The Big "C"

National Botanical Gardens, Washington, D.C.  Copyright 2012: singeronthesand

 

...I pray for good fortune in everything you do,

and for your good health...

3 John 2

 

As I was walking out of the grocery store this afternoon, I heard someone call my name.  Glancing up, I noticed a woman in the driver's seat of a dark red SUV smiling at me, and I assumed she was the one who had spoken.  The smile seemed familiar, so I smiled back and said hello.  The woman immediately launched into a stream of conversation: how good it was to see me, it had been such a long time, etc., and slowly I began to place who she was.  Had she not first acknowledged me, however, I never would have recognized her - she was so changed.  Her formerly glossy dark hair was very short, frizzy and half gray, and before she even uttered the word cancer, my mind was already going in that direction.

 

She had been diagnosed with breast cancer several years ago, and after chemotherapy was considered in remission.  Recently a mass returned, then a lump under her arm, and then indications that the cancer had metastasized to her liver and sternum.  My heart ached as I listened to her litany of radiation and chemo - something that is going to be on-going just in order to stay alive.  I am a five-year cancer survivor (uterine) and feel very blessed that I have made it this long without a recurrence.  So many of my friends and acquaintances are struggling with this vicious disease.

 

Tomorrow evening, I am attending the kick-off rally in this area for Light the Night - the fundraising event for LLS (Leukemia/Lymphoma Society).  I am the team captain for our church; we have fielded a team for the last three years in support of our associate pastor, who has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The Light the Night walk in this area is on October 27.  The Relay for Life walk sponsored by the American Cancer Society took place in June.  Each of these walks works toward raising money for cancer research.  Our goal for Light the Night is $3,000.  The national slogan for LLS is, I walk because someone's life depends on it."  I walk because my life, and the lives of Pastor Ben and the woman at the grocery store depend on the funds raised to further research against the big "C".

 

Do you have a Light the Night walk in your area?  I urge you to participate.  For those outside North America,  I urge you to support continuing cancer research in whatever way you can.  For many, many people around the world, our lives depend on it.