Slam Cancer: The disease can sneak up on you

 

CUTLINES:
Photo 1: Attleboro Public Library Director Amy Rhilinger speaks at the second annual Slam Cancer event.
Photo 2. Larry Kessler reads his essay at the Slam Cancer event. (Photos courtesy of the Relay For Life of Greater Atteboro).

For the second year in a row, the Relay For Life of Greater Attleboro and the Attleboro Public Library teamed up to hold a poetry-essay event called “Slam Cancer.” The event was held Friday May 20 at Attleboro’s Balfour Riverwalk Park, where several people read their submissions.
On that evening, I read this essay on how cancer can sneak up on you.
The 24^th annual Relay For Life of Greater Attleboro will be held, starting at 6 p.m. Friday, June 17, at the Norton Middle School. More than 122 participants on more than 20 teams will be spending the next 16 or so hours raising badly-needed funds for the American Cancer Society.
The public is invited to attend, even if you’re not a member of a team or otherwise signed up. If you want to join a team, participate or volunteer for the event, get more information at www.relayforlife.org/greaterattleboroma
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It’s been decades since cancer was discussed in hush-hush tones and was all-too commonly referred to as “The Big C.” That derisive description unfortunately reinforced the stigma of a cancer diagnosis, and it started to spread to another tough disease, Alzheimer’s, something that I experienced in 1994 when I took my mother to a neurologist and his “professional” opinion was that she had ”The Big A.”
Thankfully, we’ve evolved as a society to the point where both cancer and Alzheimer’s patients are now treated with respect and dignity, and in the case of cancer, that’s due in large part to the advocacy and fundraising of the American Cancer Society.
One of the society’s signature fundraisers is the Relay For Life, a team event that started in 1985, when

Dr. Gordon "Gordy" Klatt walked and ran for 24 hours around a track in Tacoma, Wash., raising $27,000. Relays For Life worldwide have raised more than $5 billion in the 37 years since that historic first event.
Locally, the Relay For Life of Greater Attleboro began on the North Attleboro High School track in 1999. My participation started the next year and has kept me returning every year since, as a team member, captain and volunteer. This year’s 24^th annual event will be held June 17-18 at the Norton Middle School.
I’ve been doing that for two reasons:
1. Cancer has touched scores of friends and relatives, to whom I pay tribute at the relays by lighting luminaries for both survivors and victims.
2. To raise money to fight cancer and increase awareness about the disease.
That’s why I’m pleased that the relay, for the third year in a row, is partnering with a venerable community organization. In 2020, that effort resulted in a collaboration with the Attleboro Arts Museum on a compelling art show. In 2021 we held a new event, Slam Cancer, in conjunction with the Attleboro Public Library, and we’re repeating it this year.
Slam Cancer encourages people of all ages to share their original poems and essays, and last year’s writers wrote passionately on many topics. 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 yet another cancerous spot, this time inside my right ear, which also required surgery about a month after the previous procedure.
I was somewhat surprised at first that I had skin cancer since on those rare times that I went to the beach, I 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 alone won’t prevent cancer.
I was nervous about the surgeries, but everything turned out well. The surgeon and her assistants were professional, compassionate and understanding, and they removed all of the cancer.
I feel guilty about sharing my experience, because over the years, I’ve written about people suffering from a variety of far more serious and debilitating forms of cancer, such as the pancreatic cancer that took my cousin’s life 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.