm just crazy enough to bet that 100% of those people are just like I was and don't think it can happen to them. But it will for one out of every 50 people. And some will be diagnosed at stage 0, in situ. And some will be in the stage 1 range, or the stage 2 range, or the stage 3 range, or stage 4. And NONE will be cured. But all, right now, are thinking, "Well, if it happens to me, I'll just cut it out and be fine. It's no big deal." 

Don't think it can happen to you?

I didn't either. Hello. I'm stage 3b.

charis

Experiencing A Bump In The Road On The Way To May: Melanoma Awareness Month

It's a slow day. What can I say? It's raining, my sinuses are backed up and giving me a horrocious headache, my thinking is fuzzy and foggy...but, I can recognize a bump in the road when I see it. And one can either be stopped by the bump or work around the bump.

I choose the latter. I may be technologically challenged, but I'm still clever enough to work around a bump as best as I can.

The bump? FACEBOOK! Oh, I love Facebook. It's a great tool. And it's just that...a tool. It is what we each choose to make of it. Some leave the tool in the shed and never go near it. Me, I embrace Facebook on behalf of my church and on behalf of the melanoma community. Sometimes, however, Facebook fails to embrace me back. It makes changes without my prior approval. And it has made some serious, and in my humble opinion, awful changes to the way an "event" page is administrated since last year about this time. Last year my month-long "May: Melanoma Awareness" event ran without a hitch. Without a hitch, I tell you!

This year, already, as of today...it has me stymied and irritated. Last year's event had over 7200 attendees by the end of May. Placards had been designed and a wonderful volunteer whose husband had died from melanoma stepped up and offered to put people's pictures in the placard of their choice, and she was swamped. This year she knew she needed more time, so I set the event up earlier this month (April 2014). I should have realized I would have problems when there was no way to add an "end date" and set it to automatically run through the end of May. But, it let me change the event date on a daily basis...I could do that with no problem.

Houston started having problems last night as I write. I tried to change the event date to today, April 15th, and it wouldn't let me. So, OK, I logged off and rested my computer for the night thinking, naively, that when I logged on today, kink would be gone and I could change the date.

Well. No. The kink was still there. I couldn't change the date, and because, in Facebook's mind the event was over, it was gone from calendars. That meant people would have to go back into their "past events" and resurrect it. The only saving grace in this is that FB doesn't completely delete old events. It's still "there" technically, but now, even I the event admin, have to hunt for it. Not good.

It did give me the option of "repeating" the event. And when I tried that, it was a blank event. Back to zero participants and all the posts from the previous event were gone. Scrap THAT idea.

I chose not to create a new event because I'd run into the same "date" issues...and all previous posts would be gone.

The event page was giving a few other problems as well. It got to where it would not let me...ME, the event admin, leave photos in comments under posts. Not good. A few people complained to me that pictures that had been posted were somehow "gone." And they would be gone, And sometimes they would show back up again. We already had over 700 people attending this event and already issues were piling up and there wasn't a thing I could do about ANY of it!!!! Not good.

So, I created a new Facebook page (NOT another "event" but an open community page) for May: Melanoma Awareness Month. Yes, it will mean starting all over. But we still have the placards and wonderful volunteers working on them. And, prayerfully and hopefully, we'll get over this bump in the road and keep driving on with no more challenges to surmount. I hope so because I'm sure not in the mood for surmounting more challenges from Facebook!

For the record, the event page can still be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/523246704452369/

The new page is here: https://www.facebook.com/MelanomaAwarenessMonth

I am truly sorry for all inconvenience, redundancy, and any headaches this may cause.

But, I'll tell ya, if you live with melanoma or any other cancer or health issue or life-issue...this is peanuts. Small potatoes.

A bump in the road.

May is coming and we're ready.

We're going to educate, honor, and remember.

Join us if you haven't already.

charis

Melalessons From Melahomies

April 4, 2014, I posted this on Melanoma Prayer Center on Facebook:

“What have YOU learned on your melanoma journey that you want to share? Bless others, and yourself, by sharing please. Thanks!”

