The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia

Kentucky Students Take ACTION

Nathan L. Vanderford, Lauren Hudson, Chris Prichard, Nathan L. Vanderford, Lauren Hudson, Chris Prichard

• Publisher: Kentucky Publishing Services
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781950690039
• eBook ISBN:
  9781950690046
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Literary Essays

Kentucky has more cancer diagnoses and cancer-related deaths than any other state in the nation, and most of these cases are concentrated in the fifty-four counties that constitute the Appalachian region of the commonwealth. These high rankings can be attributed to factors such as elevated smoking rates, unhealthy eating habits, lower levels of education, and limited access to health care. What is lost in the statistics is just how life-changing cancer can be—something that editors Nathan L. Vanderford, Lauren Hudson, and Chris Prichard have endeavored to address.

The Cancer Crisis in Appalachia features essays written by a group of twenty high school and five undergraduate students, all of whom are residents of Kentucky's Appalachian region and are participants in the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center's Appalachian Career Training in Oncology (ACTION) program, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute's Youth Enjoy Science Program. These authentic and candid student essays detail the effects of cancer diagnoses and deaths on individuals, families, friends, and communities, and proclaim these cases as more than nameless statistics. The authors shed light on personal cancer stories in hopes of inspiring readers to avoid cancer-risk behaviors, get involved with cancer-prevention initiatives, give generously, and uplift cancer patients and their loved ones.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Part I: High School Student Essays
• Cancer: The Emotional Side
• Cancer in Eastern Kentucky
• On the Breaking Point
• Survivor’s Guilt
• Careless Cancer
• Cancer: A War on the Home Front
• A Monster That Kills
• The Worst of Both Worlds
• Kentucky: The Cancer Capital of the United States
• The Strength of Family Triumphs All
• The Greatest Ideas Are the Simplest: Educating Kentuckians on Cancer
• Tales into Legacies
• Ripped at the Seams
• Cancer Is Not a Vacation
• The Question
• What Cancer Is in My Life
• It Can’t Happen to Me
• Cancer: Kentucky’s Disease
• You Never Plan for Cancer
• Day In and Day Out
• Part II: Undergraduate Student Essays
• Appalachian Rose: Wilted by Geography
• Malignancy in the Mountains
• A Rural State of Mind on the Path to a Better Future
• Fighting Cancer in My Old Kentucky Home
• Roots
• Acknowledgments
• About the Editors