"If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or Fight Like Hell."
-Lance Armstrong
***
I don't think anyone is ever ready for a disease. Any disease. We all know that life is temporary, that our time here is limited. We know that there are things we each have on a list, a list we want to check off, to say we did that we saw this. There are people we want to meet, grandchildren we want to hold and changes in the world we wish to witness. So many of us get to do just that, we live a long, yet temporary, existence and exit the world knowing we did not do it all but we did so much. We all grow up with the belief that we can change the world, own it, find a purpose, develop a path and hope to see all our items checked off.
But there are some of us, some who walk into a cold stark room clutching not only a purse or hand but also grabbing tightly the idea of temporary - the definition of the word that is unique to each and every one of us. It is in those seconds, I am told, that hope feels fleeting - that the air is heavier and that temporary becomes a word much shorter than it began. Hope lingers around the room, dancing along the walls, trying desperately to prove that though its letters are few its strength makes it the most powerful and longest word.
Hope, fighting, belief, strength, faith, love, laughter, family - words that make temporary... immortal. I know that I am blessed - those around me who have fought disease (Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Lung Cancer...) most have won the battles and made their "temporary" more ordinary than most. But there are so many who still need signs that the words of hope, fight, faith, belief and strength to remember that temporary can be longer than we think and that no matter how long it is - each one of us must find the joy in our life that reminds us of why we love our time here.
My sister, Nina, is a Jazzercise instructor. This past year her best friend of 38 was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. She fights every day to make her "temporary" as long as she possibly can - her young son is grateful to those who remind us how wonderful life can be no matter how hard it seems. My coworker, Danny, has a 14 year old son named Cade (his caringbride site is here http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/cadeainsworth ). This young man is battling rhabdomyosarcoma - Stage 4 cancer - he is amazing. So young, so strong and so willing to fight for temporary. So many things can change that word, can make it so powerful to each an everyone of us.
That sister of mine, Nina, she is doing a Jazzercise fundraiser for Susan G. Komen Foundations this Sunday - February 13, 2011. I know that asking for charity is often frowned upon, but in this case I am going against etiquette. She is only trying to raise $300.00 - such a small amount that can go to helping so many...if you have a moment and you want to help someone else's temporary time here please visit the below site...donate a $1, $5, whatever you can. Hey - make a note of it and next year around this time remind the IRS that you gave a little to help a lot.
Please click on the following link: Nina's Team Page! Support Susan G Komen!!
You will see a button with Support Nina! that is where you click and it will take you to the donation page! Easy Peasey... ;o)
Please give whatever you can. Every little bit brings hope and we all know how big of an impact that can make...
Have a Whimsical Thursday!
