HW 30 - Illness & Dying - Culminating Experiential Project

Death is seen as a crisis that occurs later on in life, so theirs no reason to have any though of it now. Because it’s something that typically occurs at a very old age. Most common situations, this is the case. But when it comes to an illness it’s a whole different ball game. A terminal illness can prevent you from continuing a healthy, stress free, "normal" lifestyle and most importantly shorten the time you have. The time you have to live your life. These thoughts have seemed to come up in my mind quite often because all I keep hearing is about one part of the family repeatedly being faced with Cancer. if I were to guess, in the past 6 months, 3 cousins of mine have all gotten sick and this is because of there gene pool which is sad to say. Because of this I became infatuated with exploring how a hereditary terminal Illness can affect an individual mentally as well as physically. I interviewed my cousin who is now dealing with a hereditary disease and myself who has realized that my gene pool has another hereditary disease that needs to be payed attention to.

“omg did you hear, Pe*** got cancer". My mother’s words shocked me as I heard them two weeks ago. He coming down for a weekend was quite a surprise because I haven’t seen him in over 2 years. But for some stranger reason this weekend was a gathering for the family to acknowledge everyone’s situation. So I took advantage of this and decided to ask him a couple questions after we had our casual talk.

1. How was your day?
A: it hasn’t been well. The thought of having to leave everything behind is puzzling me.
2. What are you dealing with? Explain as much as possible.
A: My two sisters were diagnosed with Cancer, one with colon cancer which is what I have and the other I don’t even know. I can’t quite come up with the name right now. A random appearance of a bump that I thought was just an assist was actually a sign of cancer. I didn’t want to check that bump out in the doctor, doctors are just not my thing. But by me not going, im became vulnerable to the cancer that has been passed down by my dead father.
3: how do you feel about the cause of your illness? And the emotional and physical affect it has?
It’s overwhelming to know that I didn’t get this illness from my own actions like being a chain smoker. It has a big affect, what the f*** do you think. Ima leave now and go eat

He rushed towards the gathering that was set and mostly for him. Family feeling pity just like anyone would for someone who is dealing with cancer. My cousin built up defense mechanisms because of his situation. Not saying much, being a man of few words throughout the whole day. Hearing that he has a good chance to battle it like his older sister did was a relief to us but not to him. You could notice the emotional distress felt in his facial expressions, his walk and even in the way he ate. The terminal illness has taken a drastic toll on him emotionally and he must take it upon himself to beat the cancer physically.

After hearing what my cousin had to say I found myself being overwhelmed at the thought that one day I might be in the same predicament as he’s in. not knowing my father as much as another teenager does has allot of faults. We don’t talk at all. But earlier this year I found out that my father might have diabetes. I didn’t care at all about the fact that he has this, which is sad but I cared mostly about the fact that I can be affected. I began to feel a small portion of hate towards him for this, but what can he do. So I took it upon myself to further my knowledge on how to stay healthy swell as shy away from diabetes.

"Hereditary diseases run the gamut from cancer to diabetes, neurological problems to kidney problems. In some cases those diseases can be prevented or held at bay.  Healthy living and diet and exercise programs geared to combat your particular medical possibilities can help prevent hereditary diseases such as high blood pressure, stress and anxiety as well as several hereditary mental illnesses"

Read more: Prevention of Hereditary Diseases | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/way_5188179_prevention-hereditary-diseases.html#ixzz1BMjYvy84

Healthy living which many do not know can prevent diseases as they age. Me knowing this before and now. I will keep up the healthy eating and exercise only for the fact of trying not to catch diabetes as a man but also doing it because it feels good. My cousin put things in perspective for me. Ignorance is bliss. Do and know what you can. Ive come to realize now that if someone has health insurance, thy should use it to there extent. I remember having mother screaming at me for not going to the dentist to make an appointment. But I didn’t care because it was just the dentist. Just the dentist, a typical response and an ignorant one as well. Teeth are important and so is your health. So whatever you can do, do it.

Death comes sooner or later but with hereditary diseases it comes before you know it. My cousin being only 30 has been dealing with the fact of having colon cancer because of his genes. Because of who made him come into this world. people look at death as a dreadful moment of a persons life. the ending. an ending that many fear like my cousin and i. people in general can prevent from getting an illness by doing things like eating healthy and being active.