Amanda Shaffer
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“Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends." –Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thi...
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Cancer survivorship issues gain momentum-Time Magazine recognizes I'm Too Young For This!

July 11, 2007 2:04 pm by Amanda Shaffer in Career
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I'm Too Young For This!

Public awareness of long-term illness survivorship got a major boost earlier this week when Time Magazine named I'm Too Young for This! as one of the top 50 websites of 2007.

The website, founded by brain cancer survivor Matthew Zachary, collects information on support groups and services for young adult cancer patients. In addition to providing this unique and valuable service, I'm Too Young for This! also creates and hosts a weekly webcast called "The Stupid Cancer Show."

Here's more from the I'm Too Young For This! (i2y) website:

Here's the deal—There are tons of awesome support services out there with programs just for adolescents and young adults and we're going to tell you about them because no one else does—not your doctor, your hospital...not even the mighty Internet. Why? We don't know. Frankly, we don't care. (It's not their fault, we suppose. Besides, who has the time to search? You've got cancer!)

Also, check out the i2y manifesto. Shouldn't we all just "get busy living?"

It takes more than 'being cured' to survive cancer. (What does that mean anyway?) It takes resilience, creativity, audacity, and irreverence because cancer is changing. What was once simply a death sentence is slowly becoming, for many, a life sentence.

Our value is that your life is a work of art, unique, expressive and capable of taking you places that you could never imagine. Cancer doesn't change that. It's gift is a blank canvas—and when faced with the realities of cancer, the art of survivorship is all about how you choose to get busy living.

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Catherine Morgan
Catherine Morgan 5 pts

This is a great post Amanda, and it is such an important issue.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at Women 4 Hope ( http://women4hope.wordpress.com/ ) and Informed Voters ( http://informedvoters.wordpress.com/ )

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Clamo88
Clamo88 5 pts

To the other Amanda,

Being under 40 and currently undergoing chemo for breast cancer, your post caught my eye. I followed the link to the "I'm too young" site, and that led to the Brenda Mehling Cancer Fund (www.bmcf.net ( http://www.bmcf.net )). I wrote to them to see if they provide financial help for those outside of California, and they wrote back a day later and said they did, and so I applied right away.

Friday night - 9 days after you posted - they called and said they had unanimously approved my application and were paying the majority of my rent for August. Now that’s a quick turn-around.

Since my breast cancer diagnosis, due to the sheer # of doctor's appointments and feeling crummy due to chemo I've had to shift down to working part-time. This, combined with additional medical expenses and the fact that I have no disability insurance (as is the case with many nonprofit staff) leaves me with a $1000 gap between expenses and income each month.

The assistance from the Brenda Mehling Cancer Fund really helps. I had looked all over the web for help but I hadn't found that particular fund on my own, so thank you. It's an abundant universe, it's just a matter of the help that I need finding me in time. :)

So thank you!

- Amanda M
Imagine Bright Futures II: Through the Chemoverse and Beyond ( http://www.imaginebrightfutures.wordpress.com/ )

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Clamo88
Clamo88 5 pts

To the other Amanda,

Being under 40 and currently undergoing chemo for breast cancer, your post caught my eye. I followed the link to the "I'm too young" site, and that led to the Brenda Mehling Cancer Fund (www.bmcf.net ( http://www.bmcf.net )). I wrote to them to see if they provide financial help for those outside of California, and they wrote back a day later and said they did, and so I applied right away. Friday night - 9 days after you posted - they called and said they had unanimously approved my application and were paying the majority of my rent for August. Wow, talk about moving fast.

Since my breast cancer diagnosis, due to the sheer # of doctor's appointments and feeling crummy due to chemo I've had to shift down to working part-time. This, combined with additional medical expenses and the fact that I have no disability insurance (as is the case with many nonprofit staff) leaves me with a $1000 gap between expenses and income.

The assistance from the Brenda Mehling Cancer Fund really, really helps. I had looked all over the web for help but I hadn't found that particular fund on my own, so thank you. It's an abundant universe, it's just a matter of the help that I need finding me in time. :)

So thank you!

- Amanda M
Imagine Bright Futures II: Through the Chemoverse and Beyond ( http://www.imaginebrightfutures.wordpress.com/ )

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