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Mother’s Day Memories from our Blogger Friends

Posted on May 12th, 2012 by American Cancer Society

At the American Cancer Society, we like to think of Mother’s Day as a birthday too, because it’s a day to  celebrate another year with the women who have touched our lives in so many ways. When we fight for less cancer and more birthdays, we also fight for more Mother’s Days. Another year with our mothers, and another year as mothers.

In reflecting on this sentiment, we asked the members of our Blogger Advisory Council (BAC) to share their most memorable Mother’s Day stories with us. Their words are thoughtful, heart-warming and heart-breaking. Truthful emotions conjured up from memories that will never be forgotten.

Karen Zgoda, a doctoral student at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work, shared a childhood memory of Mother’s Day that still leaves her feeling “warm and fuzzy.”

“Growing up with a single mother, Mother’s Day was very special. As a little girl it was a time to just hang out with my mom, have fun, and try to make her feel nice. My favorite was when we went to the local McDonald’s that had an amazing playground I would enjoy for hours. For Mother’s Day, they always served a special pancake breakfast so moms could hang out there with their kids. I just loved spending that time together with her there!”

Darryle Pollack, a writer, TV journalist, artist, cancer survivor and mother, wrote an incredibly moving blog post about why Mother’s Day matters to her and how it started to matter before she even had children.

“I was a freshman at Cornell. One day that spring my father called my dorm out of the blue to arrange a Mother’s Day surprise for my mom. She had just gone into the hospital for a back problem – and he wanted me to fly home and surprise her, just for the day…”

Read all of Darryle’s Mother’s Day post here.

Jim Lin, a marketing professional who blogs about life as a dad shared some beautiful memories of his mother’s love, captured in the everyday moments of life.

“I grew up in an environment that incinerated my self-confidence on a daily basis. I won’t go into details, but let’s just set the stage a bit: only Asian kid in a working-class east coast suburb in the mid-eighties. Unfortunately, when confidence ebbs, self-doubt and loathing quickly move in to fill the void. But a mother’s love can too. When I was sure being Chinese was a license to be ridiculed, she’d speak to me in Chinese in public. And nobody laughed. When I was too chubby for the cool army pants I just bought, she’d cut a piece from the hem and expand the waistline a little bit. And nobody noticed. And when I was all grown up and graduated from college, but too overwhelmed to pack up my apartment to move to California, she showed up with packing tape, and a snack. My mom has made every birthday of mine another year to reflect on what her unconditional love has meant to me. And I wish her more birthdays ad infinitum, so that she can enjoy the love that her grandkids, grown-up kids and extended family give back to her every day.”

Do you have a memory of Mother’s Day that has always stuck with you? Share your story in the comments below.

Why Acting Like a Kid Can Help You Slim

Posted on May 2nd, 2012 by American Cancer Society

By April Daniels Hussar, Cross-posted from HealthySELF

Have you had your playtime today? Yes, we’re being serious, even if it’s been decades since your last play date. According to a recent survey by the American Cancer Society (ACS), women are 10 percent less likely than men to engage in physical activity that we consider fun, and it’s taking a toll on our productivity, health and happiness. Meaning … it’s time to step away from the computer and get your hula hoop out!

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That’s not to say that women aren’t on the move at all — 60 percent of women report that in general, they make time to “play” once a week or more. But the bad news is that 40 percent of women report that they take part in physical activity they enjoy or consider to be fun less often than they did a few years ago. Playtime is declining! And yet, 40 percent of women said they would be more physically active in their free time if it felt less like work and more like play.

“Being active is an essential element of maintaining a healthy weight and helping to reduce your cancer risk, but sometimes getting motivated to go to the gym is a lot easier said than done,” says Colleen Doyle, MS, RD and director of nutrition and physical activity at ACS. “We all need a little inspiration sometimes to incorporate physical activity into our lives, and one of the easiest ways is by doing something that feels less like working out and more like fun.”

