Stand Up To Cancer

William Safire
Safire, formerly a Nixon speechwriter and a Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist for the New York Times, passed away Sunday from pancreatic cancer at the age of 79. Safire was also the author of "On Language," a New York Times Magazine column that looked at the origins and meanings of words and phrases. In an NYT obituary, he is remembered for his witty commentary and his indomitable humor - even in the face of criticism from his opponents.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/us/28safire.html?_r=1&hp


Andrew Skoda
Skoda, a high school junior from Chicago, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor at the age of 7. After a recurrence at the age of 11 and multiple surgeries, he began writing about the ups and downs of his treatment in hopes that his story could help others going through the same thing. Today his story is part of a book called "The Little Prince Who Taught a Village to Sing," and proceeds from its sale benefit the Midwest Children's Brain Tumor Center. He says, "I wrote about what happened and all the feelings that I was going through from the day I was diagnosed until the last surgery to try and calm kids down and give them a point of view of what might happen and show them everything is okay."
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/1790620,092809stellarstudent.article


Sarah Joanis
In this article out of Chicago, Joanis, who is facing a recurrence of ovarian cancer while pregnant, shares a dilemma that one in every 1,000 women in the US face: whether to begin cancer treatment while carrying a baby. Joanis eventually elected to have her left ovary removed at 28 weeks into the pregnancy; after her daughter was born, she had a hysterectomy. "I was supposed to be OK," she wrote on her blog (sarahjoanis.blogspot.com). "I was supposed to go on with life with one less fallopian tube. Big deal. But here I am now. Standing at the start of what is going to be the longest and hardest journey of my life."
http://www.freep.com/article/20090928/FEATURES08/909280302/1033/Pregnancy-and-cancer-collide--creating-agonizing-choices-for-couple


Charles Snodgrass
In a comment on last week's "With You, We Stand," reader Charles Snodgrass shared his story. "I was married in September 2002 and the following June I was hit with prostate cancer," he wrote. "I was only 47 years old. I'm 54 now and things are still okay, thanks to the doctor who treated me and helped me along when I didn't think I could take anymore. I was depressed and thought my life was over, but it wasn't, I have learned to live life to the fullest and enjoy every day."


As always, we invite you to share your stories with us in the comments below.