Almost Finished

The research paper on the science of cancer and the awareness presentation, the two components of my final project, are both almost done now. About another hour or so and they will both be completed. I've really enjoyed immersing myself in this topic, and I'm pleased with what I've accomplished so far. I hope that my presentation will be as good as I want it to be, and that it will be informative and eye opening for everyone who watches it.
-Kevin

Surveys

All the surveys I printed out for the social part of my capstone project on cancer have been filled out and completed. There were 100 surveys in all, and the final few were handed out and handed back in the library tonight. I haven't had a lot of time to look through all of them, but it looked like people gave honest responses when they filled out their surveys. I'll post again about how I progress with these surveys.
-Kevin

Dr. Ruddy

Tonight, I was able to have a discussion, that will help me out a lot with my capstone project, with Dr. Kaite Ruddy. Mr. Igoe was able to bring me in touch with her, and we had a good half our conversation about cancer and how it affects people. Dr. Ruddy is a breast cancer oncologist, and she was able to tell me a lot about how cancer cells spread throughout the body, how cancer is fought with chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation, and how people receive support from friends and family with their fights. Overall, it was very informative and a worth while call.
-Kevin

Reflection on Mother's Day

This Mother's Day has resonated with me more than any of the others I've celebrated so far in my life. When my mom was diagnosed with her cancer back in January of last year, I wasn't so much thinking of how to celebrate the holiday with my mom. I was more focused on whether she'd be around for any more holiday's to celebrate with the rest of my family and me. However now that she's been cleared by her oncologist as being cancer free, this has become a day to celebrate. Not having to worry about whether my mom would survive her battle with cancer has lifted a huge sigh of relief from my shoulders, and also from the shoulders of everyone who has helped her finish her fight.
-Kevin

The Awareness Presentation

The awareness presentation on cancer that I've been working on for a few days now is still in its early stages, but I think it's coming along quite nicely. With this presentation, I hope to talk a little bit about the science of cancer and how it develops, then go into how cancer has affected the people of our community at LA, and then finish with talking about how to interact with and help people who have been diagnosed with the horrible disease. I hope that the final version of this presentation will be done by Thursday morning, along with my paper, so that I will have plenty of time to practice it and rehearse what I'll say.
-Kevin

The Research Paper

The research paper on cancer I'm currently working on is still a work in progress, but I feel I've made strides of progress from where I was a few weeks ago. My knowledge of cancer and the science of how it develops has dramatically increased and I'm feeling much more comfortable with the topic now. I hope to have the polished final completed by Thursday morning, which should give me plenty of time to review it myself and have my peers do the same.
-Kevin

The Surveys...

The surveys, which I plan to hand out around school to help me with my awareness presentation, are now finally ready. The surveys will contain three questions, which will focus on how cancer has personally affected people within our community. These questions may be a little personal for people to answer, therefore I will make it known that filling out these surveys will be voluntary. This is what the survey will look like:
 -Kevin


Please answer the following questions by providing honest responses:


1. How many people have you personally known who have been diagnosed with cancer?
   
    0        1        2        3        4        5+

2. How many of those people beat their form of cancer?

    0        1        2        3        4        5+

3. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word ‘cancer?’


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Progress Report

At the moment, I would say that I'm a little behind where I'd like to be with this project. My research paper is still a work in progress, and I hope to have that done within the week, and the awareness presentation is also a work in progress, with its deadline steadily approaching in two weeks. The presentation date of May 19th is now visible up ahead, and completing this project is becoming an uphill battle. Every other class has either assigned projects or is in preparation mode for AP exams, which means that now is the time to buckle down and get everything done.
-Kevin

Got a ways to go, pick up the pace
You can see the skin pulling off my face
Legs are aching when I'm taking a bow
But I won't stop feet don't fail me now
(Sprint, Ugly Duckling)

American Cancer Society

Throughout this project I've been doing on cancer, the American Cancer Society website has been a fantastic resource of which I've been able to use. The ACS website has an extensive amount of information on cancer, mainly how it develops and spreads throughout the body, and it has helped me a lot with both writing my research paper and preparing for my awareness presentation on cancer, both of which are still in the works however. Anyway, I just wanted to give a shout out to the ACS, and to everyone that is part of the organization for all the help they do in the fight against cancer.
-Kevin

