Lymphoma Awareness Month

 I'm a couple of days late, but September 15 was World Lymphoma Awareness Day.

(And September is Lymphoma Awareness Month, so I'm not late there. I think I'm still OK.)

Awareness day is sponsored by the Lymphoma Coalition, a group of 83 lymphoma-related organizations from 52 countries. The Coalition does a lot of work in gathering and sharing information about all kinds of lymphoma, and put out a report every year about Lymphoma-related trends. 

The theme of Awareness Day this year is "A World of Thanks," with the idea that we thanks those who help patients. Those include medical professionals, of course, like doctors and nurses, but also caregivers, friends, and lots of others who help in small ways.

I think I've mentioned this before, but not in a while: over the 12+ years since my diagnosis, I have discovered that there were people that I knew, but that I didn't know had impacted my life as a Follicular Lymphoma patient.

I remember dropping my kids off at school one morning, and chatting with the mom of a girl who was in the school band with my son. The mom was a doctor, and knew I had been diagnosed with cancer, but didn't know the details. I told her it was FL, and it turned out her husband was the head of the lab examined biopsies at the local hospital. "He's probably the one who diagnosed your cancer!" she said, with the kind of excitement that doctors have when they talk about doctor-y stuff. Didn't know that one.

A few years later, I was talking to an acquaintance about our health issues. We had volunteered to do some painting work at the kids' school one night, and a group of us were sharing a beer in the parking lot afterwards. I was giving some details about my treatment, and mentioned Rituxan. He got all excited. Turned out he worked in a facility that manufactured cancer treatments of all kinds. "Rituxan? I make that stuff up at work!" So someone I knew might have actually made my cancer treatment.

Soon after that, I was in the waiting room of the oncologist's office when my wife and I saw another school parent. She was excited to see us. It turned out she worked in the office, doing insurance claims, so we never saw her. But she just happened to come out into the waiting room that day. She probably helped make sure my treatment got paid for.

It's interesting that all three of them were "excited" when they found out about the connection. Not that they were all that thrilled to hear that I had cancer. But more that they had found out that they, in some small way, had helped me.

There are many, many people who help us (I hope) that we know about. Doctors and nurses and caregivers and friends. But there are so many other people that we don't even think about that play a role in our care. 

I'm not saying that we should feel guilty about not appreciating them. But it is kind of amazing to think that so many of us depend on so many others. And we, in turn, probably hep others in the things we do every day, without realizing it. 

On a day (or in a month) that emphasizes the worldwide scope of Lymphoma, it's important (for me anyway) to think about how connected we are. As different as we are, we have profound effects on one another's lives.

It feels like lots of folks could use a reminder about that these days.

Have a good rest of the month. Stay healthy and safe, and spread some awareness.