On Saturday, October 26th in LA, Cancer and Careers is hosting its annual West Coast Conference on Work and Cancer! They’ll be talking about setting boundaries in the workplace, disclosure, working through treatment, and so much more. The event is free and definitely not to be missed! Plus, until August 25th you can apply for a travel and/or lodging scholarship! Check out more about the conference here and more about the travel scholarship here.
Have you been looking for a toolkit for navigating your finances after young adult cancer? Look no further!
Triage Cancer and The Samfund have put together a fabulous toolkit, asking you questions about important topics to bring you the information that you absolutely need. You can use it to find out more about health insurance, disability insurance, education, estate planning, and so much more with the end goal of helping you understand how cancer treatment impacts your finances. They want to provide you with information and tools to help make sound financial decisions before, during, and after cancer treatment– not just in the wake of the financial wreckage cancer often causes.
We shared this beautiful piece on our social channels when it first went live after Mother’s Day but we just couldn’t help ourselves from sharing it again here. For many young adult cancer survivors, conversations around fertility and family building are hard, sometimes even triggering. My own fertility issues and struggle to become pregnant is one of the few pieces of my survivorship I speak very rarely about. Sam Watson, CEO of the Samfund, shared her own perspective in a must-read piece.
“’You may never have kids.” “The chemo will probably zap your fertility.’ ‘You need to start treatment now… there’s no time to talk about the rest.’ I was 21 and had just been diagnosed with bone cancer. At 23, I was diagnosed with secondary Myelodysplastic Syndrome and no further conversations about family planning were had… For anyone who is struggling with the concept of what makes a parent, I firmly believe that it has nothing to do with whether or not you share DNA. There are many paths to parenthood, none more or less equal than any other. In the end, parenting is about love, plain and simple. I am every bit a “real” mom to my two kids, both of whom I adopted at birth.”
Starting today you can submit your questions for our next speaker series talk on Creating A Realistic Academic Plan After Young Adult Cancer! Our 7th Speaker Series Talk will launch on Wednesday, June 26th! Starting on that day, you’ll be able to watch Michele Rosenthal talk about Creating A Realistic Academic Plan after Young Adult Cancer. She is a higher education administrator with significant experience in higher education, serves as a volunteer College and Cancer Coach, and supports many Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer programs. While the talk won’t be live, we’d love for you to submit your questions! After reading a little abstract on the talk, fill out the short form at the bottom of this post with all of your questions! Submit as many as you want and Michele will do her best to answer them at the end of her talk!
A cancer diagnosis can come as a surprise at any time but I believe that this is especially true during a life milestone like college. It is absolutely possible to navigate the higher education landscape while in treatment and recovery. Feel free to pose questions so that I can help to connect you with the right accommodations and resources.
Psst…want to submit a topic for a future Speaker Series? You can do so here!
Lacuna Loft is happy to be a sponsor of the Triage Cancer Conference series! The Triage Cancer Conferences provide individuals diagnosed with cancer, caregivers, advocates, and oncology healthcare professionals, with valuable information about understanding your health insurance options, navigating employment issues, managing finances, and more. Register for FREE here! 2019 Conferences will be in Chicago, IL, Chapel Hill, NC, & Houston, TX – travel grants are available!
Who should attend?
Individuals diagnosed with cancer, caregivers, health care professionals, & advocates will learn about:
– Understanding health insurance, picking a health insurance plan, and appealing denials
– Accessing clinical trials
– How to work through treatment or take time off
– Applying for disability insurance
– Estate planning and other important documents
– Managing medical bills, finances, and getting financial help
– Becoming an empowered patient and advocate
– Dealing with how to grow after trauma
Become an empowered survivor or advocate today by attending a Triage Cancer Conference!
I’m super excited to share a white paper with you today from MyOncoPath, an innovative company helping cancer patients and their healthcare providers identify genetic testing that could play a role in personalizing cancer treatment plans. They also provide a hereditary risk assessment for patients and family members with preventative care. They are a telemedicine clinic working to support patients and healthcare providers!
Genetic testing is one of those things that we keep hearing more and more about but it’s great when a company actually explains a topic’s importance and breaks down all of those clinical-sounding terms! MyOncoPath has written a white paper doing just those things, entitled, “Use of Genetic Testing in Oncology to Improve Clinical Outcomes in Preventative Care and Personalized Medicine.”
“Hereditary tests are important for patients already diagnosed with cancer, as the results can expose crucial information about the specific, most effective treatments available, the patient’s risk of cancer recurrence, and the risk of the patient’s blood relatives developing cancer.”
Check out the rest of the report!
Want to tell your young adult cancer story in LA?
SoulPancake is now casting for a new storytelling series covering a wide range of topics. Currently, they are looking for stories from people of all backgrounds who have had a cancer experience.
Please submit to needlemediacasting@gmail.com with the subject: SOULPANCAKE CANCER // Your Name.
Include a brief bio with your age, cultural background, and a summary of your Cancer story. How did your family/ community react? How did you feel before and after the experience? How do you reflect on that experience? Feel free to include any links to on-camera work or social media profiles.
Specifically looking for AYA and Youth Survivors.
*** This is a paid opportunity *** Submissions due by Friday, May 17th (Please note: there is no budget for travel/accommodations).
Lacuna Loft is excited to continue introducing more young adult voices! These great folks represent a variety of perspectives on the myriad of topics covered here at Lacuna Loft. Before everyone starts really getting into the nitty-gritty of all they have to say, we wanted to introduce them a bit. Without further ado, here is Jennifer (and Vlad)!
—
My name is Jennifer, and my cancer’s name is Vlad. I was minding my own business on a sunny November day when cancer decided to introduce itself to me. At 31, I discovered I had chromophobe renal cell carcinoma. January 3, 2019 marked my farewell to my left kidney and Vlad.
Cancer has been a whirlwind that blew through my life in just a few months before leaving a confused heap of debris behind. I’m still trying to understand the meaning of everything that’s happened and learn how to utilize that new perspective going forward. Still, that typhoon exposed a sturdy, underappreciated foundation that I am rebuilding on. My goals after reaching NED status include transforming my overall health and raising awareness about young adult cancers.
Through growing up in northeast Ohio, to teaching English in Japan, to starting my journey over in the Buckeye State, I’ve had animals by my side. I like to spend time with my pets when not working online as a writer and editor. As a lifelong fan of fantasy fiction, I often daydream about magical creatures and record a few of their antics on paper.
Anyone who has written with Lacuna Loft during a session of our Unspoken Ink: Young Adult Cancer Creative Writing Workshop has heard me say how powerful I believe the voices of young survivors and caregivers to be. These voices, these stories, have the power to tear down the isolation someone feels when they’ve never met another survivor their age, when they live too far away to seek survivorship support, and every situation in between.
Interested in sharing your story? Lacuna Loft shares stories ranging from all sorts of topics: fertility, cooking, parenting, DIY, self-advocacy, survivorship, caregiving, and more…all with young adult cancer in mind. Fill out the form below and we’ll get in touch with you!
Did you know that we have a program where you can sign up to receive a journal prompt sent to your inbox once a week? This program has been on hiatus so far this year but it starts back up next week!
If you would like to participate in some stressfree, prompted journaling let us know! You will be sent a journaling prompt each week. The prompt will help you focus the chaos going on in your life and mind in order to write away some of those cares and anxieties. If you would like your writing to be read and considered for use here on Lacuna Loft as a personal story, let us know that too! Just fill out the form below and we will reply to you within a week with your first prompt!
