I left yesterday with a post I wish I never had to see...let alone write and be a part of. It began with a picture of a hospice patient, obviously gravely ill lying in her bed with but hours to live. The woman's brother had brought her dog Jethro from home to see his owner one last time before she died.
On one hand there obviously is something incredibly tragic about this picture of a beloved pet dog saying a final goodbye to his 46 year old owner...yes...Aileen was but 46 years old...4 years younger then I am. She was way too young to die but Cancer is no respecter of age or race or gender...IT KILLS indiscriminately.
But in a strange yet subtle way there is something incredibly poignant about that picture and scenario. It is not only a testament to the incredible will to live some people have (just looking at Aileen one can see she has put up a gallant fight she has put up, right down to the FUCK CANCER Bracelet on her right arm).
So today instead of wallowing in sorrow...I look to the Heaven's with a BIG smile for Aileen...you fought the good fight, your brother and your family have taken your cause up from you and fight on in this terrible, heartbreaking WAR against this awful disease. But today...because of your picture I can see hope and BE hopeful that the day when they find a way to win this war is shortly at hand.
Dad, the picture from last night was just heart wrenching. I think both the post from last night and this post are important reminders that cancer is still out there and still very dangerous. We hear all these nice statistics about how cancer is very beatable so we tend to forget unless we are directly dealing with cancer itself just how deadly it is. We have come a long way in fighting cancer but we still have a long, hard "war" (in your words, which I think are appropriate) to go.
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