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Michael Sapienza: Hello, my name is Michael Sapienza and I am the executive director of
the Chris4Life Colon Cancer Foundation. Unfortunately, I have had the experience of having a loved
one be diagnosed with cancer, actually multiple loved ones, but my mom did in fact pass from
this disease and the advice that I would give to another family member or caretaker that
was going through this disease would be to stay in a way off the internet. I know that
yes we do want to find some great resources like Chris4Life or colon cancer alliance some
of these other wonderful organizations, but there are also some other things out there
that, when my mom was first diagnosed, I looked at and it did scare me, so the statistics,
your loved one is not a statistic, that's the first thing that I would say and I would
also recommend you say that to your loved one. I said that to my mom. All the time I
said, mom you are not a statistic. You will beat this disease. You will be okay and the
other thing is take time for yourself as a caregiver. I know so many people that are
caregivers and that they want to pour their heart and soul into taking care of the person
that they love, their friend, their family, their husband, their wife, whomever and its
of course important, but I think you are going to only be as good of a caregiver or you can
be the best caregiver by taking care of yourself, so that would be probably some of the best
advice I can give and once again, I think the thing that my mom appreciated the most
was when I would look at her or talk to her and say you will be okay.
For an interactive tool to learn more about your colon cancer and your personalized treatment
options, go to MyColonCancerCoach.org.