Living with AYA cancer: Introduce yourself and meet others

I am 25 years old, I was diagnosed with Melanoma at 21 and have been battling ever since. I am currently doing radiation and a combination of chemo and immunotherapy. I love connecting and talking with people and really hope to see a in-person support group started so if anyone on here knows of one I'd love to join (I know its hard right now to connect due to the state of the world at this time, restrictions are lifting so I still have hope.

Peace be with you,
Krista

Hi, everyone! I am new to the group. I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 32 when I was 37 weeks pregnant. This was at the very end of December 2019, and last year I went through chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation. Now, I've been in remission for about a year. I just found out about this resource from my team, and I thought it would be helpful to connect with people who have been through a similar experience. I hope you're all doing well.

Hi Sarah, welcome!
Kudos to your team for telling you about Mayo Clinic Connect. Allow me to introduce you to @jessica0. She, too, discovered she had cancer while pregnant. @stephtubman was about the same age as you when she was diagnosed.

Going through cancer treatments from pre-COVID and then transitioning to all the new pandemic protocols in 2020 sure added an extra level of complexity and anxiety. How are you doing now? What do you find most challenging now that active treatment is finished?

Thank you for the welcome! I'm doing well now and trying to adjust back to normal life after active treatment with work and family. I think what I find most challenging is that there is a new part of my identity, as a cancer patient or survivor, that I never expected to have attached to myself, at least not at this age. I have always loved writing, so I have been writing a lot to cope with everything that goes along with cancer during a pandemic and the recovery process. I had a few friends early on tell me to focus on something that I'm passionate about during treatment, and that advice has proved very helpful.

Hello Sarah, I too can relate to adjusting to normalcy is challenging.
I read a piece a few months back explaining how being diagnosed with cancer feels more like you’re being kidnapped. We struggle to stay alive while receiving our treatments and dealing with the pain that comes from that. Survival is escaping and being free once again, but we are left with the trauma in the back of our minds. It’s nice to deal with the “normal” day to day issues again, but like that piece said we are still dealing with the trauma that came with it.
I have been receiving immunotherapy for the last four years & been doing much better year to year, but I have noticed everyone has forgotten the battle I fight and they have fully transitioned back to their normalcy & what they expect from me. Some days I am tired and want to remind everyone what I am going thought, but most days I don’t notice and enjoy my motherhood duties that I fought so hard to have back. Evan though the days are long I still enjoy dealing with the everyday problems much more than any cancer related issues.

I think the comparison of a cancer diagnosis to being kidnapped is really relatable. I feel like it's becomes a part of our identity that suddenly takes up so much space, even though we never asked for it. I still have quite a few days where I feel tired or not quite myself, but it's getting better. And everyday problems seem much less challenging in comparison.

Hi there! Popping in here to see if anyone out there - adolescent males.. My son who is 14 got diagnosed with testicular cancer. I wanted to see if any boys who have gone through it would be willing to connect with us/him.

Hi @alisei. I highly recommend that your son join the AYA monthly support group on Zoom. They meet the first Thursday every month from 6- 8 p.m. Arizona time, which is Pacific time right now and becomes Mountain time when the clocks change (but not in Arizona).

The next meeting is on Nov 3. See details here:
- YA, Me Too: Young Adult Cancer Support Group Meeting https://connect.mayoclinic.org/event/ya-me-too-young-adult-support-group-meeting-118/

Thank you so much for this! I will encourage him to join. 🤗

Hi I'm Blake, male and 29. It all started when I was just walking and I there was on right side of my hip a big snap follow by the worst pain I've ever experienced it was off the charts to the point that my heart rate was high enough to be of concern so the paramedics were having me do breathing exercises to try and relax before they started me on the drugs. So on the right side of my hip where the femur bone connects to the hip broke clean off, they did a partial hip replacement. So I was in the hospital for three weeks and the last days I was there I was working with physical therapy. I was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma It was a long recovery at home, I think it was a month before I was able to walk on my own.

Then at the end of September 2021 I started R-CHOP chemo and radiation and completed it in January 2022. I'm due for a bone scan in a couple of months, but I haven't had any bone pain so I expect the result to be good.