Monday Night Cancer Club is a Daily Kos group focused on dealing with cancer, primarily for cancer survivors and caregivers, though clinicians, researchers, and others with a special interest are also welcome. Volunteer diarists post Monday evenings between 7-8 PM ET on topics related to living with cancer, which is very broadly defined to include physical, spiritual, emotional and cognitive aspects. Mindful of the controversies endemic to cancer prevention and treatment, we ask that both diarists and commenters keep an open mind regarding strategies for surviving cancer, whether based in traditional, Eastern, Western, allopathic or other medical practices. This is a club no one wants to join, in truth, and compassion will help us make it through the challenge together.
I suppose my illness and recovery to date have been well-timed, considering the rhythms of the election cycle: I became very sick right after the 2010 election (which was enough to discomfort anyone) and I am in comparatively good health again now, just as the 2012 election cycle is moving into high gear. Between those two points, I was often very ill and in no position to do anything apart from try to get better.
I am not entirely convinced, however, that despite being in much improved health this year I will have the energy and stamina to do all of what I did in 2008, let alone what I did in 2010. In the two preceding cycles (and earlier), I registered voters, canvassed door-to-door, phone banked, contributed money, and served on Election Day as a poll watcher. For several months in each of the last two campaign seasons, I probably volunteered an average of 10 hours/week. That tires me out just thinking of it nowadays.
Interestingly enough, one of the few areas of activism that I did not pursue back then, despite my tendencies to wonkishness and argumentativeness, was in writing Letters to the Editor. I’ve also never attempted to get an Op-Ed essay published. False modesty, perhaps, or else (probably more plausibly) skepticism about what they can accomplish. My local paper, never a great publication, went predominantly online a couple of years ago, and the two metropolitan papers have had steadily declining readership for several years as well. I suppose it would be worth my while to reconsider my position during this election season in particular.
There is no question that this election cycle is enormously important, perhaps even more so than 2008. We’ve seen some progress these past four years, but I think even on DKos the consensus would be that it has not sufficed, and that the gains we have made would be quickly undone with a Romney presidency. The losses that the Dems suffered in 2010 have had terrible consequences on the state level, especially here in Michigan and other Midwestern states, and though it may be difficult to reverse those losses in one election it behooves us to try our best.
So I am contemplating how much I can reasonably undertake between now and November, since my energy and my finances have been deeply compromised by my illness and recovery process. During the 18 months since my diagnosis, I have done almost nothing political apart from posting at DKos, making the occasional donation, signing online petitions and passing them on, or attending a demonstration here or there. Hence my questions to you today: How do you prioritize your time for being a political activist? What represents the best use of your resources? On what criteria do you base your decisions?
Furthermore: do you have any other methods of taking part in election campaigns (as an ordinary citizen) than those I’ve mentioned above? What do you think will be the most important ways in which we can safeguard our fragile gains, and strive to secure more?
Obviously, this whole website is a kind of laboratory/workshop for sharing political activist stories. I greatly enjoy diaries that are very specific about what people do, and what works. I’m not suggesting that there are necessarily major differences between what Kossacks in the “general population” do as activists and what we as members of the MNCC can do. And yet the shift in our priorities to focus as needed--on returning to health, enduring active treatment, adjusting to a new normal, or coping with decline--is also real.
I'd like to extend a special invitation to comment (ideally, at length in a diary sometime) to those of you who have become involved in activism that was specifically related to your (or your loved one's) illness. I know you're out there, and that what you have to say is not always comfortable to hear. Or to have experienced, for that matter. Cancer is at the center of this enormous health-care debate over costs, access, and prevention/treatment/cure, and I am sure we have quite a bit of collective experience to share.
Actually, I have one more favor to ask before we begin. I've received a couple of inquiries lately that I've been at somewhat of a loss to answer, and I'd appreciate any other suggestions that you can offer.
The first one came in a few weeks ago:
"The reason I'm writing is because I'm a volunteer advocate/activist for patients of a certain HMO, and I have been contacted by a man in Northern California who is indigent and homeless, who says he is unable to get treatment for his lung and colon cancers. He's not insured by the HMO, but he believes they covered up his cancer after a visit to their ER, which is how he ended up finding me online.
"I know there has to be free treatment programs available for someone in his position, but this is not my area of expertise. I would still like to try to help him find something. Do you have any suggestions, or can you possibly point me in the direction of someone who might?"
If he's indigent, then presumably in California he should qualify for Medicaid (or so I would think). But it seems to me that the man with cancer might also be looking for a Personal Injury attorney to see if he has a medical malpractice claim. If anyone has any other suggestions that I should pass on to this correspondent, please let me know.
The second inquiry is more recent, and less specific. This correspondent has recently lost his mother to cancer. In her memory, he has become motivated to think about applying his technical ability to a project that conducts innovative cancer research. Since he does not have a medical background, I'm not quite sure what to suggest--though I am thinking of recommending that he get in touch with the people who are involved with Stand Up to Cancer--although now that I'm revisiting their site, I see it hasn't been updated recently. Any other ideas? Should I just tell him to get in touch with the American Cancer Society? (That seems so...uninventive.) Thanks for whatever you can suggest.
The floor is now yours, my sister and brother activists. Please feel free to share what has or hasn’t worked out for you in this arena, post-diagnosis.