Colorectal Cancer

What Makes a Friend

What makes a friend?

It’s a question you’ve probably been asked before in some hypothetical or philosophical type of way. Have you ever really had to answer the question, “What makes a friend,” though?

Dear Cancer, You Weren’t Invited

Dear Cancer,

You came into my life abruptly and invaded my body. The moment I heard your name you terrorized my soul until it was dust in the wind. You are soul-crushing. Every cancer patient would agree that we wish we would have never met you. But here we are. You make the strongest souls weak.

The Rollercoaster No One Expects

Kidney infections, kidney stones, menopause, hair loss, osteoporosis, septic shock, ostomy, depression, body image issues, and mental health struggles.

None of these words would typically be used in the same sentence when describing a young adult, but they are common when describing a young adult cancer patient/ survivor. My name is Allison Rosen, and I am a 10-year stage 2c colorectal cancer survivor.

Changing My Mind to Change My Body

Before I was a cancer patient, I was healthy, fit, and as my husband often said, “out of his league.” Though I wouldn’t say I staked my entire identity on the way my body looked and performed, I was very comfortable with it the way it was. Then cancer changed everything.

How Yoga Helped Me Crush Cancer and Crisis

In 2016, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 rectal cancer a few months short of my 40th birthday. Fast forward to 2020. I’m three years cancer-free – but I was laid off for the first time in my life in the early stages of a global pandemic.

Climbing the Mountain

I felt like I was walking on clouds…and surprisingly, that’s not as pleasant as it sounds. It’s almost like there was a disconnect between my feet and the ground.

Patient Information and Self-Advocacy

About a year and half after the birth of my second child, I started noticing some blood in my stool. I was otherwise super healthy, I had recently switched to veganism and become an avid exerciser, and in result (or so I thought) lost all the baby weight and felt generally better than at any other point of time in my entire life.