This is a double issue of Cody’s Corner! Cactus Cancer Society takes July off, so you will get double the Cody in this post!
Welcome to June, the month with the longest day of the year! “Really? The longest day of the year? When’s that?” It’s June 21st! There will be 15 hours and two minutes of sunlight on that day (at least here in NJ!), as the North Pole will be at its closest point to the sun. By comparison, the shortest day of the year (December 21st) will have nine hours and 15 minutes of sunlight. Do you want to see how many hours of daylight you will have on June 21st? Go here and look at what it says under Daylength on June 21st!
Last month, I mentioned the Young Adult Cancer Camp organized by YASU and Elephants & Tea. It is already FULL! All 100 spots were taken in the first four days, but the waitlist is currently open if anyone is interested in going. If you want to put yourself on the waitlist, go to the YA Cancer Camp website.
June is also a pretty important month for this community, one with a pretty divided definition: National Cancer Survivors Month. Why might this be divided? Survivor means different things to different people. The National Cancer Institute defines a survivor as, “A person is considered a cancer survivor from the time of diagnosis through the balance of life.” They also added, “There are many types of survivors, including those living with cancer and those free of cancer.” This can be a hard definition for some – I’m on the chronic side of cancer, so I am honestly pretty unsure what I consider myself. Survivorship is a very personal thing – what camp do you consider yourself in? Some who are done with treatment might not even consider themselves a survivor until a little bit later because of that nagging, “What if?” Even after the bell has been rung, your body can decide to un-ring it and bring that nasty little thing called cancer back.
June 7th is National Cancer Survivors Day – are you going to celebrate it? You could think about it as a day for your future self, the self you aspire to be, or a day for who your friends are or hopefully will be. You can celebrate it with the cancer friends you care about and wish could be in the land of no cancer, where they don’t have to actively deal with treatment and feeling like crap all of the time. Personally, I am meeting up with some of my cancer friends and going to the beach. When we were planning it, we didn’t realize it was National Cancer Survivors Day until I saw it online! Now, I don’t like the sand… or the ocean… too much, but it is always fun being around friends! And don’t worry, I will be wearing some sunscreen and a hat (provided I don’t forget…we’ll see!)
Now, last month I talked about my summer plans. I am going to YA Cancer Camp, but I will also try to meet up with my cancer friends at least once a month. It’s fun – sometimes we get a quick bite to eat, sometimes we go to a game shop and play some board games, and sometimes we do a trivia night (We usually place in the top three…but we don’t like getting third. The third place prize at the place we go to is a four pack of beer – not the best prize for cancer patients or survivors!). If you don’t have any cancer friends, I know you can find some! It can take a bit – you might have to roam from organization to organization until you find someone. If you need some help, why not reach out to me? I can always be your cancer friend – just ask my other cancer friends, I message them all the time!
If you are currently going through treatment, Dear Jack Foundation has its LifeList wish-granting program opening June 18th. It’s for anyone 18-39 who is currently going through treatment. The maximum spend for a wish is $1500, but wishes granted include things like a trip, a computer, or appliances – as you can see, there are a wide variety of things you can get! They choose recipients randomly, and it opens for new applications on a quarterly basis.
Now you’re reading this next part in July (or are you going to just read it all in June? Gasp! How could you read July’s post in June?) – here in NJ, that’s a toasty month that can sometimes be intolerable due to the lovely combination of high temperature and humidity.
However, despite the heat and miserableness driving us (or…me, at least) into the air conditioning, it has one of the best days of the year: July 28th! Why July 28th? It’s simple: that’s my birthday! Yay! I’ll be 36 (Ahhh, so old! Does wisdom come with age? We’ll see!).
July is a month of relaxation. As a kid, it was a time of summer vacation, ice cream trucks, and running through sprinklers. Like how in winter we need to shelter inside to avoid the cold, in summer we can go outside and stay cool – why not recreate that childhood feeling? Go buy some water balloons, a Super Soaker, and go have some fun. (Fun fact: the Super Soaker was invented by a NASA engineer!) Hey, maybe even buy some of those freezer pops that come in colors where they are deliciously unhealthy with their nuclear bright colors that will stain your tongue! You could also go outside into the sun (yes, that giant burning bright ball of fire in the sky!), get some vitamin D, and read a book. You just need to put on some sunscreen, some bug spray (to keep away the darn mosquitoes!), and maybe put a hat on to stay safe. See – the heat can’t be entirely miserable!
Speaking of books, have you read anything good recently? While writing this, I am partway through Villain by Natalie Zina Walschots, which is the second book in a series. The main character is a woman who uses her spreadsheet-creating skills to plot the downfall of superheroes and the organization that backs them. Yes, it sounds odd…but go read the first book, Hench. If you are looking for a quick read this summer, check out the Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells – they range from around 150 pages to 350 pages. You might recognize the name if you are an Apple TV watcher. It was turned into a TV series, and it’s good!. It takes place in the far-flung future where a security robot overrides its programming to gain free will.
Now let’s say you can’t go outside, you don’t have the attention span to read (darn chemo brain!), and you just want to sit on the couch and watch something – what should you watch? Well, I have a few suggestions:
Galavant, a TV show that aired from 2015-2017, was a musical comedy about a heroic knight. He has the love of his life taken away by a king and goes on a journey to get her back. It has songs by Alan Menken, who worked on a bunch of 90s Disney movies. It is an amazing parody.
And since you’re already watching one musical, why not follow it up with Schmigadoon! ? It aired from 2021-2023 on Apple TV. Schmigadoon! is a musical comedy that satirizes different musicals. Season 1 was 1940s and 1950s musicals; Season 2 was 1960s and 1970s musicals. Season 1 was also turned into a Broadway musical that premiered a few months back!
So, you’re not into musicals? Check out Jury Duty, a comedy where a person is put through activities while not knowing everyone else is an actor. In the first season, a person has to go through jury duty, which up being a fake case that was scripted. In the second season, another person works as a temp at a fake business that is having their company retreat. It is much more wholesome and hilarious than it sounds – they don’t make fun of the “normal person” in either season.
You don’t want to laugh? Okay…how about you check out For All Mankind, an alternate-history science fiction show where the Soviet Union beats America to the moon. As a result, the Space Race continues. Each season takes place in a different decade. The fifth season just finished airing, and it was renewed for a sixth and final season.
Guys, I think we’re going to have a good two months! If you want to reach out to me, check out my Instagram, and feel free to message me at any time for whatever. If you want, you can ask for resources, provide feedback on my blog, ask me to write on a specific topic (I can write for pages on some topics!), or just chat about something I recommended!
Talk to you all in August! Maybe we’ll see each other in a virtual program before then!
Want to reach out to Cody with questions or a request to write on a specific topic? Send us an email at programs@cactuscancer.org or reach him on Instagram at @codyhatescancer!
