There’s still time to Slam Cancer! Share your poems and essays on how the disease has affected you
(This column was published on Tuesday, April 19 in The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA.
The link to column on the newspaper’s website is: https://www.thesunchronicle.
The Relay For Life of Greater Attleboro, a major fundraiser for the American
Cancer Society, was first held in 1999 on the North Attleboro High School
track, and I’ve been a part of it since its second year in 2000.
There are many reasons for my longtime involvement in the event, which this
year will be held June 17-18 at the Norton Middle School. Most of them revolve
around the fact that cancer has touched scores of friends and relatives, and I
take pride in paying tribute to them at each relay by lighting luminaries in
honor of cancer survivors and in memory of victims. But the overriding reason for
my participation as a team member and volunteer is the need to raise awareness
about the disease.
For the third year in a row, meeting that goal is being helped considerably by
having the relay partner with a trusted community organization.
In 2020, that effort resulted in a fruitful collaboration with the Attleboro
Arts Museum on a compelling art show. The following year, we held a new event, Slam
Cancer, in conjunction with the Attleboro Public Library, and we heard so much
good feedback from it that we’re repeating it this year.
Slam Cancer’s premise is simple: It encourages people of all ages to share
their original poems and essays; it’s not a contest, so people can feel free to
simply express their thoughts about how and why cancer has affected their lives
without feeling any pressure. You’re invited to submit entries --- poems or
essays up to 500 words --- to slamcancer21@gmail.com through April 29.
A celebratory event to cap off Slam Cancer 2022 will be held at 6 p.m. Friday,
May 20 at Attleboro’s Balfour Riverwalk Park, where many of the writers will be
reading their works.
Last year’s writers wrote passionately, and it’s in that spirit that I want to
make this point about cancer: be vigilant about the disease before it sneaks up
on you.
That’s what happened to me earlier this year, when --- after procrastinating
for way too long --- I saw a dermatologist about a spot on my nose that turned
out to be a form of skin cancer that required surgery. That prompted the doctor
to do a complete skin check on me and he found another cancerous spot, this
time inside my right ear, which also required surgery about a month after the
previous procedure.
I was initially surprised that I had developed two different kinds of skin
cancer since on those rare times that I’d go to the beach, I usually headed for
the shade and used gobs of sunscreen. But after reflection I realized I’ve been
running in the sun during warmer weather, when my head is covered with only a
baseball cap, for 47 years, and sunscreen won’t stop all cancers.
I was nervous about the surgeries, but everything turned out well. The surgeon
and her assistants were compassionate and understanding, and they removed all
of the cancer.
I feel guilty about sharing this experience, because over the years I’ve written
about people suffering from many more debilitating forms of cancer, such as the
pancreatic cancer that took my cousin five years ago well before his time, or
the colon, lung, prostrate, breast and blood cancers that claim hundreds of
thousands a year, including far too many children and teens.
However, I ultimately decided to talk about it to
emphasize the point that cancer is an indiscriminate disease, and it’s
incumbent to be proactive by getting screened and tested early if something
looks or feels suspicious. That approach has taken on a new urgency this year
after millions delayed getting screenings during the first two years of the
pandemic, with the result that many cancers were discovered at later, more advanced,
stages.
The need to get that message out is why I’ll be involved in the Relay For Life of
Greater Attleboro for as long as the event exists.
Larry Kessler is a retired Sun Chronicle local news editor
and can be reached at larrythek65@gmail.com. He blogs at larrytheklineup.blogspot.com
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