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My dad was diagnosed with throat cancer at the age of 65, which was unsurprising since he told me as a kid he started when he was 13. He was successfully able to bring the cancer into remission with x-ray therapy but his health was never the same. The emotional toll it put on my mother was a heavy burden. He lost at least 40 lbs. He actually managed to quit smoking but started back up when the stress of my grandmother’s death was too much on my mother. I’ll never forget the morning I was awoken by a phone call to tell me he passed in his sleep. I was in college at the time so it had been a few weeks since I last spoke to him. He never did see me graduate college that spring but being the early bird he was, I found out that he already bought my graduation card before he died. It was the last message I ever got from him.

I have been remarkably fortunate that no one in my family has been stricken with cancer. One of my good friends from high school was and I helped raise over $10k for his medical bills. He is recovering fine and I hope he is in remission.

i’ve had my brother’s wife, one of my good friends and many others in my life.

Cancer has literally been eating away at my family for years. My husband has had skin cancer, my sister has had skin cancer and thyroid cancer, my brother in law has had cancer surgery times from the thyroid to the lungs, my father had both bladder and prostate cancer. Those are just my immediate family…I could go on and on. I have 37 members of my family, just through first cousins who have had or died of cancer.

The one and only hero in my life, my grandmother died about 5 years ago from cancer. She was such a fighter. I would go over to her house to visit and no one would even be able to tell that she was sick. She wanted us all to know that she would be ok and didn’t want us to feel bad for her. I envy her for making me see life the way she did and for always being strong. Bubbe is my hero.

I know is a very sad thing and we should soon find a cure! we are capable of doing that hopefully in 2012!

I have known many people who have gone through this unfortunate experience. Some are still here to tell the story, and some are not.

My grandfather died of cancer of the prostate before I got a chance to know him well—I have only a few memories of him from before I was three. My father, however, was profoundly affected; I am fairly certain he undergoes the PSA antigen test on a regular basis because he is worried it may run in the family. Although I now know that it is thought that every man is likely to get prostate cancer eventually if nothing else gets him first, my early experiences with it may have been responsible for leading me to study biochemistry in college.

I still remember 2 years ago when at work my coworker got the call that she has a breast cancer. It was so sad and scary,she was screaming her lungs out.she was only 30 and they told her that she has the last stage cancer that usually older women get. She had to quit the job and leave everything she had and go back to Brazil because most of her family was there and they had to take care of her.They had to removes all of her breast,and she wasn’t happy. But she fall in love with the one of the doctors there and they are getting married now.

When I was 3 one of my aunt’s died of breast cancer, I sadly didn’t know her that well since I was 3, but of course I’ve heard great stories. Also my grandpa and uncle are bladder cancer survivors and are still doing great even though they are on colostomy bags.