Celebrating Cancer Survivors

Here at Baron & Budd, we are anxiously looking forward to the day when mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer caused solely by exposure to asbestos, is no longer a death sentence for patients. New therapies and treatments have shown remarkable promise in the past few years, giving hope that a cure for mesothelioma might not be too far in the future.

We believe strongly that those undergoing treatment for cancer and mesothelioma are survivors in every sense of the word. Every day you stay alive, enrolling in a clinical trial or fighting in your own way to make a difference in the quality of your life and in the lives of future cancer patients, is a day to honor and celebrate your survivorship.

National Cancer Survivors Day was celebrated on the first Sunday in June. Intended to inspire those who have received a cancer diagnosis to think of themselves as survivors instead of someone destined for an early death, the day was first celebrated on June 5, 1988. Conceived at the second national conference of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1987, National Cancer Survivors Day was commemorated .by President George W. Bush and the director of the National Cancer Institute in 2008.

Festivities around the nation included walk/runs, lectures, parades, dances and candle-lighting ceremonies. Some communities have staged their events at local amusement parks featuring roller coasters in order to underscore the wild up and down ride of mental and physical issues and side effects that cancer and its treatments can be.

To those of you who are battling the formidable disease that is mesothelioma cancer, we at Baron & Budd salute you. The journey through living with cancer can be isolating and lonely. We encourage you to seek comfort and companionship. Celebrate being alive! Mesothelioma support groups can offer peer-to-peer advice on coping with physical and emotional changes while reassuring you that you are not in this fight alone. Every day you live with mesothelioma is a day to honor your continued survival. You are our heroes.