World Cancer Day

I wasn't sure what I would say about World Cancer Day.  To be honest, I think I wanted to deny that we even need to have a special day for cancer. How can anyone not know about cancer?  It will affect 1 in 2 people in their lifetime.  If they don't know about yet, it won't be long. This is a devastating disease that forever changes lives. There is debate on how healthy it is to have chemo, radiation and other cancer fighting drugs versus natural and clean eating versus "we create illness in our bodies and we can cure it."   Which is right? I don't know.  Can only one be right?  Which do I agree with?  All of them. Which do I disagree with?  All of them.

Cancer takes away so much. It takes away health, hopes and dreams. It takes away financial security. It takes away our social networks. It takes away red blood cells and white blood cells. In a "lucky" world, all of that comes to an end and other than follow up visits, cancer takes a back seat to life and may even become nothing but a distant memory.

For others, it takes away so much more. It takes away freedom. it takes away careers. It ends relationships. It steals your identity.  And rarely does this happen only to the person fighting for their life. All of these can be taken away from children, parents, wives, husbands, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, friends and colleagues of the person fighting for their life. .

Cancer took away my husband, It took away my children's father. It took away my grandsons' grandfather. It took away my parents-in-law's son. Cancer took away a brother, brother-in-law, nephew and uncle. As I write this, many people are facing losing a person to cancer. No discrimination. The young and the old, the rich and the poor, female and male, infants and seniors.  It doesn't matter. The loss is inevitable.  From weeks to years, these families have been affected by a family member's cancer fight, with those effects nibbling at their bodies, taking pieces of their hearts, souls, and leaving them feeling bare and vulnerable, while they hide behind a wall of protection so no one can see what really is happening.

Cancer broke my heart. My heart will heal.  I don't believe it will ever be whole again. A piece of it died when Callum ran out of time in his fight with cancer.

I am grateful for the love and support of many family and friends who have helped me put my heart and life back together. I am not stuck in the depths of despair. I have a wonderful life, filled with laughter, joy, challenges, hope, dreams and more accomplishments than I thought possible. I will continue to celebrate those things and appreciate the many blessings I have in my life.

I am grateful for the many advances, medical, natural and alternative, in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship and palliative areas of cancer and cancer treatment. We are better off today because of these advances.

 It is World Cancer Day.   I look forward to the "We Have Ended Cancer Day"