I'm not usually one to bombard people with my personal or political views, or to preach about things. I'm definitely a big supporter of juvenile type 1 diabetes research and mental health awareness, but I'm not really on social media going on and on about it (in fact, I don't even have any social media accounts). Now that I am personally affected by cancer, I am becoming a lot more aware of different organizations, supports, and resources for everyone who's impacted by it. All cancers are terrible. No one that has any cancer at any stage, is "lucky". What really irks me, is that Colorectal Cancer seems to be coming for the kids at an alarming pace. Now, all you "kids" out there don't be too scared (FYI, I call anyone younger than I am, a "kid"), I'm not talking about teenagers here, but it's scaring the shit out of me, how this disease is coming for us. I never thought in a million years, that this was something I had to even think about. You think " colonoscopies are for old people" and "I'll "maybe" start thinking about having a colonoscopy at 50 years old". Keep in mind, I have NO family history of this whatsoever..so, why would colon cancer ever cross my mind? There are three things at play here 1) you think you're too young to even think about this 2) even if you have "symptoms" or feel somethings' "off", you just ignore it (cause it's probably nothing), 3) by the time they find something, it's at more of an advanced stage...so fuck, you could have actually caught it sooner. I've recently been in touch with an organization called "Colorectal Cancer Canada (CCC)", to find support for others going through something similar. I was fortunate to connect with someone there that really "got me". Our stories are actually pretty similar (she is a three year survivor, diagnosed at age 38, like me), and I found such relief talking to her about this and having her actually understanding the hell that I'm going through. I really want you to take a look at their website (and read my blurb at the bottom of this page)
They are making a huge campaign to get screened for this "shitty" disease!! Screening is so important at any age. Trust me. I wish I would have gotten screened years ago, and it could have made all the difference. I don't want to be an alarmist, but this bitch is coming for us "young" people, and we can't let that happen. Oh! I also came up with this cheesy saying “blood in your poo, shouldn’t be taboo!” (Thank you. Thank you. I made it up all by myself). It's like they say "if you see something (in your shit), say something".
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