Cancer Guy

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch (Oct. 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. He died of complications from pancreatic cancer.



I spent a good few hours watching Randy’s videos and reading his blog. He is a pretty amazing person!! I can also relate to him a bit becuz him and I are computer science graduates so we have some similar thinking patterns and way of doing things (for example in his time management talk, I found that we share many similar time management techniques. I picked up quite a few new ones from him). Also it seems we both are pretty optimistic ppl and have similar attitude toward this disease and life in general. I wish I knew about him earlier maybe then I’d have a chance to meet with him and just talk. hmmm.. It’s really sad to see a fellow fighter go down after such a long hard battle he fought so bravely but I am happy and I am sure he’s happy that his story had inspired millions to live a better life.

I got interested in the cancer statistics and so I google it and found American Cancer Society’s numbers. For colon cancer:

1996-2002 Colon Cancer
Five-year relative survival rates all stages is 64.1%
Local 90.4%, Regional 68.1%, Distant is 9.8%

1996-2003 Colon Cancer
Five-year relative survival rates all stages is 64.0%
Local 89.8, Regional 67.7%, Distant is 10.3% <--increased a bit!!

Local means cancer at colon only. Regional means cancer at colon and surrounding area. Distant means cancer at colon, surrounding area and distant organ (like liver). I was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer with cancer found in colon, surrounding lymph nodes and liver so I am in the category of "Distant". Dohhhh, that means I'd have a 10.3% chance of being alive in 3 years (5 years total). The research I did two years ago was 8% from another source. I wasn't really bothered by it but I was and am aware of it. I am lucky that I am cancer free shown from the biopsy done on the liver tumor that was taken out. I do appreciate waking up everyday and still alive in this world. I am working to do things I always dreamed of and always wanted to do. I have changed my life style dramatically to keep it from coming back. I changed the way I use to do things. I am eating much healthier (more fiber, vegi, fruits, less fat, less sugar, less meat, less processed food, etc), better sleeping schedule (use to sleep at 3-4am in the morning and wake at noon. now sleep around 11pm and wake at 7am), drinking more water and wheatgrass juice, and exercise regularly (now every other day). I heard recently there is a story of cancer patient who "beat" cancer the first time and feeling invincible, went back to old way of living with bad habits (smoking, drinking, etc) and when cancer came back, the person didn't make it... So please please, take care of yourselves!! I really do feel lucky and blessed to be alive today! My sister happened to come online and I msged her "it's good to be alive!"

This entry was posted on Friday, August 1st, 2008 @ 1:05 pm on the category Cancer, Tumor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.