CANCER AND THE LONG GAME

Nearly every person in the World can claim to be in a minority.

Being in the minority usually means you are subjected to stereotypes, racism or some form of unjustified hate.

But being in the minority is not necessarily a bad thing, as Bezos, Musk and a few others might tell you.

Dig deep enough into your life and you will find you're a card carrying member of some minority club.

I am sadly a member of a growing minority of people with cancer.

However the fact that the group is growing in size can be attributed to both good and bad things.

For one, the longer we live the chances we will contract some form of cancer grows as there are more carcinogens in the air we breathe and the food we eat than in the past.

And science has been able to detect the onset of a cancer much earlier in it's lifecycle than ever before.

Add to those facts that we also have far better treatments than we did a while ago and, though many of them do not completely cure the disease, they do prolong a patient's life.

As of now roughly 10% of Americans are in this undesirable minority.

One thing that sets members of this particular minority apart is we are not subjected to prejudice and personal attacks. At least not for our disease.

Quite the opposite is true. When someone is diagnosed with cancer they receive sympathy and good wishes, along with the unspoken, 'There but for the grace...'

When 'minorities' view an open house they may sense the urgency of the neighborhood to discourage them from buying.

But cancer has no such timeframe. It plays the long game.

Like the cockroach that hides from or adapts to a new pesticide, cancer can sneak around the body and evade targeted treatments.

It may even lay dormant for years before striking again.

My unwanted guest first arrived late 2000 and was treated the following year.

Nearly 20 years later signs of it's return were noticed in routine bloodwork and the cycle began once again.

According to statistics, in 2020 1.8 million cancer cases were discovered and 600+ thousand others will pass away.

Again, statistically, I happen to be in a majority as I have long since passed the 5 year survival benchmark, at least concerning the first occurrence.

But my clock is now ticking anew and I am not a candidate for the 2000 'successful' treatment.

So I will now do what the doctors tell me and fight like hell to join another minority, people who have survived cancer's long game, twice!