How You Live

In this impending election, there’s only a couple of issues that I really care about.  Healthcare is first and foremost.  Most of us would probably agree that, although we have access to amazing doctors and medical facilities in the United States, there are also massive failures in our current system.  Can the next president dramatically change the way insurance companies operate?  Doubtful.  Can he promise to make healthcare affordable and attainable for every individual?  No…Not immediately, anyway.  Can he make cancer a national priority?  YES.  And he must.  That’s what Vote Yellow is all about.  Regardless of party affiliation, let’s focus our attention on an issue that affects millions of Americans every year.  We are losing 1500 moms, dads, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers and friends every single day to cancer.  That’s 560,000 every single year.  Just think about 9/11 happening every other day.  That’s terror at its worst. 

See what both candidates have to say about their inentions to make cancer a national priority:

Vote Yellow (vōt • yel-ō)
1. n. An expression of choice made by 12 million cancer survivors and their loved ones. 2. v. To declare one’s opinion that our leaders should make cancer a national priority. 3. n. A philosophy believing it unacceptable to lose 560,000 Americans to cancer each year. 4. n. LIVESTRONGâ„¢

This is a video-scrapbook, if you will, of the How You Live concert with Cindy Morgan in August.  Andrew put this together and it’s such a sweet collection of great moments and music throughout the day.  I must say…I have the best friends a girl could ask for. 

When I began to learn about young adult cancer issues, one of the first things I found was that only 50% of YAs (18 to 39) diagnosed with cancer survive their illnesses.  I was even more shocked to learn that since the early 1970s, there have been tremendous improvements in the survival of children and even older adults….but not so with our age group.  

In 1971, President Nixon declared a war on cancer by signing the National Cancer Act and increasing funding for the National Cancer Institute by 100 million dollars.  Since then, the United States has led the way in cancer research, early detection, better quality of life for those fighting cancer, increasing clinical trials, and many other major strides.  But somewhere along the way, our generation has been overlooked and young people are dying every day from a disease, that IF DETECTED EARLIER, could have been cured. 

Consider this:

This Medical News Today article reveals that countries with universal health care have better survival rates in teens and young adults.  And I quote: Countries that have national health services easily accessible to people of all ages are more likely to have better survival rates for their teenagers and young adults (TYAs) with cancer, than are countries where individuals have to pay for their own medical insurance.  

In this article, the US is compared to Austrailia, whose citizens are all covered by the national health care program.  Between the years of 1982 and 1998, there was a 17% improvement in the survival of cancer patients 18-35.  Another article revealed that nearly three-fourths of TYAs in the UK are now surviving their diseases.  This is an 11% increase over two decades.  Yet another country with universal healthcare. 

And the United States?  No improvement.  And in some cancers, we’ve actually seen a decline in survival.  To read the juicy details from the National Cancer Institute, click here.

Hmmmm….

What are your thoughts on the health care policies of the US?  For or against Universal Health Care?

Jonny Immerman

I love to share the resources that I’ve found with other young adults in their cancer fight.  One of my favorites is Immerman Angels.  This Chicago-based organization was founded by Jonny Immerman, testicular cancer survivor.  He was diagnosed at the age of 26 and recognized immediately the lack of peer support.  Like all of us, he never met anyone his age with his diagnosis while he was in the fight.  The vision of the orgnization is very simple: Imerman Angels introduces each cancer fighter to one survivor who is the same age, same gender, and someone who has already beaten that particular type of cancer. A cancer survivor would be an angel – walking, talking, living proof to inspire the fighter that he/she can beat cancer.

When I was first diagnosed I found IA and spoke with Jonny on the phone.  If you can find any excuse at all to call, do it.  Cancer or not!  He’s the most inspiring and encouraging person I’ve ever known.  In just a brief phone conversation, he assured me that he knew another young woman in her early twenties who had battled non-hodgkins lymphoma and beat it.  Her name was Cassandra and she was an amazing encouragment to me.

Now on the other side, I’ve had the tremendous honor of being an “angel” to other young fighters.  I love it. 

If you are looking for 1-on-1 support during your illness, or if you’re now a survivor and want to give back, CALL JONNY.  They now have a network of over 1200 survivors representing just about every type of cancer.  Do it!

I’m a huge fan of the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  They have a series of short videos that highlight young adult cancer issues, and I’ll be posting them periodically on the blog.

This video has great info on how to deal with your insurance company, hospital accounting, etc.  The financial pressure that cancer causes can be overwhelming at any age…especially for the under-prepared young person. 

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