OMG! 2012 ends, young adult cancer awareness week begins

Today was the last day of the OMG! Summit, and although I was tired (as were many others who got to enjoy the fun of Vegas), I was a little sad to see it end. But before the ending ceremonies, patients and survivors got another chance to open up to each other and share their hard-earned wisdom. Such nuggets of advice included, "coping with fear [of recurrence] is a muscle, but it gets stronger" and that sometimes patients need to learn how to be "care-receivers" just like the people in their lives learn how to be caregivers. And sometimes patients have to let the caregivers in their lives still fulfill the role in patients' lives they had before cancer--be it spouse, parent, sibling or friend.And I know that I'm boiling down some of the complex issues that were talked about (and perhaps doing it much less eloquently than the speakers), but the beauty of a conference like this is everyone can carry the lessons they learned and the connections they made with them. And it doesn't really end here. Perhaps it's kind of perfect that OMG! ended at the beginning of the national young adult cancer awareness week. And this year marks the tenth anniversary of this special week (which is always the first week of April). So as one event in the young adult cancer movement ends, another begins, and the momentum keeps building.