More cancer
I just received news of another person overcome by cancer. She is still alive, but I have been told that her body is riddled with the disease. This lovely woman was the mother of one of my children’s friends. I received a message from my son this morning telling me he is popping home soon, for his friend’s wedding, brought forward so that his mother can attend.
It is not just the loss of a person in cases such as these, but the absence from all future occasions that accentuates the loss. It is lovely that the mother will be there for this wedding. I know that it is when we are all together celebrating something, that we miss Daniel the most and I guess it will always be that way. Once a person leaves a family, particularly a mother, that leaves a hole. It was so sad on Wednesday, seeing the family say goodbye to their mother. My friend was a strong woman and I know she will be missed terribly.
It must be/have been a terrible thing for these two women, knowing that their time was nearly up. In my friend’s case, she had chemotherapy until the cancer returned in other parts of her body. It was then that she chose quality of life over trying a different drug, which I am sure would have been another difficult decision to have made. Before my father-in-law passed away from cancer, he was told by a doctor that the money for an operation could be spent on him or someone younger. What a terrible thing to have been told. The father-in-law felt he couldn’t then say he wanted the op, and thus opted for palliative care and died soon after. In the early 1990s when I had an illness that brought me very close to death, I saw clearly the important things in life. These were about love and family. However, that clarity soon faded and I always wished I had written down exactly what I had been shown at that time. I am sure my friend and my son’s friend’s mother will be given this gift as well, though sadly without the time to extend it.
I know that there will be a message for me in all of this, especially that I have just heard of the second person with this disease. I don’t have a death sentence hanging over my head. It makes me see the gift that I am still living and healthy. Perhaps it is that I really need to live the rest of my life. I have found myself becoming more sedentary lately and with all the weight I have put on, I know that unless I do something about it, the aging will progress rapidly. Maybe the message is telling me to overcome my remaining fears and confront all those things that I know are still holding me back.
Either way, I think getting my body back into a fitter and more healthy state, should be a priority.