World Lymphoma Awareness Day: September 15

I often post something on World Lymphoma Awareness Day, which is always September 15.  I thought this year I'd get an early start. This will give you a little extra time to decide what you're going to do to raise awareness. (You're welcome.)


I wrote an article for Lymphoma News Today about awareness that came out today. I'd been thinking about my own strange relationship with "Lymphoma Awareness." I mean, I'm pretty aware of lymphoma. I read and write about it every day. Kind of hard not to be aware, right?

Lymphoma Awareness days and months are really for people without lymphoma. It's our chance to help them understand how common lymphoma is, and maybe inspire them to become more active in advocating for more money for cancer research. Or maybe in helping to get them to "know their nodes" and look for signs of lymphoma in their own bodies. But it's also a chance to help them really understand what life can be life for a lymphoma patient or survivor. That's what I'm trying to get across in the LNT article.

And when I say that I'm giving you a few days to decide what you're going to do to raise awareness, I'm not kidding. People won't know unless you tell them. If you're on Facebook, or Twitter, or Instagram, or Snapchat, or some other social media platform, that's a great place to spread some awareness. Change your profile picture to something lymphoma-related. Find an article that speaks to you and post it. Challenge people to take the "Know Your Nodes" quiz. Make them aware.

It doesn't have to be something big. In fact, the theme for World Lymphoma Day this year is "Small Things Build Confidence." The theme is a good reminder that if everyone does something small, together, it adds up to something big. A single Lymphoma Awareness profile picture on Facebook is good. A whole bunch of them is even better.

But the Lymphoma Awareness Day theme is aimed at patients, too. Research shows that when lymphoma patients stay informed, they grow more confident. And that's good -- our emotional and mental health should mean as much as our physical health when we have Follicular Lymphoma. If you're not up for sharing something about lymphoma with the rest of the world, that's OK. But make a pledge to yourself to become more aware. Learn something new about Follicular Lymphoma, even if you don't share it. If you're not up for doing some research, that's OK -- come back to this blog, go to a recent post, and click a link you haven't clicked before. Learning is good.

Whatever you do, I hope your September 15 is a good day for you. Treat yourself well. Take a nap. Have some ice cream or other favorite treat. Take a walk. Get and give a hug. Enjoy yourself.

And on the 16th, stay aware.