Seeing Red!

About 10 days ago, I received a letter from the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute asking me to participate in a research project. Because of my cancer diagnosis of colon cancer, and the fact that my area has a 27% higher incidence of this cancer than the rest of the commonwealth. They are attempting to determine the reason for this increase so as to prevent it in the future. I immediately returned the signed consent form indicating that I agreed to participate. An appointment was scheduled for me to be interviewed, and meantime, I was asked to fill out a survey of my dietary habits in the year prior to my diagnosis. The survey was pretty heavy on low fat vs. full fat, sugars, carbs, red meats, salty snacks and all the other foods that really aren't optimally nutritious.

Yesterday, I went to the appointment as scheduled, and met with a delightful woman who questioned me on other aspects of my life that may or may not have contributed to my cancer. The appointment lasted about an hour, during which she took a sample of my DNA for genetic testing, which consisted of the scraping of the inside of the cheeks and the tongue, just like on TV.

In the course of the conversation, she told me that the institute was grateful to me for agreeing to participate in the study, since they had a difficult time getting people to do so. People who, like me, carried a diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Refusing to participate in a study to try to determine causative factors. Which might possibly help future generations if discovered. I am furious. I am so furious I could spit. How can anyone deny my children and my grandchildren and their children the possibility of seeing this scourge eradicated in their lifetime?

What could conceivably be reason enough to say, "No" to this endeavor? What would possess a person to forget the chill of hearing their diagnosis so to inflict that chill on those to come after?

For a lousy hour and a half (the food survey took about 30 minutes) it is possible to be the link in the chain that discovers the reason for the tumors that grow in the dark, unseen even as they erode the gut and spread to places where they can't be removed. God preserve us and protect us from such selfishness.