looking for young adult children of survivors for documentary

neetsmalik

Hi, both my mother and father suffer from cancer. My mother is a breast cancer survivor and my father is currrently struggling with multiple myeloma. I am only 25 years old and the challenge of dealing with sick parents has been quite tough. I think it is a unique and challengeing experience. An experience that people need to know more about. I am a graduate student at the Univeristy of Southern California in Broadcast Journalism. I am producing a short documentary for my theis on "young people coping with ailing parnets". I am looking for anyone from 18-30 in such a situation that might want to talk to me preferably somebody in california or arizona. it is a story that should be told.

jnrodg

What you're doing is really great. I'm not quite what you're looking for but let me know if I can help. I'm 21 and my father is a survivor of Hodgkin's. He was diagnosed when I was 16.

kimmipoo

Hi, I am a 19 year old female from Michigan. They treated my 42 year old mother for a "sinus infection" for 6 months before diagnosing her with Lymphoma Cancer. She passed away June 6th of 2002 and its still only been a few months. Everyday I go by wondering what things would have been like if they would have found it sooner. I dont go by a day without crying and wishing she were here. Is there any thing that I can do to help me cope? Plus, her and my father were married for almost 25 years (it would have been 25 on the day we buried her) and hes not dealing with it as well as I am and its killing me. There isnt a day he doesnt bring up what things are like without her and how he misses her. I mean, Im not trying to forget about her, but I need to move on and its really hard with my dad... Can someone please help me? Kimberly

snowbudie

hi
im 19 and my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when i was 13. im now 19 and she just came out of remission and is receiving chemotherapy. i dont know if this helps, but if it does, and you'd like to talk, please msg me. thanks! jennifer

vicmier

Hi there. And dont know if you would consider me a Young adult. I am 27 now. My mother was diagnosed with colon cancer back in 96. SHe went thru chemo and 3 yrs later it came back. She did not need chemo the second time but damm was that scary. In 97' I was diagnosed with colon cancer also. I had my surgery, went thru the chemo and I have not had problems since.
I am within the age group you are looking for and are willing to talk to you about it, if this is what you are looking for. I just now came to grips with what I am. A cancer survivor. All that time I had ignored it, but its time to face it now.
Thanks.

cally811

My mother was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in January. I am 21 years old and currently a Senior at Immaculata College in Pennsylvania. I can't be home that much and I don't think that my parents are telling me the whole story. They are afraid that I'll worry too much about them. My mother is currently undergoing chemotherapy and it seems to be working to some extent at this point. I have never had to go through anything as serious as this and it's hard to find someone to talk to. Everyone says "It'll be okay" but it's not okay to me.

amanders

I'm only 17 (18 in Oct.), but I'd just like to say that your documentary is a great idea. My dad has had kidney cancer for 2 years and is still doing chemo/biological. I'd like to see it when it comes out.

floridaguy

amanders said:

I'm only 17 (18 in Oct.), but I'd just like to say that your documentary is a great idea. My dad has had kidney cancer for 2 years and is still doing chemo/biological. I'd like to see it when it comes out.

I'm not very young, but even
I'm not very young, but even at age 46 with a 71 year old mother dealing with metastatic breast cancer, that has now compromised 50% of her liver, i know what you fine young folks are dealing with.

There's the fear from being faced with stark mortality of your beloved parent. That they may pass before their time. Before you're ready for them to go.

There's the guilt from all the times you've argued with them, all the outbursts and shouting matches. And now they're in a fight for their lives and you feel like a heel.

The attention paid, and rightly so, to your parent the patient, but none to you. And that no one realizes that you need help too. You are watching the slow weakening of your parent, knowing what the disease and treatment are doing to them, powerless to stop any of it. It's like being on a bus driving over a cliff and you are the only one seeing what's happening, and can't get to the steering wheel.

We are in a sad and exclusive club. One in which I would gladly give up my membership.

Florida guy

evokvf

I'm 23. Far from California
I'm 23. Far from California or Arizona, but my story is similar to yours. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004 and died 3 years later when I was 21. A year after my mom passed away my dad was diagnosed with colon cancer. I've been trying to work full time and finish grad school with a sick single parent and 7 and 12 year old siblings. A unique and challenging experience indeed.

mellyb10

From California, but now in Indiana
When my mom was diagnosed with rectal cancer in 2000, I was 20 years old. She underwent chemo, radiation, and surgery. In 2004, her cancer returned to her vulva. This time, they removed the vulva and reconstructed it. Both times I went out to California to take care of her. In 2005, I had triplet boys and she moved from California to Indiana to be closer to all of us. In January of this year, her cancer returned to the perinium area. Her doctors could not do radiation but tried a very aggresive form of chemo and after two rounds, knew it wasn't working. They then tried 3 rounds of a different type of chemo, which still did not stop the spread of her cancer.
My husband, kids, and I are currently living with her and taking care of her with the assistance of hospice. Everyone I know whose parent has died of cancer either had another parent to take care of them, or were much older. It is so easy to get wrapped up in the care of a parent that young caregivers, I think, loose the years that are suppose to be the best ones of our lives. We not only loose our parents, but also loose friends, making our support system a much smaller system and rather than burdening the friends that did bother to stick around, we hold it inside because we're so used to taking care of someone else that pretty soon we're taking care of everyone else and not ourselves.
Thank you for putting this together. If nothing else, I know that hearing and reading the other stories make me feel not so alone and like I'm trying to stop the earth from spinning so I have a few more years with my mom.