Alese was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease when she was seventeen years old. This was back in November of 2001 and Alese has been fighting this disease on and off since that time.

After her initial treatment of the standard chemotherapy regimen for Hodgkin's, Alese had her first recurrence after only four months. Alese then received a stem cell transplant in December of 2002 and she was cancer free for two years. On November 18, 2004 it was found that Alese had another recurrence of Hodgkin's.

I have been reading Alese's journal on her blog called Alese Coco Fight 2 Win. She is a courageous young women. You can read her story here, it is very inspirational.

It has been a scary weekend since Alese's family were told that they might have to start making 'end of life' decisions. Alese was having many complications from her disease that it was threatening to take her life. Thankfully, it seems things are looking better this morning. Check out her journal and if you like leave an encouraging message!

As you read this, as I try to write this, my heart has sank into a pool of sadness. The words lost to grief. The anger chewing at the sinewy edge of cancer's deadly shadow. Cancer sucks. Cancer kills. Cancer killed Amanda's husband, Eric Shaffer, 25, on Friday evening. Cancer kills the very young, the very elderly, and all ages of people in between birth and death. Cancer is not an old people's disease. Amanda was trying to raise awareness about the realities of young adults living with cancer in her blog, cancer. it's not just an astrological sign anymore. Amanda has lost the love of her life, and she has no more words now, to say anything about cancer. Cancer crept out from the corners of darkness, and stole her future.

The cancer blogging community is a small one, in contrast to the blogging community as a whole. We get to know each other, to care for each other, to lift each other up, to encourage each other to keep going, when the going gets tough. Amanda and Eric were married for two years, although they had been together for eight years. During their time together, Eric had two occurrences of acute lymphocytic leukemia. Last month, Eric was thought to be in remission. Last week, he got ill very quickly, and was taken to the hospital. Just when they thought, maybe, just maybe, they were on the other side of his cancer, they were told Eric's cancer was back. Now he is gone. Too soon, too suddenly, too young, too young, too young to go.

In memory of Eric W. Shaffer  July 21, 1981 - March 17, 2006