As of right this moment, these are the responses I've gotten and they are worth sharing with the greater Internet world. I have not used their names but you are free to go to MPC and scroll until you find the post. There may even be more comments to read by then! Here ya go:

“It wasn't my journey, it my mother's; but what I learned is that although our prayers aren't always answered in the way we want them to be, they are answered. He hears us when we are at our lowest and gives us comfort, strength, and many graces.”

“My faith in God has become stronger than it has ever been he is my Rock and my salvation he has never ending Love for us I praise him several times a day! He is a healer, I am Blessed, I enjoy every breath I take, I Do not take things for granted, I  love to spend time with my family I cherish them every single second. Life is to short to be unhappy or mad be quick to forgive. I am still fighting this Disease, I am warrior! All my Love.”

“My daughter is stage IV, and I have learned that sometimes your children are much stronger, and braver than we ever imagined.”

“I've learned that the material treasures you have on this earth mean nothing. Loving one another means everything and losing my daughter to this horrible disease is devastating.”

“I have learned that I am stronger than I ever imagined and that life will never be the same again. I am grateful for the knowledge I now have and can hopefully through sharing can help raise awareness in hopes that someone else may learn, and not have to go through what we all do with the beast. I have learned that there are some wonderful people in the melanoma community and have made some great friends. I found out the hard way that not everyone understands what your going through but someone that has went through it themselves, and am so grateful for all the people that have helped me along my journey!”

“Life is amazing. Feel blessed to be here Everyday.”

“have learned you find out how strong and resilient you are. I went through my first diagnosis alone, 4 months later the Lord blessed me with my soon to be husband. It has been a journey of rediscovery, pain, laughter, tears, and hope. I have finally been able to loosen the death grip this disease has on me. I won't be afraid to live my life, be active, and play outside with my children! It really opened my eyes as to how selfish I was with my body, thinking I was indestructible, and that cancer could never happen to me. God Bless!! Keep on fighting you bad ass warriors!!”

“I have learned to enjoy and appreciate the small things and never ever take any day for granted!!”

“Watching my husband fight his battle with the "Black Beast", we should appreciate every minute of everyday for we are not promised tomorrow. My husband and I were drawn closer to God and Faith has what gets me through each day without him. God bless.”

“Amen to all these comments!!!”

“every breath is a gift . . .”

“KNOW that surviving stage IV melanoma is never a ONE drug quick solution, everyone who survives long term has major setbacks, they use plan a, b, c, d and often e and F! For now, its a combined effort of drugs, and cherry picking. And you need to know that it takes a long time to get it to go away......so don't approach your new diagnosis expecting that you will do one miracle drug and it will solve your problem. Get educated, talk to as many LIVING survivors as you can, and know what your fall back plan is in advance and don't be crushed when you have to use it. And pray, not just for the prize at the end of the journey but pray for the million little things that have to fall into place to become NED..(stage IV 1996)”

“I have learned to appreciate every day. And I've met the most amazing people. So brave and giving. I wouldn't wish this upon anyone, but it has opened my eyes to see life in a way I never could have before.”

“I learned that eternity in heaven is the ultimate goal. Everlasting life is found with Jesus and by his side no one will ever hurt again”

“I've learned to trust in God & His provision, to prioritise - putting my wife first in everything, also learned not to postpone things I really want to do. Also to value the people in my life, and to hopefully make a difference in their lives”

“I still cannot breathe from the loss of my beautiful 20 year old son. I'm still numb. But from Connor, I learned that every day is a gift and human connectedness is precious. Even though I can't feel joy yet, I learned that being joyful has a greater impact on lives that anything else. I learned that it's important to live every day out loud.”

“Glad to have shared a trip,of a lifetime with my beautiful girls and my wonderful husband who always looks at the glass half full not empty
6 years ago was my first warning shot stage 4 aggressive and one another one this year nearly to the day I feel like I am dogging bullets and fortunately for my beautiful girls I am still going ok”

“Watching my Dad fight his battle with melanoma has changed me forever. I don't take anything for granted and live each moment. It has made me realize that u never know tomorrow so enjoy today!”

