I’m sure if you think for a minute, there is someone you know who has been embattled with the horrifying, gruesome disease of cancer. According to the Canadian Cancer Society (http://www.cancer.ca/), every three minutes another Canadian is faced with fighting cancer and it will attack over 173,000 Canadians this year. This statistic must be obliterated. As many of you know, April is recognized as Daffodil Month – we are encouraged to donate and wear a daffodil as a symbol to fight back against cancer and support those who must take the tremulous journey to fight their own fight.
Cancer, unfortunately, has touched almost everyone at sometime or another. I lost my father, mother-in-law and cousin to the disease, and it’s something you can never forgive or forget. If you visit the Join the Fight page (http://www.fightback.ca/index.html) on the Canadian Cancer Society’s website, you’ll see how significant the month of April is in the fight against cancer: “To some, the daffodil is just a flower, to us, it is a symbol of strength and courage, a symbol of life. It says we will not give up. It says we will fight back. It says we will beat cancer.”
We have all seen poignant cancer ads or commercials that emotionally pull at our heartstrings. For example, a mom tells her story of chemotherapy and determination to fight because she wants to be at her daughter’s graduation and wedding, or the lung cancer victim undergoing a bronchoscopy, with her doctor commenting on how it’s “too late.” But until it hits us directly where it hurts, we tend to turn the other cheek.
Write in your calendar, send yourself a reminder or call a friend – whatever it takes, this April, Join the Fight. Donate, volunteer, spread the word and wear your daffodil – awareness is key. Everyone can make a difference and help support someone living with cancer or fund research to beat it.
From a cancer prevention standpoint, proactive health screening tests are highly recommended. They can help find some types of cancer early, even before you have any symptoms, and allow you to prevent cancer by finding changes in your body that could become cancer if left untreated. It’s also important to visit your family doctor for a yearly physical in order to keep on top of the preventative health bandwagon (http://www.cancer.ca/Ontario/Prevention/Get%20screened.aspx?sc_lang=en#ixzz1ID4YsYvO).
Today our office bought 100 daffodils (http://www.fightback.ca/FreshDaffodils.html) to launch an annual company-wide fundraiser in support of the Hike for Hospice Palliative Care (http://www.chpca.net/hfhpc). This is but one of the many ways we can come together to honour and remember the people in our lives affected by cancer. How will you remember them this April?
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