Wednesday, June 9, 2010

3:1

The other day, within 3 hours I received 3 messages via 3 different forms of communication informing me that 3 women of 3 different generations had 3 different types of terminal cancer. 3 women, 3 generations, one thing in common….cancer.

To this point, my life has been rather unaffected by cancer. Many of my relatives have been diagnosed and beaten it, mostly before I was old enough to truly understand their situation or the true horror of what cancer has the potential to do. When it’s not in your immediate sights, I don’t think you can really understand what it does and how many people are affected by one diagnosis. I was certainly one of those people. As time goes on, I am losing more and more people in my life. As terrifying as that may be, and being something I have always struggled with, it’s an inevitability. We are all gonna face death one day and I can only hope that something even better lies ahead. Tragically however, life isn’t as peaceful or lengthy for some people.

For reasons only known to God I guess, some people’s lives are tragically cut short, some suffering for years. I can easily see why people turn away from faith. Why the hell would an All Loving God create so much suffering in the world??? Just turn on the news and you’ll here about countless murders, mother nature taking out thousands within seconds, disease upon disease taking lives left and right…..

My outlook on life has been grim of late. How can you hear about these 3 beautiful women and not feel…..just so angry…..sad….confused….and full of so much empathy. It feels somewhat insensitive to go on with your contented life knowing full well what these women will be going through for the next few months. What right do I have to be happy when these women are suffering? How can I plan my future when theirs have been taken away? How selfish it seems to complain about having to clean or do laundry or not be able to afford the latest technology. It just seems wrong. I am angry that this disease is taking lives, I am sad for these women and their families and friends and quite honestly, I am terrified that that will be me someday.

We have cancer walks, beneifts, drives…but still no cure. We have made progress, but I think we all pray for the day that the cure is found. Cancer is taking the lives of these 3 women and millions more. One of these women is my age; a life literally cut before it’s prime. Another is my mother’s generation, recently married and finally happy, only to have everything ripped away. The third has lived a long and happy life that will end in suffering at the hand of this horrible horrible disease.

One of these women really could be me. If not me, certainly many people I care about will continue to be diagnosed. So what the hell do we do? What do the survivors left behind do to make sure that these women, men, and children are not forgotten and do not die without hope that someday there will be a cure? I feel like this has sparked a fire in me. While I’m not a neurosurgeon who can operate on a brain tumor, or a researcher in a lab working toward a cure, I can raise awareness, I can raise money and most importantly, I can make sure that those we lose are not forgotten.

Tonight I will be saying 3 special prayers for 3 special women. We all really do need to live each day to the fullest. We never know when our time will come. Love your family, love your friends, and be the kind of person you can be proud of when all is said and done.