“That it's not the end of the world, but a beginning of a new journey that can be filled with joy, blessings, and God's overwhelming peace. I hate having cancer, but I love how close I've drawn to the Lord through it!
This page is a blessing! Thank you for doing such a great job of uplifting those with it and raising awareness for those who don't”

“I am stage 3b an have learned many things. So there is no 1 answer.. No tanning booths. 2nd opinions. Get into a trial. Body scans. Never give up. Take every 2nd chance u get! Life is too short.... Live it to the fullest!!”

“I have learned that when my doctors said "I'm a challenging case" ( I have no know starting point and a non mutated gene and 15 tumors throughout my lungs and bones) that fighting for my life is the only choice I have.”

“Educate yourself and above all be your own advocate. Doctors work for you. Your allowed and should get second opinions!! Never give up hope. Last but not least your mind is very strong. Use is to your benefit don't let it get you down”

“Skin cancer is not just skin cancer”

“I to have walked this road with my husband down the road with the beast and he lost his battle on Dec. 21, 2013. I have learned more about this cancer you know the one "it's just skin cancer". I heard that so many times from people I wanted to stand on the roof of Duke and scream it's not just skin cancer it's taking the best man I have ever known from me and there is nothing I can do. So i did the only thing I could and that was pray and care for my husband. I to was a tanner never used any sun screen it make me want to stop all these young girls and let them know just what can happen but they wouldn't listen. I to have learned that no one is promised tomorrow so live life to the fullest and tell the people around how you feel about because you may not get a chance later. I am a 52 year old widow who now has to go through the rest of my life without my life's partner thinks about that next time you crawl into that tanning bed or lay in the sun with no protection. My life will never be the same a neither will our 13 year old daughters.”

“I've learned that every second with my husband was a cherished blessing. I've learned that this "just skin cancer" robbed me and this world of a wonderful man. (March 23) I've learned never take an instant for granted, that any second something can change your whole world. And I still HATE melanoma and will forever preach the safe skin message.”

“Fighting melanoma has shown me how strong I am!! I fought for my family and I know I want to share a message of HOPE!! 3 years NED, after 3 years.... thank you heavenly father and my angels.”

“I've learned I'm stronger than I ever imagined. I've learned there can be BLESSINGS along this journey. I've seen so many Blessings along my 14 year journey. We just have to remember to breathe and open our eyes!”

“I've learned you have to fight for them to proactively biopsy spots cause one of my tiny spots was growing and it was recently new. It was positive.”

“It's my mom's journey first, but our family shares it with her. I've learned that she is tough, more so that I already knew. And I thank God for giving her that strength, and for the knowledge He provides to all her doctors and researchers of melanoma therapies.”

Me again...melanoma is hideous, no doubt about it. It is from the pits of Hell. But we are cradled in the hands of God and God teaches us, not only in the rainbow times of life, but also in the storms...the hurricanes, tsunamis, and tornadoes of life. Learn from us.

charis

Goodbye MelaBlack Road

So I posted this graphic on Melanoma Prayer Center a couple of days ago:

And Rich McDonald, the proprietor of Hotel Melanoma commented, "You ought to rewrite the song lyrics" and had a winky face. Well, that winky face was all it took, especially coming from him, since rewriting songs is what he's known for in MelaWorld.

So with my humblest apologies to Elton John, here ya go...

Goodbye MelaBlack Road

When are you gonna tone down
When are you going to ban
I shouldn’t have tanned on the bed
I should have listened to my old man

You know you can't hound me forever
I didn't sign up for you
I'm not a present for the beast to open
This homey’s too ‘live to sing the blues

chorus:

So goodbye melablack road
Where the melabeast creates strife
You can't keep me in your deathgrip
I'm going back to my life

Back to the nat’ral pale skin on my bod
Toting my fave sunscreen load
Oh I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the melablack road

What do you think black'll do then
I bet that'll change all mel’s plans
We'll make mel back off with some Yervoy and Gamma
And catch black c with constant scans

Don’t want a cancer replacement
There's too many cancers around
Killers that ain't got mercy
Prowling for others like I was: tanned brown

(repeat chorus)

Melanoma Prayer Center Turns Three!

