Our Neighborly Giant

Abstract

In a hospital, nobody wants to hear the “C-word”, but for many of us, cancer becomes a very real and very scary reality. Personally, I lost both of my grandparents on my mom’s side and my father to the disease by the time I turned 18. The statistics on cancer’s prevalence (although it has been shrinking in recent years) is staggering and terrifying to say the least. The American Cancer Society shows data that about 43% of all men and 37% of all women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives. As a kid watching my grandparents’ and eventually my father’s treatments, I remember thinking of hospitals and cancer researchers as beacons of hope. The beeping of monitors and the steady flow of white-caped men and women tirelessly moving through hallways gave me the sense that something great and lifesaving was just around the corner. Sadly, in the case of my family members no cure ever came, but I haven’t ever lost site of that hope and neither should anyone else— amazing progress is being made by researchers and nonprofits every day.