Elephants and Tea - September 2019 - 36

Conversation

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

The Transition from Age
Group to Age Group
I RECENTLY ATTENDED THE COALITION AGAINST CHILDHOOD CANCER (CAC2) SUMMIT this past June in Columbus, Ohio.

Kudos goes out to the folks at CAC2 and Nationwide Children's Hospital for
putting on such an amazing conference.
For those of you that do not know, my brother Steven was diagnosed
with his first cancer at the age of 15. While adolescents age (the A in AYA)
is 15-18 years old, childhood and pediatric cancers are of ages 0-17 so
there is overlap between the childhood cancer community and the AYA
cancer community and is a part of the AYA age group.
Part of the discussions that were ongoing at the CAC2 Summit was
the transition from being a childhood cancer survivor to an AYA cancer
survivor and then to an adult cancer survivor.
Confused yet? Me too. But there is a significant worry from patients,
survivors and their caregivers on what to do when someone turns 18 or
40. Do they get the same support? Can they still work with certain organizations? These are serious concerns and ones that most people do not
even think about or ever need to think about.

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ELEPHANTSANDTEA.COM
SEPTEMBER 2019

Over the past few years as we were running
the Steven G. AYA Cancer Research fund, we
would have debates in our family and with
our board about whether we should support
certain initiatives that may be more focus on
childhood/pediatric cancers or young adult
cancers. Like all good Greek families, the
conversation was very colorful.
At the end of the day, what I have now
learned over the past few years, does it really matter?
I've spoken with a handful of survivors and
patients in their 30s over the past couple of
weeks that had cancer before they were 10 years
old. While their age fits the AYA population
they still identify themselves as childhood
cancer survivors. And that is absolutely fine!
But why do some support organizations
in specific age groups not identify or seem to
help those of certain ages? At Elephants and
Tea, we are focused mainly on the AYA cancer community, but we will never turn away
anyone that finds the stories and content we
provide helpful and inspiring.
I want to make this crystal clear - we will
NEVER turn away anyone based on your age.
Those that have the unfortunate luck to be dealing with cancer deserve all the help you want
and need - trust me I know from experience.
If you are reading this and you are not in the
age range of 15-39, please do not be alarmed.
If our stories are helping you or a loved one
get through the day then by all means, please
continue to read them and share them! We welcome you with open arms and hearts! We are
One Herd, and together we can help each other
get through the day and live life to the fullest!
As always never hesitate to reach out to
me with any questions or comments about
Elephants and Tea. Have an amazing and
wonderful fall season!
➥ NICK GIALLOURAKIS,
PRESIDENT AND COFOUNDER OF ELEPHANTS
AND TEA

IF YOU WOULD YOU LIKE TO SUBMIT A STORY TO BE PUBLISHED IN
ELEPHANTS AND TEA, PLEASE CONTACT NICK@ELEPHANTSANDTEA.COM

http://www.elephantsandtea.com

Elephants and Tea - September 2019

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