Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Death by cancer teaches about life

I started to write this as a comment on Keshi's recent post but realized the need of posting it up on my blog as a tribute to my uncle and all those who are/die fighting cancer.

My admiration for cancer soldiers has grown immensely in the last few years. Those fighting cancer become a stand in for hope. And hope in the face of an aggressive, debilitating and ultimately fatal disease is a real dilemma for the terminally ill and their loved ones.

The death of Peter Jennings last week and the news of Donna Reeves having lung cancer and now Keshi’s post brought me back to my own uncle's death from the disease a little over a year ago. By the time he was diagnosed it was too late for a cure. From the diagnosis to death was a mere six months. A blink of an eye in retrospect, but agonizing and seemingly endless at the time.

My uncle fought his battle very bravely, instead of just waiting for death, even though his doctor had stressed the treatment was purely palliative. He spent his last few weeks at home surrounded by the people he loved. Caring for him was the hardest for all of us to deal with, but his death taught us about love and loss, about courage and pain. In other words, about life.

This came in handly, when only a few short weeks after my uncle’s death, my aunt was diagnosed for breast cancer. If my uncle’s quiet courage in the face of his disease had inspired us, it was nothing compared to my aunt’s mettle dealing with hers. It’s a little over a year late and she’s a survivor, a hero to her kids, with her whole life ahead of her.

It’s not the bouts of bitterness and despair which sticks with me but the sense that dying is a part of life and that its important to cherish every last minute of our lives together. Instead of alienating and isolating us from one another, my uncle's death (as good and gentle as death was possible) was as much a gift as his life had been.
Posted by Dewdrop :: 12:11 PM :: 17 Scribbles!

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