Hi Al, I am helping to oversee this YAC site and help where I can with YAC issues and concerns. Your post has thrown into the limelight a very important topic for YACs - 'Workplace issues'. (one which i think should go straight to the advocacy agenda for YACs!) I will follow up with some info for you and our fellow YACs after I find out the best contact from CC staff to provide some information around this issue. Thanks for sharing your experience and thanks to stevec, AmandaC, Jules JP, Kate and harker for your speedy advice through sharing your similar situations. Nikki ... View more

another gal with pure guts and determination - i love it!! ... View more

here here gal! ... View more

i like survivor too. however it took a while to find it fitted with me. Steve, i think with each type of cancer there are different words thrown at you by the docs. i agree, it is confusing and the variation in terminology doesn't help us does it? Julie, great research into the word use. you are definitely a great source of info 🙂 thanks! Nikki ... View more

Hi Michelle, i am so glad you have found this site to feel you have a connection with other people effected by cancer. it makes such a huge difference to see that you are not alone in this experience. its hard with the lymphoma's (and leukaemia's - which i had) because the treatment is SO intense, long and re occurrence being in the back of your mind. i was still struggling BIG TIME 3 years down the track coming to terms with it all. i though everyone had the intensive style of treatment that the blood cancers have, but when i started going to support groups and hearing that the treatment for other cancers was not nearly as bad, just made me feel worse! it has got better over time, and i have used many paths to get here, but all i can say is it takes time and hang in there. stay connected :) Nikki ... View more

i also agree with Amanda, Jules and Steve here. it is hard sitting in a room with people who are much older and actually have had the opportunity to live life more, have the careers, the children, build a nest egg, and often many of them are enjoying retirement, with time on their hands to sit back and enjoy life. we YACs have not reached this life stage yet, and it is completely stripped from us as soon as we are diagnosed. the fact that these issues are not addressed by the health team throughout a YACs cancer treatment only makes matters worse through isolation and sheer frustration. If a LWAC program can be shaped for YAC issues that would definitely be a great start in helping us alleviate this isolation. Annie, because we YACS are demographically more isolated due to smaller numbers in diagnosis compared to the older cancer population.... how do you envisage these YAC LWAC programs to be delivered? I can't see how you would get larger numbers in small regional centres, or YACS to travel to the city fro such programs, as they often have children to look after, work/study commitments and less finances available to spend on such things. Nikki ... View more

hey Steve, likewise i don't have the 'normal' 5 year 'you are a survivor' tag. with my cancer there is no 5 year / 7 year marker, instead we are told it may reappear any time again, but as time goes on it is less likely. maybe we need a new tag word instead of using 'survivor'? ... View more

Hi Yvette, I know that the term survivor is not for everyone... but in my eyes you are a survivor of cancer right from the minute you are diagnosed, whether the docs give you a good or poor prognosis. I was given a 5% chance of surviving my cancer when first diagnosed and for some reason i automatically thought.... '5 people out of a hundred survive, therefore this is not a death sentence - and i will be one of those 5'. that was 7.5 years ago and the road to get here has not always been easy. Definitely the most confronting time for me was the first few years and learning to cope with the fact that I might die from this disease. but i still managed to fill each day with living. i did have a few days when i would cry because i felt my young body had betrayed me. and there were other times that i was so god damned isolated i suffered depression. But i had no services like this one to link into - they just did not exist back then. then i found Planet Cancer, which was a great start, but i wanted to and needed to connect with Australians. so my key to getting through the 'limbo stage' you are experiencing was CONNECTING with others in a similar situation. A few years down the track, when i gained some confidence and social grace again, i also found a passion was inside me to find new ways that I could help YA Australians connect and not go through this isolation that i experienced. i hope this helps you a little :) Nikki ... View more

hey Mags, i see you have had a name change.... so hi anniem! Isn't it just crazy how you can change your identity at the flick of a button - cool!! look forward to a LWAC for YACs 🙂 ... View more

Hey thanks Steve and Amanda for your input here. great suggestions and i am so with you on the whole 'accessing information' or BIG lack of it that exists ATM. SO my thoughts are... i think once we have some more exciting new functionalities set up in this new YAC Social Group, we work out a way to promote this service. i.e. poster campaign in the hospitals, awareness campaign for GP's etc etc.... I am having a meeting with the CC this week about all this. I will keep you guys posted on any new advancements. Until then, if you have any more ideas, shoot them this way and feel free to invite anyone you know to join this group. I will be doing an invite campaign once i know exactly what functions this group will have or have coming along in the not too distant future 🙂 ... View more