Relay for Life Part 2

To go more in depth to the Relay for Life events from last night, I would say the most memorable part, for me, was the silent lap that was done around 8pm. It was a moment to reflect on everyone we held dear who had won or lost the battle with cancer, and hearing and listening to people say aloud the ones they were Relaying left an indelible mark on me. When Ms. Moseley told everyone who attended about her son before we took the silent lap, I was able to think back and reflect on how my mom had battled cancer from February of last year through March of this year. Through all the surgeries, the chemotherapy, and the radiation appointments, my mom held fir that she was doing to beat what she had been diagnosed with. It got to me a little bit, but seeing my fellow classmates and teachers who came out in support brought me back. We then lit glow sticks and placed them into paper bags that were decorated in honor of those who had fought cancer, symbolizing the light that they held with them in their time of great darkness.
-Kevin

Relay for Life

I would have liked to post this last night, because it would have been fresher in my mind, but I think sleeping on what happened at the Relay for Life event on campus was worth it. I arrived on campus with my mom, a stage three breast cancer survivor, around 5pm last night for the survivors dinner that was run by Ms. Moseley and the group of students who ran and organized the Relay events. I was able to meet with and talk to many other cancer survivors, and my mom had a good time as well. After the dinner was over, we all walked down to the gym where the events were being held. My mom and I each held the Relay for Life sign as we led the two opening laps, the first for cancer survivors and the second for everyone who came to participate. Walking the opening laps and then participating in the events throughout the night was a fantastic experience and I'm really glad that I was able to attend this event.
-Kevin

Midterm Presentations

Yesterday, Thursday the 24th, I presented my Midterm Presentation on my Cancer research and community awareness project. I feel that it went well, but that my body language could have been more formal and that I was distracted by my audience (the rest of the class) too often. However, I was able to get a lot of helpful suggestions as to how I could improve my project, and also how I could make the workload more manageable. My classmates told me about connections they had to doctors and oncologists, of whom I could contact for information on the science of cancer. Mr. Igoe was also able to give me a connection to his sister in law, who is very knowledgeable about cancer as well. With the Heads Holiday coming up on Monday next week, I hope to use this three day weekend, along with the Relay for Life event, to get some serious work done on Phases 1 and 2 of this project.
-Kevin

Getting Sick...

The paper is currently a work in progress, being delayed because I've caught a bit of a cold. Nevertheless, I've been able to learn some useful information from the book I took out from our library, Living with Cancer by ZoAnn Dreyer. Being sick has also hampered the progress I've been able to make as far as the second step of this project is concerned. The surveys, which will be handed out at lunch over the next couple of weeks, are also still a work in progress. Coming up with another meaningful question about how cancer has affected people personally is still in the works, but I should be able to finish those up and print them out soon. With Easter Sunday and going to a revisit day at WPI on Wednesday taking up large amounts of time, I plan to put in extra work on this project in order to pick up the slack that has come about.
-Kevin

Progress

So far in my Capstone Project, I've looked through almost all the indexes I had planned to for my research paper. I plan to skim through them one more time to pick out any information I may have missed, but I feel confident with the information I've acquired so far. I've recently started looking through the American Cancer Society webpage, which has helped me a lot with this project. They have an extensive amount of information on cancer and its causes, and I will continue to use their website as a resource. I also took out the book Living with Cancer, by ZoAnn Dreyer, from the library at school, which I hope to gain helpful information out of. What I need to do for this project is to make the survey's that I'll hand out at lunch next week to help me with my community awareness project. That, and I'll have a 'very rough' draft of my research paper in class on Monday.
-Kevin

Indexes

The search for information is an ongoing one in the world of cancer. Just starting out, it seems like, to me, that there is an endless ocean of information on cancer. The first goal I set for myself was to go to our library and find all medical encyclopedias and indexes that even had the word 'cancer' it them. Little did I know that I would easily, very easily, find seven large reference books that would supply me with ample information on cancer. I took these reference books lightly, underestimating how long it would take me to go through them, and I'm kind of paying the price now. I'm behind where I want to be, but I know that if I sit down and go through them thoroughly that I'll get the information I need. Five more references to go through, gotta hit the ground running!
-Kevin