After reading my SIL's blog I realized just how my life has been impacted by the word cancer. As I was growing up I had a best friend named Susan, we did everything together, went on family vacations, sleeping at each others house, going to each other's churches just inseparable, her family was my family and visa versa. Her mother was so loving and I remember how she was friends with everyone and was always smiling and laughing, not a person you would think would be dealt a bad hand but she was. I'll never forget the day I was told she had cancer, I was about 14 years old. I had heard the word before but never really paid attention to it until then. In that year I watched this woman I considered my second mom go through the painful treatments of chemo and radiation, losing her hair, her skin burning, throwing up constantly and her body blowing up like a balloon and through it all she still had a smile for everyone. In less than a year cancer had taken her life, I was never the same after that experience and neither was my beloved friend....they moved away. Years later I visited her at Ithaca College and it was just like old times, sister of sorts...she graduated with high honors. That thread of cancer will always tie us together...
The next was my wonderful Grandmother, we were very close and I loved her more then I could ever express. She decided she did not want to go through the chemo treatments and died a painful death. It was excruciating to watch but was so relieved when she passed because I knew she was in a better place and free of pain. I miss her to this day.....
Years later it would be me that was diagnosed with the big "C"...knowing what I knew about cancer, my first reaction was that I was going to die. I went through a lot of depression and a lot of mental emotion that took me to some dark places. I eventually overcame and won the battle but it has taken years to do so and had to really focus on "life".
Through my working years I have seen cancer take the lives of good people, friends diagnosed and there loved ones lost. Cancer does not pick and choose it's victims, it's a mystery and unfortunately has no meaning. It is something on some level to which we can all relate to and maybe someday we can find what causes this monster to attack.
For the sake of our children and the lives of there children, may we demolish all forms of cancer....