This IS the day that the LORD has made! I WILL rejoice and be glad in it!

It is also a day I never thought, three years ago, that I'd see. Oh, I thought I'd be here. I just never expected Melanoma Prayer Center on Facebook to still be around. I never thought people would find it and it keep growing and evolving.

I never thought that I would grow and evolve so much. Maybe that's it. I'm the one who has grown and evolved. Every year at this time, I have blogged about MPC's birthday and you can find those here: http://letsgivethanks.blogspot.com/2012/03/year-in-life-of-melanoma-prayer-center.html
and here: http://letsgivethanks.blogspot.com/2013/03/melanoma-prayer-center-turns-two.html

What I wrote in those are still true. This year I find myself pondering how much I really freaking hate melanoma and how much I wish there was absolutely no need for MPC and other sites dedicated to melanoma and other cancers. I hate the carnage and the death. The pain and the agony. The heartbreak and the never-knowing. I hate that far too many people are not listening to us and are courting their own date with the Beast. Hate to say it folks, but he's a keeper. Once you get him in your life, you just cannot get rid of him. Even if he seems to stop hanging around, he leaves little mementos so you never forget that he can pop back by at any time.

As much as I have thoroughly grown to hate and despise this disease...and that's an unmeasurable amount of hate...I have also grown that much, and more, in love and admiration for my melahomies.

If you do not walk melanoma road with us, you won't understand. You can't. What I have witnessed in these past three years is so far beyond astounding, heartwarming, uplifting, life-changing, God-transforming, I cannot begin to describe it.

NO language on earth has the right words. And that's OK. God can take what words I can come up with and convey a small portion of what I would love to say if I could.

And I, me, I get to be part of witnessing Christ in action time and time again. I get to see God at work in this world and in the lives of those who fight melanoma, those who love those who fight, and those who say "good bye" to the fight and to the fighter. Testimonies to love in action. The love of parent-child, spouses, siblings, other familial relationships, friends. People rising to the occasion...SOARING above the occasion...leaving the occasion behind in the dirt. And these are people who do things with tears in their eyes, hurt in their hearts, but damned...they are not about to let melanoma hold them down or back. They choose LIFE! They opt for LOVE and for GOOD every time. Those who are people of faith wear their FAITH on their sleeves and share it with all who will listen. They are all ages, all stages, both genders, a rainbow of skin tones and they all share a common determination to bring melanoma DOWN!

Hear me and hear me loud and good. Melanoma is coming down.

There is no other option.

We're gonna fight so you don't have to.

We're gonna kill the beast so that it doesn't kill more of us and it doesn't kill you.

We're gonna say the prayers and hold onto faith because that's who we are.

We've seen what God does through prayers and through us. We've SEEN it.

We LIVE it.

We TESTIFY to it over and over and over again.

God stands with us. He works on our behalf. He's opening doors we stand in awe of opening.

Time and time again.

And we, me, the melanoma community. We get to be a part of it.

A part not of our choosing to be sure.

But it's where we are. This is our life but it's not all of who we are. Not by a long shot.

We're your husbands and wives, your sons and daughters, your mamas and daddies, your brothers and sisters, your nieces and nephews, your grandsons and granddaughters, your neighbors and friends.

We work, go to school, make bracelets and erect billboards, we get tattoos and write songs, we blog, speak, skydive, raise families, love passionately, and live fully. We walk the walks and raise money for research, we raise awareness and we educate. We fight the fights that demand to be fought and we pick our battles with the future in mind. And the present. And we don't forget the past.

We are you and we don't want YOU becoming one of us.

So, as MPC turns three, here's to three more. I'll be here as long as I have breath and as long as I have melahomies. That's just the way it is.

charis!