I am angry
Tuesday morning. On the heels of the news that my work friend, Leonor, had finally lost her 18 month battle with colorectal cancer, I find out from my mother that her childhood friend, Janice, is in the hospital with what might be pancreatic cancer. I know this sounds incredibly naive and inane, but I am so fed up with cancer! It tried to take my mother (colon cancer) in February of 2001, my work friends Mark (brain tumor), Leonor (colorectal cancer), and Sharon (breast cancer) in April, March, and April (respectively) of 2001, my eDiets friend Brenda (breast, then liver cancer) in the summer of 2001, and cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States every year (right behind heart disease). I want to scream. I want to hit something, really hard. You know what the worst part is? It's just not a "sexy" disease, so it doesn't have celebrity fundraisers or poster children. Do you know that when my mother was first diagnosed with her cancer, I was too embarassed to say that she had colon cancer? Well, I'm not embarassed anymore.
A great resource for ways to prevent cancer (or, at the very least, decrease your risk) is this page. I especially like that nearly every type of cancer can be prevented by eating a healthy diet (no red meat, whole grains, lots of fruits and veggies, no alcohol), maintaining a healthy weight, and doing 45 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity at least five days a week. Huh...and that's what I'm already trying to do for my diabetes. Amazing, huh?
Oh, yeah, and I got approval today from my Team Diabetes coordinator to switch from LA to the Rock n Roll Marathon, so I'm very happy.
Weeks to RnR Marathon: 26 (that's six whole months)!
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