My father was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer when I was about 7 months pregnant with my son, currently my only child.  Now, we are a family of activists.  I in essence “inherited” our state prostate cancer coalition and perhaps the genetic predisposition to be an activist from my dad.  My son has grown up around prostate cancer… attending awareness events, taking grandpa to treatments… and I’ll admit – I’ve worried about this.  Now that he is moving into his adolescence, I am beginning to believe that this experience and exposure has done something wonderful for him and someday the world… at 11, he founded and is the leader of a comic book club for his school – a charter school with no art program.  He saw a need and came up with a creative solution to address that need.  Every week, he uses his own money to buy dinner for a particular homeless man that we always see.  Creativity, leadership, and a compassionate heart.  These are qualities that he has both developed, and chooses to act upon.  I believe that this is because he sees these qualities all around him.  One of the biggest benefits to doing this work is the wonderful people you end up surrounded by… my son, as a bi-product of our family’s loss, has been constantly witnessing acts of compassion, kindness, and concern – and he believes that if something is not right, you do whatever small thing you can to fix it.