I'm Too Young For This

Did you know...?  

(facts below courtesy of StupidCancer.org)

Each year:
   •    72,000 adolescents and young adults aged 15-39 are diagnosed with cancer. 

Over the past 30 years:
   •    Cancer incidence in young adults has increased more than any other age group. 
   •    Survival rates have not improved at the same rate as other age groups. 
   •    Cancer has become the number one disease killer in young adults. 
   •    Young adults are now the most underserved patient population by age. 
   •    Delayed cancer diagnosis is now disproportionately higher in young adults. 
Interesting Stuff:
   •    Young adults get entirely different cancers than other age groups.
   •    There is currently no "young adult cancer research." Funding traditional cancer research most likely will not help a young adult with cancer. Innovation is needed.
Young Adults Are Different:
   •    Young adults have unique needs that other age groups do not such as fertility, relationships, dating, intimacy, sexuality, singlehood, parenting, insurance, financial assistance, career planning, education and age-appropriate peers support.
   •    Social isolation is the number one issue faced by young adults with cancer.
   •    Quality of life for these patients is as important as quality of care.
   •    The entire medical community and cancer continuum at large is grossly uneducated as to how to effectively communicate with, diagnose, treat, support and follow-up with young adults.
Final Thought
   •    Big box cancer organizations do not currently fund young adult cancer research or support the most basic of social services to the young adult support community, let alone sponsor or underwrite young adult advocacy groups.


...I'm sure many of these facts surprised you. I know I was shocked 4 years ago, when I was a senior in college and my boyfriend (now fiance) Chris told me he had cancer.

Cancer is a hard reality to deal with regardless of age, but for the young adult population it raises a lot of unique issues:

How will I pay for my treatment when I'm already struggling financially?
Can I continue to go to college / work? I don't want to fall behind in my career.
Should I move back in with my parents?
Will I still be able to have children?
I feel guilty that my boyfriend/girlfriend is going through this with me.
Will anyone still want to date me?



Fortunately, Chris got the support & treatment he needed and has been cancer free ever since. This April Chris & I will be attending the OMG! 2013 Cancer Summit,  (presented by the I'm Too Young For This! foundation) for young adult cancer patients, survivors, caregivers, etc., which will feature seminars on young adult cancer topics such as managing the finances of cancer care, fertility preservation & options, managing survivor guilt, relationships & dating with cancer, long term effects, and much much more.

Chris & I are very excited to be attending the OMG! Cancer Summit for the first time, and we think it's important for ALL young adults who have been affected by cancer to have the opportunity to participate in this event.

Please visit my fundraising page  and consider making a donation to help a young adult who can't afford to attend the Cancer Summit because they are struggling to pay their medical bills, college loans, etc. get the support & education they need.

Thanks!

-Alice

Our Trip to London & Paris

Chris and I traveled to London & Paris back in the fall of 2009, and I recently wrote an article about our trip for a travel magazine.

Click here to read the article.

(All of my published writing can be found on the Featured page of my blog).

-Alice

MMMeatloaf!

I love comfort food: mashed potatoes, gravy, mac n' cheese, gravy, stuffing, gravy...

...but I also love unclogged arteries. I don't like to sacrifice taste to make something healthier (i.e. if you're craving cheese, just eat REAL cheese, not some fat-free overly processed crap), so I've found ways to make my comfort food a little more guilt-free but still yummy.

Note: Chris and I cook our own dinners and bring our own breakfast/lunch to work almost every day, which is pretty rare for city dwellers like us, and people often wonder how we have the time/energy to do it. The truth is we make a lot of shortcuts, but still try to keep our meals as unprocessed as we can. We both work full-time, we're far from experts in the kitchen, and when we come home from work the last thing we want to do is spend tons of time chopping, etc. and then end up eating at 9:30pm. Also, we have lives.

Last night I made meatloaf AND mac n' cheese, and it was delicious but still healthier than traditional meatloaf and mac n' cheese. Here's what I did:

Turkey Meatloaf  - this is Chris' favorite meal that I make. Before we moved in together, he had never had meatloaf. (whaaaaat? I know).

Full disclosure: I got this recipe from the back of a Lipton's onion soup mix, but altered it since I don't actually use the soup mix.

Ingredients:
2 lb organic ground turkey breast
1 large onion, diced (I was really lazy and used a frozen bag of diced onions - pretty much the greatest thing ever).
2 eggs
3/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup Simply Heinz ketchup
A little fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together and shape into a loaf in a 13x9 baking pan. (Might want to use a little cooking spray on the pan). I like to add a thin layer of ketchup "icing" on the top, but that's just me. Bake for about 1 hour or until done, and let it stand for 10 minutes.

Mac n' Cheese with Broccoli - since we should probably have at least 1 veggie in our dinner...

1 box Annie's Organic Deluxe Whole Wheat Shells & Extra Cheesy Cheddar
1 bag frozen organic broccoli

Follow the mac n' cheese box instructions. Heat up the broccoli. Mix the two together and BOOM, you have cheesy goodness AND something green. DONE.

...and there you have it: not-so-guilty comfort food.

-Alice

Hey, I have blog.

Hey reader! (If you exist). I'm not the most computer savvy person, but I love to write so I've finally decided to start a blog, which hopefully I can make all pretty over the next few weeks - I'm learning as I go.

Where to begin? I guess I should start with my most recent and exciting news: I'm engaged! My fiance Chris and I have been dating for 6 years, and we're really looking forward to being married.

The Proposal
Three weeks ago Chris & I drove out to Allentown, PA for my college's homecoming weekend to meet up with friends, grab beers at our favorite bar and lament that we're not in college anymore ...or so I thought. We arrived just in time for lunch, and since it was such a beautiful fall day Chris suggested we grab food and have a picnic in the rose garden. I then suggested that we get burritos. (Real romantic, Alice).

(Note: There's a gorgeous park a few blocks from campus that has a rose garden, and I used to go there with my roomie Katie. Way back when I had told her that I would want someone to propose to me in a place like the rose garden).

So with a greasy bag of burritos in one hand and my hand in the other, Chris walked me to the middle of the rose garden, and I then said "You know, I can't remember if I ever brought you here, but I'm pretty sure I did." Chris said "Yes, you brought me here... and you mentioned you would want someone to propose to you here." Then he dropped the bag of burritos, fumbled around in his pocket for the ring and asked me to marry him! (And then I started crying and was so excited for the rest of the day that I couldn't eat my burrito).

My sparkly ring! Chris picked it out all by himself and it's perfect!

Me in the rose garden post-proposal, post cry-face.

What a dapper fiance.

We're having a lot of fun being engaged and starting to look at reception venues, etc., but it's amazing the things people (who aren't close friends or family) think are OK to say or ask you when you get engaged. But more on that later...

-Alice