Sarcoma Awareness Week

I am back from my trip "out of here" and have been in mourning for two days. During my 10 days away, I spent lazy days on the beach reading appropriate beach trash fare, spent evenings reading, walking, or sitting by a fire, dined at local "supper clubs", took a road trip to LaCrosse, Wis, road a paddle boat on the Mississippi River, explored Southern MN, explored a cave, learned about the Amish, drove Scenic Byway 16 through Bluff country, went out for ice cream with the kids, and ignored most media except music. Now I'm back and reality has been difficult to take. This week is Sarcoma Awareness Week. Since diagnosis a little over 3 years ago, I've had many opportunities to talk about Sarcoma with others. As a woman, I've been educated, sometimes OVERLY educated about breast cancer, about Ovarian cancer, about Cervical cancer. Like any good woman, I went to my exams, had my smears and considered myself healthy. Who knew a little tiny bump on my thigh could be cancer? When I noticed it, it frankly didn't occur to me that this tiny dime sized bump could be anything serious and in my many trips to the Dr., I never pointed it out. If I, a fairly educated person, could overlook this, it occurred to me that others could too. I wear my Sarcoma Foundation of America awareness band. I wear the yellow awareness pin with a sunflower from the Sarcoma Alliance and to anyone who asks, I tell them about this disease and the challenges that the patients and caregivers have above the norms that come with the cancer experience including the lack of treatment options, the lack of knowledgeable Dr.'s. the reliance on experimental drugs and clinical trials, and the few centers equipped to handle this disease. I can't do any great big things but all the little things that we all do make a huge difference. My little battle plan is:
1) Keep my Facebook status Sarcoma related for the week. I have 75 friends. That is 75 people somewhat newly aware.
2) Write an email to all my friends about Sarcoma and encourage them to pass it on to others. It seemed to work with Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Why not Sarcoma?
3) Make a small donation in honor and memory of all our Sarcoma friends who have lost their lives this year, to a Sarcoma related charity such as the Jennifer Hunter Yates Foundation, The Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative, or the Sarcoma Foundation of America.
4) Keep talking, keep writing, keep posting the journey. Others may find me. Others may not feel so alone as they battle.

My hopes are that all these little things we do will add up to a cure so we don't lose more of our children, our family or our friends. Fight the good fight everyone!