... Cancer has taken people away from most of us. In this way, we are all connected. ...

Jim Semonik is connected to the dreaded disease in still another way. In May 2008, at age 31, he was diagnosed as having colorectal cancer, the same disease that killed his father five years earlier.

I cannot describe the mental confusion and anguish that hit me when I found out ...

Mr. Semonik, an Industrial rock music producer and performer who is moving from Whitehall to Ambridge next month, wrote the above words in an essay that is enclosed with the credits of a four-disc set called "Saviors, Industrial Music to Kill Cancer."

He is marketing the set as a fundraiser for the Foundation for Cancer Research and Wellness in Harrisburg.

But the essay, titled "Industrial Strength!!," also is part of a new booklet that is designed for young adults who either have cancer or have survived cancer, along with those who are caring for, or who have lost, someone with the disease.

The free booklet is the product of a new outreach and advocacy group for young adults called BRICKS (Building Resources in Cancer Knowledge and Services). It includes 15 inspirational essays and a list of resources.

The 68-page booklet, titled "BRICKS for Young Adults: Cancer Awareness & Resource Guide," will be released at a party from 3 to 10 p.m Saturday at AIR, the Artists Image Resource, on the North Side. Six bands will perform and some of the booklet's essay writers will read their stories.

... I knew what I was getting into. A few dates in we had a real serious discussion about his health history. ... "If you want to walk away now, before this goes any further, I'd understand," he said. Too late. I was in. ... My reply to him was simple, "Two years or twenty, it will be worth it." ...

Counting the time they dated and were married, Charissa Hamilton-Gribenas and her husband, media and sound artist Richard P. Gribenas, had about 32 months together before he died of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He had had cancer for years.

Ms. Hamilton-Gribenas, 34, of the South Side, founded BRICKS and is the editor of the booklet.

"I think this project has helped me [go on]. When you lose something, it's easy to be angry or sad or be lost in those feelings," she said.

"My husband's approach was pragmatic: You can be angry or do something with it. [BRICKS] is my attempt to take my experience and make it be positive, rather than look at it as something horrible that happened in my life. It is [horrible], but it's also a chance to be positive and productive and share what I've learned."

One of the things she learned was young adults with cancer, a group defined as roughly those between 15 and 40, can feel isolated.

"It's easy to feel you're the only one," she said. "For example, when you go to treatment, you're easily the youngest in the waiting room, 20 to 30 years younger than anyone else there."

Ms. Hamilton-Gribenas noted that there are support groups for young people -- she lists them in the booklet -- but that they're not always well-attended.

"The number of persons living with cancer is far greater than those going to support groups, So my question was, 'How do you turn around and bring a support group to the young adult?' ... My solution was I'm going to work and find their stories and find the resources, gather the information, and put it in the booklet and bring the support group to the person."

She got a Seed Award from The Sprout Fund -- a Pittsburgh nonprofit organization that supports innovative ideas and grassroots community projects -- to help pay printing costs, and she hopes to distribute it through community outreach events, treatment centers or support groups.

Her goal is to find new funding to put out a new edition with different inspirational essays and an updated resource list every year.

Bonnie Shields, director of support services at the Cancer Caring Center, was happy to see BRICKS' presence on a Web site. "Anytime you can connect resources and young adults it's a good thing because they don't have a lot of programs out there for young adults."

Ms. Shields said she thinks of people in their 20s and 30s as being young adults, and teenagers as a different demographic. But Peter Shaw, oncologist and director of the Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, said "15 to 40 is kind of nationally considered the adolescent and young adult population." Along with medical care, the Children's Hospital program provides support; for example, it organizes ski trips and other get-togethers.

While Dr. Shaw agreed that someone aged 38 may not relate to a 15-year-old on a social level they definitely can commiserate on undergoing chemo and how that impacts with their daily lives.

Many of that group also are uninsured or underinsured and in a time of transition, he said.

To read more about BRICKS, go to BRICKSforyoungadults.org.

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