Cancer is awful no matter who gets it. Yet there are few tailored cancer resources for LGBTQI+ people, although an estimated 81,000 of us are diagnosed with it every year. That’s why the National LGBT Cancer Network is launching a new survey to help inform cancer care for the LGBTQI+ population.
Sometimes, a book comes along at just the right time. My mother was diagnosed with lung, bone, and brain cancer on December 23, just days after I received a copy of Lesléa Newman’s new book of poetry about her own journey through her mother’s illness and death from cancer.
In a moment, everything can change. On December 23, my 72-year-old mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer that has spread to her bones and brain.
We in the LGBT parenting blogger community write often about bringing children into our families. We don’t often write about having them leave us. Timaree and Jodi, however, posted yesterday of the loss of their son, Caemon, who had been fighting a rare form of leukemia. My heart goes out to them.
At least two of the entries to Blogging for LGBT Families Day were from lesbian moms whose children have serious illnesses. Jaime and Laura of Team Shimmy have a son with cardiomyopathy (whom I’ve mentioned before); Brooke and Liz of Lenox Slays the Leukemiasaurus have a daughter with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). I want to offer a special thanks to them for sharing their stories, not just on Blogging for LGBT Families Day, but on all the other days when they write about the good and the bad, the ordinary and the extraordinary, of their lives. They offer a gift to other families facing similar situations.
Because Brooke asked directly, “Hello? Any other lesbian moms going through this now? What is your experience like?” I also wanted to offer this post as an attempt to facilitate such connections.
Like Steve Jobs, my father passed away recently because of complications after pancreatic cancer. If you want to learn more about this disease, I recommend checking out the Lustgarten Foundation, which is dedicated to its treatment, cure, and prevention. I’m also going to jump on the bandwagon and share the Steve Jobs video that is
It’s LGBT Health Awareness Week. I therefore thought I’d post a piece I wrote with slight variation for Bay Windows as advance coverage for Dr. Susan Love’s appearance at Fenway Health here in Boston this coming weekend. Dr. Love is an eminent breast cancer surgeon. Some of you may remember her from her guest appearance
