Cancer. Only a few of us have an intimate relationship with this strange and mysterious phenomenon. The rest of us young and healthy college students put it up on a distant shelf in the back of our minds, right up there with global warming and terrorist attacks – things that are possible, yet don’t directly affect our daily wellbeing.

We tend to view cancer as something you only hear about, read about, thinking “Oh, that could never happen to me or my family.” I felt the exact same way, until it did happen to my family… Cancer quickly came crashing down off that distant shelf and changed my life forever.

When I was 14, my dad passed away from melanoma cancer. The doctors were unable to discover exactly what caused it, but I did learn that it might have derived from just one mole or one bad sunburn as a child. To say the least, my family is now extremely diligent in our annual visits to our dermatologist and we always remember to apply sunscreen.

I will never understand why people refuse to do the simplest and most basic things to prevent a future life-threatening disease. Doesn’t that only make sense? There are the obvious habits – tanning beds and smoking. But then there are the not so obvious: American Cancer Society says that even the most basic habits, eating healthy and regular physical activity, lower future risk of cancer.

In order to effectively prevent cancer, however, these habits must become a lifestyle. It’s not about someone choosing to quit smoking for a little while, or exercising for a period of time. It’s about a commitment to health, a commitment to preventing the disease that causes 1 in 4 deaths in the United States.

I always encourage everyone around me to protect their skin in the sun, reminding them of the risks associated with skin damage. But the truth is, hardly anyone perceives the looming prospect of cancer as urgent. They think, “Sure, I’ll do my best to prevent a sunburn, but it doesn’t really matter… I could never actually get skin cancer.” Well I’m here to say that yes, you actually can.

What hurts me the most is that even my closest friends are choosing these habits so detrimental to their health. A beautiful girl who brightens my each and every day is putting herself at risk by habitually attending tanning beds. And one of my very best friends who I couldn’t bare to live without smokes more than five cigarettes a day.

This breaks my heart. I have no doubt that I will encounter cancer again sometime in my life, but I can’t accept that my friends are knowingly putting themselves at risk. I can’t bear to lose someone else I love to cancer.

I am not going to delve further into the statistics. We have become numb to the facts and figures. Hearing about the number of fatal cancer cases per year is not going to change anyone’s lifestyle. The shocking statistics have lost their value, unfortunately. It takes a certain proximity to real people dealing with this very real disease to actually make a difference.

As SMU’s Relay for Life quickly approaches, I’m hoping that all of us young, healthy college students will directly confront the reality of cancer. Rather than let it scare us, let’s do something about it by making the simple lifestyle changes to prevent it. It’s time to let go of the ignorant attitude that this disease couldn’t possibly affect us. It’s time to beat cancer.

Katie is a freshman majoring in dance, international studies and human rights.