I am a 12 year survivor of Stage I
invasive breast cancer, and a 17 year survivor of non-invasive ductal carcinoma
in situ (DCIS). When I was first diagnosed with DCIS in 2002 and, I confess, again
when I was diagnosed in 2007, I allowed myself a few hours of indulgent, melodramatic,
self-pity – why me? Haven’t I been through enough already? Why do I have to
have cancer, too after everything else!? I think a lot of people diagnosed with
cancer go through some version of "why me" as we struggle to cope with the
diagnosis and all the fears that come with it.
So many people think that if a
person has been through a lot of adversity in their life, they just shouldn’t
have to go through cancer, too. Where is the justice in that? We all want to
believe that there is a limit to how much pain and suffering one person should
be forced to endure.
Of course, we are learning more all
the time about how these early exposures to adversity actually DO increase our vulnerability to
getting cancer. The evidence is growing that there are strong links between childhood
adversity, in particular, and health problem like cancer in adulthood. When I first heard about the research around Adverse Childhood Experiences,
or ACEs, I decided I needed to learn more.
ACEs have been proven to harm
developing brains, can change how children respond to stress, and can even profoundly
damage our immune systems for decades afterward. ACEs can lead to chronic
diseases later in life, to mental illness, and to high-risk health behaviors in
adulthood. It comes as no surprise, then, to see research that links childhood
adversity and abuse to mental illness, drug addiction, and certain disease,
including cancer. According to the research so far, two-thirds of Americans have
been exposed to one or more ACEs.
So, I had to see, what are these
ACEs, and how many of them did I have when I was a kid. I started by taking the Adverse Childhood Experiences Quiz,
and learned pretty quickly that I had been exposed to 7 out of 10 Adverse
Childhood Experiences. SEVEN out of TEN.
Here are the ACEs the researchers
identified:
1.
Physical abuse
2.
Sexual abuse
3.
Verbal abuse
4.
Physical neglect – not having enough food or
clean clothes, etc.
5.
Emotional neglect – absence of being made to
feel loved or special, or to feel close to other people in your family
6.
Witnessing a mother being abused
7.
Having a family member in prison
8.
Losing a parent to separation, divorce, or some
other reason
9.
Living with someone who is depressed, diagnosed
with a mental illness, or suicidal.
10. Living
with someone who is a problem drinker or alcoholic, or who used street drugs.
Learning about ACEs really changed
my perspective about my cancers. If the link between ACEs and cancer is real,
that means that instead of asking “why
me” when kids like me grow up and get cancer, we should be asking “why not me”
when kids like me grow up and do NOT get cancer.
In addition to my cancers, I also
have a history of alcoholism and anorexia, and am now dealing with chronic
health conditions some which can potentially be the result of cancer treatment
or lifestyle choices that I have made. There’s always the chance, based on this
research, that many of my health concerns can be linked to ACEs. Which does not
mean that I, or any of us, should just throw up my hands and say, “look, I can’t do anything
about this, it’s inevitable!”
Instead, I think this means that we have to fight
twice as hard, to counteract our history, if we want to overcome our childhoods and live a long and healthy
life.
Which I do.
