VHL Awareness May 8

February 4 was declared World Cancer Day by the International Union Against Cancer. February 28 is Rare Disease Day.  May 8 this year is VHL Awareness Day. 

Each of us is a Survivor, and yet we know that there may still be another round, another tumor that needs attention at the right moment in order to be successfully treated.  VHL is a cancer risk factor.  We control it through awareness and management.

We are not alone in our concerns about health.  Everyone has some risk factors at work.  One person in ten is dealing with some rare disease, and another one in ten will get cancer.

You can help yourself and your friends and relations know their own cancer risks, get a medical checkup to understand them and take action now.  Here is a suggested message from the Lance Armstrong Foundation which you can easily tailor for someone with VHL in particular, but everyone on the planet is at some risk for some kind of cancer.  We all need to  manage our health.

Dear Friend,
It’s World Cancer Day and I’m joining the team at LIVESTRONG to spread the word about the global cancer crisis and the simple things we can do to protect ourselves.
So here’s the message:

Know your risks. Call your doctor….What are you waiting for?
Learning about your family history and talking to a doctor about your daily habits can give you valuable insight into the steps you need to take, right now. It’s true – talking to your doctor about cancer can be scary, and many of us just forget to bring it up. But your health is important to me and that’s why I’m asking you to start the conversation now.

All of us can take some simple steps, like this one, to fight cancer. For help in taking that first step, DARE TO CALL YOUR DOCTOR:

Want to nudge your friends to call their doctor? Drop the soda? Stop smoking? You can do it here:

Just send a copy of this message to the people you care about and help fight cancer in your own family and community.

As printed in the VHL Family Forum 18:1, February 2010. For permission to reprint, please contact VHL Family Alliance, editor@vhl.org. Further information is available from the VHL Family Alliance, info@vhl.org.