Broken records all around last Friday at the 3rd RealTime Cancer Climb. Over 600 Climbers were with us on Signal Hill in St. John’s and scattered at any of over 15 Remote Climbs in Canada, the US and Ireland. We have raised well over
$15,000 to support our education-based mission. And it is that education-based mission that I want to chat with you about for a minute, or rant about with you for a minute.
It seems, I have learned, that whenever people hear about fund-raising and Cancer they automatically default to assuming it is for research. The media have consistently reported that RealTime Cancer events support Cancer research, no matter how many times I say the word “education” they report otherwise. Not sure why that is, but perhaps it’s because we have been so focused on dealing with the symptoms of our Cancer Challenge, so focused on research for treatments and cures, that we have not really considered the possibility that we could reduce and avoid many of the Challenges. This is a little frustrating to me.
We can look at any million examples in life and find support for the theory that life’s challenges require much less effort to deal with if we can put some effort into avoiding them in the first place. Checking your oil regularly is much less of a hassle than replacing your engine after burning it out from driving without any oil. There are a million examples that I could give here, and all would support my belief that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” (I know there is a line about that somewhere and it just occurred to me, love clichés).
So despite this knowledge, we have not made the “giant” leap to applying this theory to our health. I guess the truth is we have, but at a very small level, the concept of prevention has only barely begun to creep into our vocabulary, and some where some one knows the dollar ratio of $$ focused on treatment/cures compared with $$ focused on prevention, and I assure you it’s not pretty. So that is a message that I have begun to spread, and it is one that I want people to hear, what they do with it is their own choice, but I like communicating the message. Relates very much to one of my favourite words, Responsibility, and I believe we are responsible for the choices we make, in all areas of life, health included.
As I got back into schools in the past few weeks, and generally interacted with more people and talked about RealTime Cancer I rediscovered a theme that I had forgotten for a little while, and it is a theme I have particular trouble with. It goes something like this “my Grandfather had it, my Dad had it, so I’m going to get it”. I have no studies to back up these thoughts I’m about to say, but “no you’re not”. Just because your Grandfather/mother had Cancer, and your Dad/Mom had it, doesn’t in any way mean that you are going to get. I was troubled to hear these comments from younger and older people in the past few weeks, as I am such a firm believer in the fact that we are all individuals, and we can never predict the future. Sure probabilities give some idea, but probabilities are based on yesterday, not tomorrow, and the reality is that none of us know what that’s going to bring. I find it troubling that some where along the path people have arrived at a place that seems too near the side of hopelessness, and I have trouble seeing that situation for anyone of any age, especially young people. I don’t know the combination of experiences and events that have lead to that place, and would suggest is customized for everyone, but I would like you to know that there’s hope, even when there appears to be no hope. I’m living proof of that.
Enough of my ranting… what I simply would like you to hear/read is, and maybe I’m writing to convince myself as much as anyone, but I do really believe that we have great influence over many of the Challenges we face, not control but influence. And to be 17 and locked into the fact that you’re going to “get it” is a tough thing for me to grasp and accept. It may happen, but I believe in my core that there are decisions we can make every day that will reduce our risk of ever “getting it”.
Had to get this out of me, thanks for listening. Back soon.
Always…
Live Life. Love Life.
Geoff
