I just recently 'returned' to the OCF board after several years absence. My ex-husband, father of my son, has been diagnosed w/oral cancer and I came back to get information about treatments & any improvement in outcome statistics, for my son. When my brother was diagnosed, I found this board tremendously useful & even comforting.

I left the board after my brother died because it was upsetting to me to read about others who also lost their fight. I became very fond of some of posters and I cried when any of them had a reoccurrence. Like so many others, I wanted to put the cancer experience behind me, way behind me. Also, I feel that the best advice & wisdom comes from the cancer survivors themselves & primary caregivers, those currently fighting the fight.

Also, my brother's outcome wasn't positive, his tongue cancer metastasized to his lungs just two years after completing treatment. Like Cookey, I felt his outcome might dismay newcomers. However, I do want to say that he did have a very good healthy year, almost normal, his second year after treatment. He managed to visit Jim Morrison's Grave in Paris (he had neuramyopathy in his feet so it took some effort to walk to the cemetery). This was on his life list of things he wanted to do. My point is that after the horrors of treatment, there were good times with his grandchildren, with his wife in Paris (she didn't visit Jim Morrison's grave) and life was good.

Keep up the good work, every one of you! - Candace