Online support for colon cancer patients and young survivors

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Colon cancer. Rectal cancer. Anal cancer.
They are the cancers with a high 'ick' factor, the cancers that embarass people, the cancers no one wants to talk about.
The screening guidelines for colorectal cancers (CRC) are based on the historical data that most people diagnosed with these cancers are over the age of 50. Due to this focus on an older patient population, it can be very difficult for patients under 50 to receive proactive, routine colonoscopies--even when they have a direct first-line (mom, dad, sibling) with a CRC diagnosis.

I was 48 years old when I was diagnosed with metastatic rectal cancer. The cancer had already spread to my liver, compromising as much as 85% of its function. I'd had at least five fecal occult blood tests (FOBTs) as part of health maintenance physicals; all were normal. I didn't know I had any kind of family history. And I didn't have any red-flag symptoms. My only symptom--which everyone took seriously--was sudden weight loss and wildly high liver enzymes which both were recorded within 8 weeks of my diagnosis. Had I waited until 50 for a screening colonoscopy, I'd be dead.

Because CRC education focuses on people 50 and over, there are almost no places where CRC survivors under 50 can go for support. In face-to-face support groups, I am often the youngest patient in the room, and almost always the only metastatic recurrent rectal cancer survivor.

But there is a place online which was started by and focuses on providing information and support for CRC survivors who are UNDER 50. The Colon Club and its online support forum Colon Talk work to provide a place of community for young CRC survivors to learn about their diagnosis, exchange treatment infomration, discuss side effects and share their cancer journeys. Anonymous 'guests' can participate in the discussion if they are concerned about the privacy of revealing that that are CRC patients. And the forum provides a healthy dose of the latest news in cutting edge treatments and improvements to the current standards.

If you are a CRC survivor of any age, finding a community to share your cancer journey which can also give you accurate CRC-specific treatment and side-effect information is very difficult. Finding a community which actively discusses survivorship issues unique to CRC patients diagnosed under the age of 50 is nearly impossible--unless you find yourself in The Colon Club.

This blog post is part of Zemanta's "Blogging For a Cause" campaign to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes that bloggers care about.

Yoga for Recovery: Check Out YogaBear

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Last summer, while recovering from my third major abdominal surgery in four years, I re-discovered yoga via FitTV's Namaste Yoga, a multi-skill-level yoga practice created by Canadian Kate Potter.

I was too weak from the combination of surgical recovery and chemo to do much more than the warm-up/cool-down and meditation portions of each show. At first, I felt like I was in the CT scanner (breathe in--hold your breath--breathe out!) Concentrating on breathing while doing active poses was tough at first, but each day's small improvements intrigued me enough that I quickly sought out the entire Namaste series on DVD and added them to my collection. I'm still very much a yoga beginner, but I'm now able to do a physical yoga practice every day, and although my practices have to be short, some days I manage as long as 15 minutes of active poses. My daily yoga practice is centering, calming and energizing at the same time. It is a way to get my active life back, and get stronger from the inside out.

Today on Twitter, I found out about YogaBear, a not-for-profit corporation which links yoga teachers and yoga studios across the US with cancer survivors. Via Yoga Bear's program, this network of teachers offers cancer survivors free yoga classes. If you're a yoga studio, yoga teacher or cancer survivor, visit YogaBear to make the connection, find and renew your inner energy!

You can join several fundraisers to support YogaBear's efforts:
June 7 2009, National Cancer Survivor Day: catch YogaBear's free yoga classes in NYC at Rock & Run on the River (a celebration of cancer survivorship sponsored by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center). Free classes also available in LA and San Francisco
June 27: Yogapalooza will offer free public yoga classes in Atlanta GA, Austin TX, Cleveland OH, San Francisco CA and Washington DC.

Bloggers, until the end of the day on June 6, 2009, you can blog for a cause and spread the word about the benefits of yoga in improving recovery for cancer survivors. If you blog about your experience with yoga, and link back to YogaBear following these instructions, YogaBear.org could win $6K to support its efforts to provide yoga classes to cancer survivors!

This blog post is part of Zemanta's "Blogging For a Cause" campaign to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes that bloggers care about.

Breathe in. Hold your breath. Breathe out. I've had four CT scans since last summer, and now, when I hear those words, I think yoga practice--not scan anxiety! I decided to blog for a cause about Yoga Bear so that other cancer survivors can learn that there's more to the power of breathing than just getting the best possible CT scan picture. Namaste.