I’d like to pause and reflect on the nature of this horrible disease cancer. We are relieved that my wife is rid of it, but it’s not the same case for everyone.
Sure, we have been reassured by many ladies who have told us they went through the chemotherapy and mastectomies and they have been healthy ever since. Yes, progress has been made in the battle against all kinds of cancer. Even though pancreatic cancer is still fatal, patients today do at least have a longer reprieve. My mother, for instance, was diagnosed in March of 1962, and she died three months later in June. In the 1980s, actor Michael Landon had cancer and did not last as long as my mother. Actor Patrick Swayze lived more than two years with pancreatic cancer and still worked until the final decline.
But we lost a friend this week. He was a robust family man in his forties. He, his wife and daughter were active in community theater and were known for their kindness and encouragement of young talent. She is a drama teacher, and he was known for his lighting and sound skills. He told me one time he preferred to be the one in the dark casting attention on everyone else. A couple of years ago he had a sore throat that didn’t go away. He fought his cancer, undergoing surgeries and treatment. Last spring, they renewed their wedding vows before friends and family, a gesture to show that cancer could not kill their love.
Even on a national level, former President Jimmy Carter announced he had brain cancer. He is undergoing treatment, but he takes comfort that he has had a long, fruitful satisfying life. Even cancer is not going to keep him from teaching his Sunday school class in Plains, Ga. People from around the country are flocking to hear his words, and he does not go home until everyone has had a chance to have a picture taken with him.
What a somber reminder that this is a fight unto death, and no one is assured a victory.
I can’t say any more.