As a result of these stats, this May, ACS is encouraging women to “choose play” and get active with their 100,000 Acts of Play Challenge. They’re calling on women across the U.S. to get playing and to log their acts of play at ChooseYou.com/Play — with the goal of reaching 100,000 acts of play by month’s end. Here are some of their ideas for your playtime — hopefully you’ll be inspired to think of even more!

1. Office Volleyball! That’s right — grab a blow-up beach ball and some co-workers, and spend 15 minutes being way more productive than you ever would be in a monthly planning meeting.

2. Kickball or dodgeball with your family or friends. Other fun group ideas: freeze-tag, soccer and volleyball.

3. Hula hoop. Make like Michelle Obama and shake your hips! Other fun, old-school ways to get moving: hopscotch, jump rope and hoppity hop balls (those fun bouncy balls you bounce around on).

4. Go for a bike ride. Remember being a kid, streamers flying from your handlebars, a bottle of water in your basket and no place in particular to go?

5. Dance party! You can do this all alone or with a friend — put on some great music and twist away.

6. Work in the garden. Fresh air, beautiful results and a happier body — what more could you want?

When it comes to deciding how to “play,” Alpa V. Patel, PhD, Strategic Director of Cancer Prevention at ACS, tells HealthySELF that the best thing you can do is “find something you enjoy and find ways to include it in your everyday life.”

According to ACS, “Play can be anything that gets you breathing harder and your heart beating faster, from riding your bike to gardening. All types of activity count, as long as you’re doing them for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity each week.”

Dr. Patel says anything that gets your heart rate up is worth doing. ”Ideally, you want to do the activity for at least 10 minutes at a time. If you don’t have too much time at once, do 10-15 minutes in the morning, 10-15 minutes at lunch and 10-15 minutes before you go to bed.”

And if you’re really feeling playful, may we suggest a little “Dance Walking?”

CURE Magazine Celebrates More Birthdays in its 10th Birthday Issue

Posted on April 3rd, 2012 by American Cancer Society

CURE magazine is celebrating its 10th birthday this year – 10 years of sharing free information with cancer patients, survivors and caregivers along their cancer journey.  We are proud to serve as an ongoing resource for CURE and to also contribute to CURE’s Cancer Resource Guide, which features practical information on making treatment decisions, navigating the health care system, and coping with a cancer diagnosis.

It’s only fitting that to mark its 10th birthday, CURE would celebrate the milestones and more birthdays of six people who were featured in its inaugural year of publication, 2002. Cancer was – and is – a defining moment for these people and we were moved by their experiences.  Read below for an excerpt from Doris Lemonier, a breast cancer survivor who took part in a clinical trial with a drug Herceptin and is now living cancer-free with her friends, colleagues, and family in Louisiana:

In January 2002, Doris Lemonier, a 51-year-old elementary school French teacher in Lake Charles, La., received a breast cancer diagnosis. When her doctor recommended a clinical trial at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Lemonier sought counsel from family. “My colleagues are my family,” Lemonier says today, still teaching elementary French at T.S. Cooley Elementary Magnet School in Lake Charles. “My principal and I started on the same day in 1996 and had become close friends. She said I should go to M.D. Anderson.”

Lemonier, a single mother of three grown children, wanted to do everything she could to ensure more time to enjoy her three grandchildren, so she took part in a clinical trial that added a new drug called Herceptin (trastuzumab) to her chemotherapy.  By April, the doctor told her that her tumor was 99 percent gone. She finished chemotherapy in July and had a mastectomy in August.

For Lemonier, who is now cancer-free, it has been a decade of enjoying family—her grandchildren, who now number eight—and her colleagues.

Herceptin is a drug that has turned one of the deadliest forms of breast cancer into one of the most treatable. During his early years of research, founder Dr. Dennis Slamon received a kick-off grant from The American Cancer Society that was instrumental in Herceptin’s eventual approval by the FDA in 1998. To learn more about how the American Cancer Society supports cancer research and has played a part in almost every cancer breakthrough, visit us at cancer.org/research.

And to celebrate more personal stories like Doris’ in the 10th birthday issue of CURE today.