[Ruth]

Today just hit me with a brick. I'm fine but another one of my childhood friends parents died. I grew up in a very small town in Georgia and in a close knit neighborhood. My best friend from the age of 8, Cheri, lived around the corner. And this is my brief story. She was diagnosed 2 months after getting engaged and on her 32nd birthday (adrenal cortical carcimona) and died after 8 months of a horrible devasting fight. I got breast cancer at the age of 36. Go figure two best friends getting cancer in their 30's. Now 3 parents of friends of mine that grew up in the same neighborhood within 1/2 mile radius have died of Multiple Myeloma. One lived across the street from me, one lived behind our house and the other lived across the street from Cheri. It just doesn't make any sense. How could so many people get cancer like this in a tiny little block? We were on well water (well, actually it still is well water but my whole family is out of there) and the well is right next to research fields from the University of GA. They swear that the water was tested and safe in the 70's and 80's but it was fields for pesticides. UGA doesn't test on the fields anymore but I just think that something was in that water. My childhood friends mother died yesterday. Her husband died a few years ago..also of cancer. I am so sad. I can't help but think of Cheri and how much I miss her. My little girl never got to meet my best friend. My best friend never got to have the 4 children that she dreamed of.
Sorry guys...I'm venting. It's just ADC at age 30 is about one in a million diagnosis and MM is about 10K a year. Even me being under 40 and no family history is not that common. UGH. I hate CANCER!
:-( Ruth