The "C" Word

I just found out that a friend of mine has cancer. I’m not sure of the specifics yet, but I’ve known people with this type and they’ve survived quite well. But the news, for me, was hard to hear. I can’t imagine his thoughts. I know for a moment, he must have really felt alone. Hopefully not.

I was just reading in a book called, “Blue Like Jazz” and in it he talks about a speaker who discussed metaphors for Cancer. He asked the audience and they kept coming back with war metaphors. You know, they're fighting cancer…battle with cancer…etc. He said that many people consider the “C” word as something to fight. Because of this thought process, many people give up initially because they don’t want to have to go through something like that. They don’t want to fight. He went on to discuss how somewhere around 90% of people who have cancer are surviving. The cancer is either manageable or curable. He says that many people survive because they choose to look at cancer differently.

I thought this was encouraging, but didn’t think about it when I found out about my friend. I went right to the negative and then started looking at myself. My High School friend LeighAnn wrote in her blog ‘Cancer Chupa.’ Chupa is Spanish for ‘sucks.’ Sometimes there’s just no other way to say it.

I pray for my friend. I know that he is not alone. But I know that he may feel that way. At one time or another, we all do.