This is the rest of the letter I used last year....
Oral cancer is in the closet and needs special attention in its own right. It is not like all other cancers by the very nature of its location. It takes away the most basic and necessary functions of the lives that it destroys.
It goes without saying that life can spin out of control at times and the best we can do is plant our feet in the sand, hold hands and help each other get through the spinning. One of the nurses here at the University of Tennessee Cancer Center told me that the body is a wonderful healing machine and that the mouth heals very quickly and thankfully she is correct. It's been over a year since my chemotherapy treatments and surgery, and 11 months since I finished my last radiation treatment and I am doing very well with 2 clear scans under my belt. The radiation was by far the worst part of my overall treatment but I got through it.
The second biggest help outside of my family, friends and co-workers has been the Oral Cancer Foundation website. The information contained on this site is squarely focused on Head and Neck Cancers. There is a support message board which can be far more important than even the American Cancer Society. The message board is chock full of information, assistance and support, given by people who were going through cancer or helping someone with cancer. Each person there has been touched by the effect of this grossly disgusting disease, from young adults to older adults, from all over the world.
If I was ever an advocate, I would be now for Oral Cancer. This is a dreadful disease and the treatment and surgery can be very ugly. The importance of the board is paramount, especially for people who are unable to talk after surgery to have a place to go to obtain information, compassion and support by the very people who understand what they're going through.
The Oral Cancer Foundation and Oral Cancer in general needs more press. Approximately 34,000 people in the US will be newly diagnosed with oral cancer in 2007. This is the second year in a row in which there has been an increase in the rate of occurrence, this time of about 11% over last year. Worldwide the problem is far greater, with new cases annually exceeding 481,000.
Food for thought....
Kevin
