3 Ways To Care for a Friend With Cancer.

Hearing about a cancer diagnosis can be difficult for anyone, but it is especially devastating when it is one of your friends. You may feel uncertain about what the future will hold and wonder if your friend will be okay. While there is no perfect solution for caring for a friend with cancer, there are a few things that you can do to make this time easier on them. These include spending time with them, making a care package and being willing to listen.

Jealousy Incarnate, 2016.

1. Spend Time With Them
Things can get lonely when a person is taking cancer treatments and spending a lot of time at home. Consider visiting with your friend when she is feeling up to it. Bake her favorite treat and leave it at her house. If she feels like spending the day out, you can help her shop for wigs Westchester County NY. Just showing up makes a big statement about how much you care.

Special care package for men.

2. Make a Care Package
If your friend is having to take chemotherapy or radiation treatments, you can make her a care package to make things easier on treatment days. Your package does not have to include anything fancy; a soft blanket, good book and hand lotion are great things to include. This will show how much you care, and it can do a lot to brighten her day. You can add in little gifts that made you think of her, and even ask what things she could benefit from during her treatments.

Kim Woo Bin, diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer in 2017.

3. Be Willing To Listen 
Being diagnosed with cancer is difficult for anyone. Your friend may feel sad, lonely or confused. She may need someone to just talk to. You must make sure that anything that is shared is kept in the strictest confidence. You can offer comforting words or just be there to simply help take the load off. While you may feel that anything you do is not enough to help your friend, doing little things for her can show her how much you love her and cherish her friendship. It is a difficult thing to talk about, but be sure that you do not ignore the situation entirely. Instead, let her know that you are there for whatever she and her family may need. This can be a difficult time for you and your friend, but by sticking together, you can get through this.

Spreading Hope on Mesothelioma Awareness Day.

Unbeknownst to many, there is a thing called 'Mesothelioma Awareness Day', and it's celebrated every year on September 26.

Meso-what?! Mesothelioma, or more precisely, malignant mesothelioma, is a rare form of cancer that affects the membrane lining of the lungs and abdomen. Mesothelioma is most commonly caused by exposure to asbestos, and is the most deadly among all asbestos-related diseases.

Symptoms or signs of mesothelioma may not appear until 20-30 years (or more) after exposure to asbestos. Such is the case of Heather von St. James, who was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma in November 2005 - barely three months after giving birth to her child.

When Heather was a little girl, her father worked in a construction company, where asbestos fibers are commonly used. Her dad would come home from work with his coat covered in white dust, and little did the family know that exposure to his clothes would put Heather's life at risk.

Heather was given just 15 months to live, but with proper treatment, support from her husband and family, and with her daughter as her inspiration, she was fortunate enough to make it through the ordeal. It's been eight years since Heather survived the big C, and she has made it a mission to spread awareness and help mesothelioma victims around the globe.

Heather, with her husband Cameron and daughter Lily.

Today, I am joining Heather and her family in raising awareness for mesothelioma. And in honor of Meso Awareness Day, I am giving my voice to the victims of this deadly disease. You too, could help. One simple message could save lives.

September 26 is Mesothelioma Awareness Day. 

Some Facts about Asbestos

- Asbestos fibers are invisible to the naked eye.

- In the US, roughly 30 million pounds of asbestos are being used each year.

- Asbestos remains as the number one cause of occupational cancer in the US, even 30 years after the peak of its use.
- Asbestos was once used in common household items such as toasters and hairdryers, and over 3,000 consumer products.

- Asbestos can still be found in many homes, schools, commercial and industrial buildings.

Crowdfunding the Battle Against Cancer.

I first came across the name cureLauncher last year, while going through the LiveStrong blog. You may not know it, but I've been a cancer advocate for quite some time now. And to be honest, it was actually Lance Armstrong's inspiring battle against cancer that made me one. I may not speak about it often, nor do I have a fortune to donate to cancer research, but I do support the cause in the many simple ways that I can.

Find. Fund. Cure.

Like this, for instance. Telling you about cureLauncher - how it brings together leading medical researchers and private donors to discover advance medical treatments that can eventually save lives. cureLauncher, with its modern platform and gear towards transparency, aims to address the biggest setback of lifesaving cancer treatments - testing recently-developed drugs, and making them accessible to those who need them.

As such, cureLauncher provides pertinent information on emerging treatments, access to the medical experts and researchers involved, and actual enrollment to over 500 breast cancer medical research trials. In addition, the program gives just about any Tom, Dick, or Harry a chance to be involved, to donate to cancer research by means of the 'crowdfunding' model. Finally, it allows people to interact with the researchers themselves.

With all these, cureLauncher hopes to work hand in hand with organizations, raise awareness, and streamline the way drugs are selected for development and treatment. Of course, its biggest hope (and mine, too) is to finally find the drug that can finally bust, eliminate, eradicate cancer for good.