Stronger than cANCER

     cANCER has once again been on the forefront of our minds this week.  I've been reminded what a cruel disease it is and how much it robs from those who suffer in its presence.  It does not discriminate; it knows no age limits, no race limits, no gender limits.  Its power can be all consuming and for that reason we have to fight everyday to not give it the power it craves.  And no matter how much grace it gives, it takes with it a peace of mind that can never quite fully be given back.
     Last Friday morning at 5am I was pulling into the gym parking lot when Alan called me and said he was extremely dizzy and couldn't keep his balance.  I wasn't too worried and figured it was Vertigo since I have had some friends have it before and I was familiar with the symptoms.  Never the less, Alan was absolutely miserable and we needed to get him back to normal, so I headed home to pick him up and make our all too familiar trek to the ER.  After a quick exam, it was determined that it was most likely a typical case of Vertigo.  However, once you've had cANCER, it will forever be in the back of everyone's minds- yours and the doctors- is it back? So, just to be on the safe side, they ran a head CT. Thankfully, that came back normal.
     Coincidentally, Alan also had a full morning of 3 month cANCER appointments and tests already scheduled.  I wasn't originally planning on going with him, but since he still couldn't drive, I took him to his 8am round of appointments at the KU cANCER Center.  Man, if you think life has given you a bad day, go sit in that waiting room for 30 seconds and your priorities in life will be set straight real quickly.  Someone who lost a leg to cANCER.  Another who has been doing chemo for five years.  Almost all with multiple family members.  Support systems of family all baring their bald heads.  Little kids who should be out being stung by bees at the park, not needles in a hospital. There's just no way to put it.  IT'S. JUST. NOT. FAIR.
     Alan's 3 month bloodwork all came back good.  That was a relief. BUT...they found a mass on the chest x-ray that needed a follow up CT.  The oncologist was fairly certain that it was nothing to be worried about, but wanted to run tests just to be sure.  The good thing about all of these scans every three months is that you know every single little thing going on inside your body and have notes to compare even the most minimal change.  The bad thing is that you know every single little thing going on inside your body.  Seeing a common theme here?  cANCER has robbed that peace of mind and isn't giving it back.  So, we have sat on the edge of our seats once again this past week.  Luckily today, the CT scan showed the mass was just a calcium deposit.  We have good news and the"all clear" to carry us through another three months.
     Last Friday's events were proceeded by a phone call from my mom Monday morning.  One of my dad's oldest friends of fifty some years lost his fight to cancer.  He has a daughter my age that I've grown up with all my life.  A little over twelve years ago, she lost her mom to cANCER.  A couple of months back she had genetic testing done to find out that she has the gene for breast cANCER.  Now the question for her is When not If.  AGAIN.  IT'S. JUST. NOT FAIR.
     So, what do we do?  We fight like hell when we get that diagnosis.  When those we love get too tired to fight, we let them rest and we fight like hell for them.  We keep HOPE alive even when there is less peace of mind than there used to be.  We take control of our own lives, have the courage to get the knowledge we need, and then do what needs to be done to not give cANCER the power to it craves.  We become a voice encouraging others to make better choices, do the exams, get the proactive genetic testing.  We become living proof examples like my friend that no matter how much cANCER tries to beat us down and tear our families apart, that if we muster up all the courage we have, we can still live our lives with great meaning and purpose.   It isn't fair. It never will be.  But in the words of Stuart Scott, "We beat cANCER by how we live, why we live, and the manner in which we live."  For these reasons, we are, and always will be, stronger than cANCER.