Cancer Walk

Sometimes I think I'm one of the lucky few whose life has been relatively little touched by cancer.
And then I think again.

It's true that the tragedy of the disease has not affected me as personally as some people very close to me, and others I know less well. My husband's family, for example. Seventeen years ago, my father-in-law to-be passed away at the age of 59 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, only a few months before his son and I were married. Our nanny died of leukemia after an unsuccessful marrow transplant. She was not yet 21.Then there is a cousin's wife, a woman in her forties, who recently underwent surgery to remove both of her breasts when cancer was discovered. And a step-sister, close to us in age, who battled ovarian cancer. A friend's ex-wife, same age, just learned she has breast cancer. A mother of my son's friend from school, cancer. My former cleaning lady's husband had cancer in so many places, he only lived for two weeks once it was discovered.
When Kim asked people to walk with her in the cancer walk last weekend, I didn't really think of all the people whose lives the disease has changed forever. Seeing some of those people at Grant Park last Sunday, many with photos of their loved ones on their t-shirts, opened my eyes.
And, speaking of t-shirts, how's this for bringing attention to unmentionables, and inserting a dose of levity into an otherwise serious situation?

Comments

[kim]

I'm so glad you came to walk with us Justyna! And sorry for the loss of your friends and family.

[suchlovelyfreckles]

Two people in my family died of cancer. Both were grandfathers. One had lung cancer, the other one kidney cancer that had spread to the bones by the time it was diagnosed. One died 3 weeks after his diagnosis, the other suffered for half a year. Both time it was terribly sad, frustrating, depressing....
What it must be like to lose a parent or worse, a child, is beyond my imagination. And I thank my lucky stars that so far we have been spared.