Cancer: Asians and the Big C

By Tim | Friday, November 13, 2009 | 11 Comments

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If you’re a regular reader of 8Asians, you already know I lost both my parents to the big C – Cancer. Toan Lam writes this week in the Huffington Post about a phenomenon in the Asian community surrounding Cancer, specifically the inability of Asians to talk about Cancer and Cancer prevention. Lam details the loss of some of his closest family members and the impact it has on his family. He also describes how if he and his family could have talked more openly about Cancer, like issues around detection and early screening of sensitive topics like breast Cancer, it might have helped save the lives of some of his family members.

Lam is also the creator of a website, www.GoInspireGo.com, designed to give voice to inspirational and uplifting stories that would otherwise not have a voice. He also writes about George Lin, former Program Director of the San Diego Asian Film Festival, whose loss to Cancer inspired the theme of this year’s recent film festival, Cancer Awareness. The video above from GoInspireGo discusses Lin, his Cancer, and the tributes paid to him during the Festival.

Lam’s goal is simple, all of us know someone whose life has been touched by Cancer. So in an effort to help prevent the pain and suffering of losing someone to Cancer, we need to break the silence — talk about Cancer, especially in the Asian community. Awareness and Early Detection could save lives. In my family, we didn’t find out about my dad’s cancer until it was already stage 4 (the last and most progressed stage), since he never wanted to see a doctor or talk about his pain. So spread the word and let’s help make it so one day when we talk about Cancer, we can replace the big C with a little c.

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http://www.8asians.com/author/ancientone95131/ Jeff

Great post. I think that dealing with cancer varies by Asian community and by family. When my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer, detected because my mother who was a nurse insists on constant monitoring for this sort thing, my siblings and parents all got together to talk about the situation, what the options, were, etc. I have heard about my parents’ colonoscopies in far more detail that I cared for! A lot of people in my Filipino community have talked about cancer and the cancers for which they were undergoing treatment. Perhaps it is because there are so many nurses in our community. There’s lots of other problems that Filipinos won’t talk about, but this seems to be one that they do talk about. I’d say Filipinos big problem with cancer is prevention and changing lifestyles, particularly altering eating and exercise (lack of) habits to prevent it.
http://www.goinspirego.com Toan

Tim – I’m sorry you lost your parents to cancer. I applaud you for helping spread the word about awareness. We should find a way to work together. Love your site! So proud of you, my Asian brotha!
http://seaweedsupport4.wordpress.com/ JK

It’s really sad that Asians are not up to date with Cancer but it’s getting a lot better. More hospitals and dr’s offices in the Bay Area bring up awareness and have talked about cancer in detail to their patients.
Helen

OMG I so agree! I practice as an oncologist (cancer doctor) in the L.A. area and I am a Chinese-American. When I got into the field, my aunt gave me a huge speech about not being involved in a field like oncology because I am taking on other people’s bad spirits. Her reasoning is that people with cancer are going through their own karmic journey and by messing with that (i.e. take care of them) will somehow mess up my own karma — crazy right? But the more I got into the field and finished my training, so many of my asian patients and their family wrestle with odd issues that are totally foreign to my colleagues. I wish cancer awareness is a bigger deal in the Asian American community.
http://myspace.com/theslants Simon

As an employee of the American Cancer Society, it’s been a passion of mine to reach the APA community. There are many cultural barriers but there are many great organizations that are popping up all over the country to bring this issue to the forefront. Here in Portland, we have two ACS funded researchers whose entire project is aimed at getting Chinese and Vietnamese women in for detection and treatment before it is too late. My band which is heavily involved in the Asian community also performs at many cancer fundraisers as well. We’re out there but it takes many voices to be heard! Continue to spread the message!

And if anyone is interested in getting involved with making a difference in the Asian community through Cancer awareness, please contact me at Simon.Tam@cancer.org
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