Other People’s Cancer Blogs

It’s true. I’m not the only person who writes about cancer in a blog. It turns out that these here InterWebs are full of conversations and observations and ramblings and rants and meditations and monologues galore, focused on all things cancer. And, while it may not be a shock that I enjoy reading some cancer blogs, the surprise is really how darn good many of them are. Now, because I have lung cancer, I tend to gravitate toward reading the experiences of others with the same condition. And I may be biased in thinking that lung cancer brings out the best writers. But I am going to throw it out there that, at the very least, what I am about to share is some very good work by some dedicated people with important stories worth reading. I’m not going to rank the best lung cancer blog or set up any sort of competition here. I just feel that these are other experiences from other people that I would like to share with you.

I’m targeting other writers with metastatic lung cancer, partly to show that I am not a complete outlier. While this disease is still killing an inordinately high number of people, the cancer blogs I’m linking here tell an uplifting, inspiring story, especially when taken as a collective whole.

The Cancer Blogs

Janet Freeman-Daily is an aerospace engineer turned lung cancer advocate who was diagnosed in 2011. She writes about Gratitude on her blog, Grey Connections, and her posts also appear on the useful website for Cure magazine. She also has a terrific list of other lung cancer blogs which is much more exhaustive and interesting than what I am including here, and it includes detail on each author’s age at the date of diagnosis along with the type of lung cancer.

 

Emily Bennett Taylor is one of those shockingly inspirational young people that you occasionally come across in life. She was an athlete in her late 20s when she received her startling diagnosis about two and a half years ago. Last month, she posted an entry in her blog that brought tears to my eyes. In the best possible way. I’ve followed her story  for a while now and really felt a personal connection to her struggles and success. Emily is a spokesperson for the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation and you can see her in some of their videos.

 

Lisa Goldman is another in a long string of young, non-smoking lung cancer patients. I think I relate to her wit and pluck, and the fact that her two kids are about the same age as my daughter. She has a great attitude, as all of these folks do. And her blog, although about cancer, is really about living. She also sells this shirt:


I know that my list is a little female-centric. And in a way, this isn’t going to change with the next blog. Molly Golbons was 39 and a mother of two young girls when she received her diagnosis. And while she is the center of an Emmy-winning documentary about her progress, she is no blogger. But her husband is. And what is great about his blog is that he tries to make it not about cancer, but about life with his daughters and his wife — including, but not limited to, her trials and tribulations related to her lung cancer. And sometimes, like another truly awesome blogger you may have read, he writes posts that have nothing to do with cancer at all. The best parts of the blog, for me, anyway, are that it is from the perspective of the caregiver rather than the patient — and also from the perspective of a father, which I can relate to. In many ways, just a breath of fresh air.

 

Corey Wood, who describes herself as “a sassy 22 year old girl beating lung cancer,” writes her story with, yes, a bit of her self-proclaimed sass. Which is how it should be. Especially in your early 20s. Her blog highlights the rise in very young adults who are diagnosed with some form of lung cancer. Heck, I’m considered quite young to have lung cancer, and she is less than half my age. Wait a second… there are adults less than half my age? I may have to think of a better label for young upstarts like her. In the meantime, she shows a remarkable level of maturity in her approach to life. And, I’ll admit, reading her blog makes me a little jealous. It turns out that these crazy kids living with cancer get together for fun adventure-type stuff. Even without the cancer issue, I’d have a heck of a time keeping up with them. Okay, even in my 20s it would probably have been difficult. I’ll find my own club eventually, probably sitting around reading privately in a dark library or screening obscure films. With Scotch. There will definitely be Scotch.

 

For tugging at a few heartstrings, Just a Normal Life With Metastatic Lung Cancer gets some kudos for its honest approach. Another young mother, the author was diagnosed at 41. Also, she’s Dutch.
Linnea Duff was diagnosed at age 45, almost 11 years ago. She continues to write about her process, both the ups and downs, and stands as one example of the promise of clinical trials.

 

Lizzy… Outliving the Bastards One Day at a Time is a lively blog by a young woman (named Lizzy, if you hadn’t guessed) diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer 9 years ago at age 26. She writes about her personal journey, peppered with photos and an intimate style.

 

There are, of course, many more blogs related to lung cancer out there. I don’t have time in my day to read all of them –most weeks, I barely have time to write my own. Which reminds me, I have a deadline to hit. Best to hit publish now and get back to my day job…

 

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