need your help and input please

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nettie4
nettie4 Member Posts: 145
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
hello all. since colon cancer awareness month is in march i am going to give my local high school seniors an education in colon cancer. the reason for this is one to many young people getting it and 2 i graduated from there and three that is when the polyp started to turn into cancer with me. what i need from you all if you would is anyone under the age of 40 to post with this disease and any ideas you can think of to help educate these youngsters. i am 36 at this time and Lord willing i will still be here in march. my doc sd he would help me. i am doing pretty well but the treatments are so hard on me. i have on this friday. in the meantime thank you for your input this is soooo important. i must go and continue to wipe my tears after reading about scott. you all take care.

nettie

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  • neeliec
    neeliec Member Posts: 106
    #2
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    nettie,
    get your local chapter of the American Cancer Society involved. they have brochures and even speakers that can come to the school. Do you teach? If so, what subject? If not.. talk to the biology teacher. I teach biology and have my students address the topic of cancer 2x in the year-- when we study mitosis, and when we study genetics. It can also be addressed when dealing with human biology. Your idea is surely a good one! good luck!
  • shmurciakova
    shmurciakova Member Posts: 906 Member
    #3
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    Nettie, you can feel free to tell them my story. I can send you some pics too if you want. Maybe the CSN guy, with our individual permission, would let you use our personal web pages! I don't know if you can keep us all straight, but I am 35 years old. I was diagnosed when I was 31 and I have since had a liver resection and a thoracotomy (last October!). I know that I must have had the polyp since at least the age of 26 because that is when I started having intermittant bleeding. I just thought that I had hemmerhoids (sp?). Even my brother who is a doctor said that! I had the poop on the slide test done a couple of times at Planned Parenthood, but of course I was never bleeding on those days. It always seemed to happen when I was nervous and was never a huge amount or anything. At any rate, the docs said I probably had the polyp for 10 years before I was diagnosed, which would have put me at 21 years old!
    What I would LOVE to see is for a nutritionist to speak to your high school students about the importance of eating properly and loading up on foods that help prevent cancer, rather than the crud most teenagers eat (i.e. Burger King, Taco Bell, etc.). I sure wish I would have known then what I know now and had been taking calcium all those years! I don't know for sure that it would have made a difference and I don't know if I would have listened anyway (hard headed teenager), but if you can even get through to one student, it is a success!
    I know they will all giggle at the idea of colon cancer (gross right?), well, people talk freely now about breast cancer, and not too long ago they giggled about that too!
    You are awesome! Good job!
    -Susan.
  • chynabear
    chynabear Member Posts: 481 Member
    #4
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    shmurciakova said:

    Nettie, you can feel free to tell them my story. I can send you some pics too if you want. Maybe the CSN guy, with our individual permission, would let you use our personal web pages! I don't know if you can keep us all straight, but I am 35 years old. I was diagnosed when I was 31 and I have since had a liver resection and a thoracotomy (last October!). I know that I must have had the polyp since at least the age of 26 because that is when I started having intermittant bleeding. I just thought that I had hemmerhoids (sp?). Even my brother who is a doctor said that! I had the poop on the slide test done a couple of times at Planned Parenthood, but of course I was never bleeding on those days. It always seemed to happen when I was nervous and was never a huge amount or anything. At any rate, the docs said I probably had the polyp for 10 years before I was diagnosed, which would have put me at 21 years old!
    What I would LOVE to see is for a nutritionist to speak to your high school students about the importance of eating properly and loading up on foods that help prevent cancer, rather than the crud most teenagers eat (i.e. Burger King, Taco Bell, etc.). I sure wish I would have known then what I know now and had been taking calcium all those years! I don't know for sure that it would have made a difference and I don't know if I would have listened anyway (hard headed teenager), but if you can even get through to one student, it is a success!
    I know they will all giggle at the idea of colon cancer (gross right?), well, people talk freely now about breast cancer, and not too long ago they giggled about that too!
    You are awesome! Good job!
    -Susan.

    Great idea. Since I was diagnosed a year ago I have been trying to find a way to spread knowledge as well. I would have been 16 or 17 when my polyp started. I was diagnosed at 27.

    Prevention would be a great discussion here too. The importance of nutrition, healthy lifestyle (i.e. no smoking, limited drinking, low stress, etc), and excercise. Maybe they won't listen. Maybe they will. If you get through to one person than it was worth the effort.

    Good luck and let me know if you want more of a history from me.

    Patricia
  • Unknown
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  • scouty
    scouty Member Posts: 1,965 Member
    #6
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    Neetie honey,

    What an awesome idea!!!! I am so proud of you for thinking of it. And you are so good to do it. I too am too "old" (heh heh) for your request, but I personally think we need to start changing the mindset of the world. Yes, a cure for all cancers would be lovely, but I think preventing it in the first place is much easier and cheaper to do. They would never let me speak to a high school because the things I would say would annilate the food (crap) they feed those unsuspecting kids in school every day.

    That's my 2 cents, prevention and cancer is preventable in the the majority of the cases!!!!!!! It means our lives and eating habits will have to change and most are not willing to do that. The magic pill approach is much easier.

    Good luck and I loved teaching high school so I know you will do well and I also know you will be there to do it!!!!!!!!

    You keep going girlfriend. Again, I am so proud of you!!!!!

    Lisa P.
  • taraHK
    taraHK Member Posts: 1,952 Member
    #7
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    Hi Nettie,
    I'm older than 40 (diagnosed at 43). But if I had a message to convey to high school kids it would be to listen to your own body and respect what it is telling you. And if you don't feel that something is "right", to act on it. I think several of us had symptoms or signs that something was not right. Whether it is colorectal cancer or something else, teenagers (and adults) need to learn to take such things seriously and to act....
    Good luck with this wonderful project.
    Tara
  • chynabear
    chynabear Member Posts: 481 Member
    #8
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    taraHK said:

    Hi Nettie,
    I'm older than 40 (diagnosed at 43). But if I had a message to convey to high school kids it would be to listen to your own body and respect what it is telling you. And if you don't feel that something is "right", to act on it. I think several of us had symptoms or signs that something was not right. Whether it is colorectal cancer or something else, teenagers (and adults) need to learn to take such things seriously and to act....
    Good luck with this wonderful project.
    Tara

    Tara, you have an excellent point with that. I can support that theory in that even though I never had much as far as "symptoms" I always felt something wasn't right. In fact, I went to my family doc about 4 years ago and they wrote it off to hemorhoids. I can still remember they used to play awareness commercials about polyps and I would always get a funny feeling inside. I always wrote it off because I felt great and never had any symptoms and I'm just not the type to go running to the doctor (although I am much more now). Now, I wish I would have just followed my gut and insisted on getting a check. I may have already developed cancer by that time but it would have been in the early stages and more treatable. Shoulda/Coulda/Woulda. Just a good point to add.

    Patricia
  • Kanort
    Kanort Member Posts: 1,272 Member
    #9
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    Hi Nettie,

    What a super idea, Nettie and how wonderful to share your experience where it could make a difference in someone's future. Listening to one's body and being one's own health advocate is the best advice I think anyone of any age can receive.

    I am so sorry that you are struggling with the side effects of your treatment. You are a special person.

    With love,

    Kay

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