Cancer and The Hispanic Community

From my perspective the cancer diagnosis in my culture is devastating. I know what you may be thinking it would be devastating to get this diagnosis in any culture. The word “cancer” is a taboo because it is associated with having a slow and painful death. I have noticed this from my experience with the Hispanic community. The lack of knowledge could get in the way of early detection and screenings. One of the scary things in the Hispanic population is that Hispanics have lower screenings for cancer. When they are diagnosed sometimes the cancer is in its later stages. Cancer has surpassed heart attacks in being the number one killer in the Hispanic Latino population. Access for quality and timely care are a few of the challenges when it comes to treatment and screening for Latinos. Health care as we know it is an important topic in our society but it can literally save your life or your pocket. No one really expects to get diagnosed with a disease. It happens though and you can’t be too prepared when it comes to your health. Lets face it health care is expensive, can you imagine being told you need an organ transplant and you have no health insurance. According to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital “Although hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common solid-organ tumor worldwide with at least 1 million new cases diagnosed annually, it is very rare in children. Hepatocellular Carcinoma has an incidence of 0.7 per 1 million children and less than 1percent of hepatocellular carcinomas occur in patients before the age of 20 with the average age of onset between 12 and 14 years of age.”

Don't let a diagnosis define you or your life. Most of the stories that I came across during my brother's journey were of people that wanted to live and persevere. If you possess a type of attitude in which you tend to give up this will get you no where. In my experience working in the field of Psychology a diagnosis can make people feel ashamed and alone. It is also very discouraging to have people identify you by your diagnosis and not by your name or personality. Rather than waste your time with self-pity use this time to recreate yourself. I think what makes the most difference in a fast recovery is your perception and attitude. If you perceive your situation to be the worst and drown in that notion it will be impossible to live a happy life. If you fall, dust off those needs and get back up again. Life is a beautiful gift and it is important to recognize that even the worst of experiences helps you grow into the person you are meant to be. Picture provided by http://lucidpractice.com/