I subbed in first grade this week.  One of the little boys, J., is already a die-hard jock at the tender age of six.

On Monday, he burst into tears at lunchtime because it was raining.  Stupid me, I thought it was because we were going to have indoor recess.  (Believe me, the thought of indoor recess made me want to cry!) Nope.  It was because his t-ball game was going to be cancelled.  "You don't understand!"  He told me.  "We're undefeated!  Now we're not!" No amount of explaining would convince him that the game would be rescheduled and that they were still undefeated.

Fast forward to Thursday.  We're reading a book about Lance Armstrong in reading group.  He found out that Lance had cancer, and J. burst into tears.  "Oh no!  How can Lance have cancer?  What kind of cancer does he have?"

"It's okay, J., let's turn the page and find out more!" 
"No, no, no" he said.  "Is he going to be okay? What kind of cancer does he have?"
"J., he's fine. He had cancer, but it was several years ago.  He's fine now."
J. looked up at me, "IF Lance Armstrong can get cancer, anybody can get cancer."

I took a deep breath, and we turned the page and read the rest of the story and found out that Lance did get better.

However, it kept me thinking about Lance Armstrong and cancer for a while.

It is true.  Lance is an amazing athelete.  He has accomplished more in his life than most of us could ever hope to in a lifetime.  And yet, his battle with cancer could have easily been the end of the story for him.  Fortunately, he was screened, caught the cancer early, and was determined enough to follow through with medical treatment and beat the cancer.  His story is a reminder to all of us.

J. was right.  If Lance Armstrong can get cancer, anybody can get cancer.

But it doesn't need to be the end of our story.

Get yourself checked now for cancer. Early detection is the key to survival.

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all!