Cancer Heroes.

Morning Guys…

So, I love the Paras, but these LATE nights, EARLY mornings to watch are cray cray.  But, I wouldn’t miss it for the world…especially for the stories, last night being one of them.

As I was watching the skiing, I noticed there were A LOT of cancer survivor stories for this particular set of athletes.  God, I knew cancer was devastating, but I NEVER KNEW HOW DEVASTATING cancer REALLY is.  Most of the amputees that were competing yesterday were cancer survivors that lost major parts of their bodies!

Now, I worked at the office for 18 years, and had patient/friends come through with their bouts of cancer, I’d seen the loss of hair, the frailty, the occasional mastectomy, which that in itself’s devastating losing such a visible/invisible part that can’t go UNNOTICED by society AND the person.  I’ve heard of the hysterectomies to save lives.  These are my friends, some made it, some didn’t.  But, I guess I never took stock in the ones that SURVIVED, but still had to VISIBLY lose…to survive by way of the cancer itself or the chemo or radiation treatments they had to endure.

I’ve got a friend, who had Hep C, which isn’t necessarily cancer, but can lead to liver cancer.  She beat it, but it jacked her up internally.  To this day, she feels the effects of the treatments she had to survive…AND, she tried to work through said treatments.  Now, those are some beach ball-size lady nuts.

I’ve been through a lot of surgeries in my day, but NOTHING compared to what Lety and so many others have.  I watch the rest of the Paras with much more humility and a renewed gratitude for life.

Be good to each other.

-J-