torquill | A terrifying dose of reality

This can stop right now.

I was stunned when Emily told me in January that she had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. It was stage one, and she's in her mid-twenties; when I went out to see her this last week, she was done with chemo and it looks like she's going to be fine.

She sent me a link today to

dancingshaman's post saying that he's been diagnosed with cancer as well.

Only a few minutes after reading that, a fellow lily user mentioned that his girlfriend has breast cancer.

This is scary. Far beyond the fact that so many people I know are coming down with cancer, or have had it earlier in life; cancer of various kinds is widespread. What scares me the most is the ages at which they're getting it.

Emily is about 25 years old.

dancingshaman isn't much older than my own 30. Mukow is, I think, the average age for a lily user, late 20's, and I assume his girlfriend is as well. Hell, another lilyite had lymphoma when he was 10 or 11.

It used to be that you didn't have to worry a lot about cancer until you were 40 or so. Sure, a few people got it earlier, but it was mostly a later-life thing. Now I'm seeing people in their twenties, lots of them, getting it. It isn't even a matter of earlier detection -- some of these cancers are the aggressive sort, and aren't going to sit around for 20 years.

Most of them will survive it, being young with good access to healthcare. That doesn't make it any easier, or less horrid an experience, or less terrifying. And it isn't any less wrong. As a chemically-injured person who has to watch her diet, I have my theories as to what's contributing to it... but whatever the cause, we need to sit up and take notice.

My thoughts are with all of these people, survivors, sufferers, supporters, and all the rest of us who may just not have found out yet. Good luck.