Reading Time: 3 minutes This weekend is another milestone in my breast cancer journey. I’ll be cancer free for two years. Queue the celebration music and gifs. These milestones always give me a reason to pause and reflect. I’d like to share some of my reflections with someone who can relate. I don’t personally have someone like that in my life, which I know is a good thing even though it’s difficult. Two years ago I still had my own breasts. Two years ago I still had my ovaries. Two years ago I was bald, and the last time I had hair it was long and straight. Two years ago I finished chemo, and ..read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes I always thought I wouldn’t make it to 18, wouldn’t make it to see myself graduate, never go to college or have a family of my own. An enemy was coming for me ready to take me down. I truly believed I would lose the fight, but I didn’t. I won the battle against cancer, and now I look back knowing it was never the end. As people, we aren’t always ready for new chapters to begin. The anticipation can be too much to handle. Sometimes we think our previous chapter would have been our last, that our story would end. When I was diagnosed with stage 4 Ewing sarcoma, a rare and ..read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes My name is Erin Coffman, and I am a sixth-year doctoral candidate in the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Gillings School of Global Public Health. My career in cancer prevention research began almost ten years ago when as a Master’s student in Exercise Physiology, I had the opportunity to work as an exercise interventionist on a clinical trial at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC). This was my first hands-on research experience and an up-close glimpse into the numerous issues that survivors face during and after treatment ..read more

Reading Time: 4 minutes I was 35 when my first symptom showed up. I was 36 when I was diagnosed, and 37 by the time I did my very last treatment. It all happened over the course of 18 months in the middle of 2018 to until the beginning of 2020. I tell people it’s like Ripley’s wax museum, believe it or not but what I’m about to tell you is true.  I was diagnosed with an extremely rare subtype of melanoma that makes up maybe 1 to 2% of all Melanoma, and with an average age of diagnosis is 70. I was half that. I ended up doing multiple surgeries, targeted radiation, the latest in immunother ..read more

Reading Time: 2 minutes This past August I attended my first ever Cancer Con event in Atlanta. I have always wanted to attend one of their events and have always wanted to visit Atlanta so it was meant to be. I was a little bit nervous about going to a new city and new events by myself. As soon as I arrived at the hotel I immediately felt welcomed and was really excited for the whole weekend. When I walked into my hotel room and met my roommate I could tell that this was going to be an amazing weekend. After we talked for a bit, I said “I’m going to go to World of Coca Cola later, do you wanna ..read more

Reading Time: 5 minutes (Written August 25th, 2022.) This was the day I woke up from a colonoscopy to find out that my issue was not hemorrhoids like I went to the doctor for, it was worse. Much worse. I had sacrificed 14yrs to the U.S. Coast Guard and this country. My wife and I have been married 11 years, and I have a 4yr old son which is such a blessing. He was born 3 months early and just beat the odds to grow into such an amazing little person. Finding out I have cancer today was not what I went to the doctor for and not what I expected. I tend to pray when I have issues but I don’t pray ..read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Derrick shares their story at our November 2023 Digital Storytelling Open Mic. The post Derrick appeared first on Stupid Cancer ..read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Tiffany shares her story at our November 2023 Digital Storytelling Open Mic. The post Tiffany appeared first on Stupid Cancer ..read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute Laura shares her story at our November 2023 Digital Storytelling Open Mic. The post Laura appeared first on Stupid Cancer ..read more

Reading Time: < 1 minute   Victor shares his story at our November 2023 Digital Storytelling Open Mic. The post Victor appeared first on Stupid Cancer ..read more