While we know the factors that contribute to cancer, at times the disease breaks the rules and doesn’t discriminate. It is nasty and vicious.

Whether it be an infant or a 60-year-old who never touched a cigarette in their life.

Some people go to the gym every day, eat all their greens and volunteer countless hours to community organisations and still get struck by the dreaded disease.

There appears to be one shining light in the darkness that is a cancer diagnosis.

And that’s the community support.

If you had to be sick or doing it tough, Northern Tasmania is the place to be.

You don’t have look too far to see and feel the support that strangers give.

The past month it has been the World’s Greatest Shave.

Children and adults shave or colour their locks or say goodbye to facial hair to raise funds for the Leukaemia Foundation.

This weekend will be Launceston’s Relay for Life.

Already more than 71 teams have registered and more than $126,000 raised.

While the Relay for Life is a vital fundraiser, it’s also an opportunity to remember those who lost their battle to cancer and for survivors to reflect on their journey.

Cancer Australia estimates that 138,321 Australians will be diagnosed with cancer in 2018.

And this year 48,586 people will die from cancer.

More men, will be diagnosed and/or die from cancer than women.

It’s stories like the Thompson family that give you hope. To be united as a family for four-year-old Henry who is facing his second battle with cancer.

Last week the family shaved their heads in support of Henry, but also to raise more than $10,000 for research.

Their hope is that a cure will one day be found so other families do not have to experience what they currently face.

While the fight against cancer could be a lonely road, it’s events like the World’s Greatest Shave and Relay for Life that show we are all in this together.

Unfortunately the odds are that you will either have cancer or have a loved one diagnosed with cancer at some point in your life.

Therefore we are all affected. We all want the insidious disease to be defeated. In the meantime, as a community, we won’t let it get the better of us.