10/2/23

Revisting Thoughts on Breast Cancer Awareness Month

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month last year, I wrote an article and created a cartoon for Cure Today. The response to it really surprised me. https://www.curetoday.com/view/thoughts-on-breast-cancer-awareness-month-the-disease-is-no-stroll-through-the-park- Titled, “Thoughts on Breast Cancer Awareness Month: the Disease Is No ‘Stroll Through the Park,” it was not a put-down of the cancer survivors, thrivers, previvors, and caregivers who chose to participate in these walks. Rather, it was about the truly awful things and horrific facts about breast cancer you rarely see or hear about at these events. It was the view of Breast Cancer Awareness Month events from my perspective as an exhausted, frightened, and heartbroken caregiver sitting in a cancer treatment center with the love of my life and facing the cruel reality of her stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis. The story is linked above. The Facebook response is here: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=543070477825349&set=a.404816141650784During Breast Cancer Awareness Month last year, I wrote an article and created a cartoon for Cure Today. The response to it really surprised me.

Titled, “Thoughts on Breast Cancer Awareness Month: the Disease Is No ‘Stroll Through the Park,” it was not a put-down of the cancer survivors, thrivers, previvors, and caregivers who chose to participate in these walks. Rather, it was about the truly awful things and horrific facts about breast cancer you rarely see or hear about at these events. It was the view of Breast Cancer Awareness Month events from my perspective as an exhausted, frightened, and heartbroken caregiver sitting in a cancer treatment center with the love of my life and facing the cruel reality of her stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis.

The story is here: https://www.curetoday.com/view/thoughts-on-breast-cancer-awareness-month-the-disease-is-no-stroll-through-the-park-

 
Cure Today's Facebook post is here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=543070477825349&set=a.404816141650784

 


#BreastCancer #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth #Stage4 #MBC #HereditaryCancer #BRCA2 #PinkRibbon #BreastCancerWalks #MetastaticBreastCancer #chemotherapy

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9/27/23

National Previvor Day

 Today is National Previvor Day. My daughter is a previvor. My late wife should have been one.
 
For more information about hereditary cancer awareness and prevention, I have posted several of my infographics at: www.markix.net/hereditary


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9/22/23

We Need to Change the Way We Talk About Hereditary Cancer

It's National Hereditary Cancer Week. It's time to speak up.

I will be brutally honest; my wife died an unbearably horrible death caused by a preventable cancer. Her untimely death happened because too many people, including health care professionals, were incapable of having a serious, mature conversation about a hereditary cancer risk with a family already devastated by several different cancers.

And my late wife is not the only person this has happened to. As an advocate, I have encountered many others whose lives have been devastated by a hereditary cancer diagnosis that could have been prevented.

Things need to change. Nobody should die of a preventable cancer. Nobody!

  Hereditary cancer is commonly stated as only 5% to 10% of all cancers. But that might not be accurate. Especially given that a Mayo Clinic genetic testing study done on nearly 3,000 cancer patients of all ages with all types of solid tumors found “1-in-8 patients had an inherited cancer-related genetic mutation.” Something isn’t adding up. But regardless of whatever numbers are quoted, there are cancers that are preventable. Even if you use the 5% to 10% statistic, that means 100,000 to 200,000 of the new cancer cases diagnosed each year could possibly be prevented. The knowledge and the tools are available to prevent many hereditary cancers. And one of the best tools for preventing hereditary cancer is cascade genetic testing. It should be the standard of care whenever there is any family history of cancer. It’s time to start reframing the conversation about hereditary cancer. Nobody should die of a preventable cancer. Nobody! 

For more information about hereditary cancer go to : www.markix.net/hereditary

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9/19/23

The Language of Cancer and Drawing a Picture

"Since every cancer is different, the terms used to describe it and the available treatments almost requires a professional interpreter to help make sense of it all. And hereditary cancer also has its own distinct terminology, which adds even more to the already extensive cancer lexicon."

This cartoon was created to go along with my latest article for Cure Today about the unique language of cancer and having to learn it on-the-fly as a caregiver.

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9/6/23

Hereditary Cancer Week / Previvor Day 2023

Since hereditary cancer encompasses so many different cancers, there really isn’t a ribbon or universal symbol for it. So I created my own and made this poster for Hereditary Cancer Week / Previvor Day 2023.
Since hereditary cancer encompasses so many different cancers, there really isn’t a ribbon or universal symbol for it. So I created my own and made this poster for Hereditary Cancer Week / Previvor Day 2023.

For more information and links to hereditary cancer organizations and resources, go to www.MARKiX.net/hereditary. And, if anyone is interested, the poster PDF can be downloaded there as well.

#LynchSyndrome #GeneticTesting #previvor #HereditaryCancerSyndromes #HereditaryCancer #GeneticCounseling
#BRCA2 #BRCA1 #CHEK2 #ATM #PALB2 #PTEN #MLH1 #MSH2 #MSH6 #TP53 #KnowledgeIsPower #1FORCECommunity #FacingOurRisk #CancerAdvocate #CancerPrevention #CancerCaregiving #HBOC

 #HereditaryCancer #HereditaryCancerWeek #HBOC

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9/1/23

Cancer Anger and Reading Between the Lines

"I was cleaning up old bookmarks on my web browser last week and I came across a link to an article about research linking suppressed anger to certain cancers, including breast cancer."


Here's the link to the rest of the story:
https://www.curetoday.com/view/cancer-anger-and-reading-between-the-lines

(You should have seen the parts of this article I wrote about anger and cancer for Cure Today that I edited out.)


#cancer #HereditaryCancer #anger #BRCA2 #previvor #GeneticMutations #HIPAA

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8/29/23

Looking at the Odds of Hereditary Cancer

 I thought I’d create a visual to help put the statistics in perspective.

You can download a PDF of this graphic at www.MARKiX.net/genes

 

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