Two Follow-Ups

First of all, good luck to my brother as he rides in the Pan Mass Challenge this weekend, raising money for cancer research by riding his bike at ungodly speeds for insane distances.

If you donated to the cause, I thank you. And so do other cancer patients, and the good folks at Dana Farber.


Ride on, Mike.


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Soon after I posted my last entry, in which I included a throwaway comment about people under 40 having cancer, there appeared on Newsweek's website an article called "A Malignant Melanoma Walks into a Bar...." It's about how young people in their 20's and 30's are using humor to cope with cancer. They have blogs with names like "Cancer Is Hilarious," and "My Blood Hates Me" amd "What's Up You Butt?" Plus some others that I can't mention in a family blog. As the article says, "Virtually all of them are written by cancer patients younger than 40. The blogs are just one way younger patients are addressing the absurdity of life with cancer with humor, rather than pink-ribboned, glassy-eyed earnestness."

Again, I say, where's the love for the barely-over-40 crowd? Haven't I been advocating the use of humor for a year and a half now?

Seriously, though, it' a nice article. I'll warn you -- it's an honest one, with some adult subject matter and some very open and clear language. But that makes a lot of sense, since it's written by a young cancer patient: support for older folks is about turning inward, being positive and spiritual. Younger people are no less positive and spiritual, but they're much more "outward," in my experience: they share every little detail of their lives on Facebook. It makes sense for them to write blogs and not keep it all inside. They don't shrink away from cancer. I've said that before, too -- shrinking away is an old way of thinking. Young people don't whisper the word "cancer" or call it "The C Word."

So maybe my attitude puts me in the "I'm Too Young For This!" crowd. I missed the official age cutoff by only 6 months and week.