Why I Relay ~ Poppy Zabelin

Why I Relay – by Poppy Zabelin

Nearly thirty years ago I was a young mother with a one-year-old son sitting in a doctor’s office when I heard those words "you have cancer" - a recurrence of the thyroid cancer I'd had in my teens.

A few days later a colleague came back from a visit to a local research hospital and told me that the walls were covered with posters for a fund-raising event. His words gave me hope. The posters read "40% of cancers are curable... now we need to cure the other 60%".

He hugged me, and told me he was sure I was in that first 40% ...

… and, I was. My type of thyroid cancer has a cure rate of over 90% even if it recurs and gets into the lymph nodes like mine. I still need medication and I will need regular checkups for the rest of my life but I will die WITH it, not OF it.

According to American Cancer Society sources, one in three people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, but more than half of those diagnosed today will_die_of _something_else.

So we've made progress. But not nearly enough.

We have a long way to go before there is a cure, and an even longer way to go before we can prevent it entirely.

In the meantime we still need to support those who, after hearing those words “you have cancer”, have to go through often distressing, disfiguring, and debilitating treatment, and the anxiety of waiting to learn whether the treatment has worked, punctuated by stress, uncertainty, depression and loss of control.

And that's Why I Relay.

The American Cancer Society and its partner organizations around the world play a crucial role in providing information and support and raising awareness about how to prevent cancer or detect it early on.

I Relay so that everyone who hears those words “You have cancer” can get the information and support they need to help them on their journey and to take important decisions about their treatment.

I Relay so that people who are diagnosed young get the life-long follow-up they need and so that it can be diagnosed and treated in time if it comes back.

And I Relay to help raise awareness so that others are encouraged to live in a way that reduces their chance of cancer or at least to detect it early on.

Poppy Zabelin
Volunteer Support Groups Director
American Cancer Society in Second Life