June 3, 2006 - Day 4 - Week 9 - A Little Review

I never expected cancer. I never expected to write about my experience and learnings on a daily basis, yet this process has taken me to some fascinating places already.

• Number 1:  I have heard some heart wrenching stories of joy and sorrow associated with this disease.  My heart has softened over the last 2 months.
   

• Number 2:  I have learned that cancer does not discriminate.  Well conditioned athletes, from teenagers to professionals contract cancer.  Smokers and non-smokers get lung cancer. Five year old innocent children and 86 year old seasoned grandmothers have to undergo chemotherapy.  All ethnic, religious, and racial groups are represented in the cancer clinics around the country.
   

• Number 3;  There will be cures and vaccines. Multi-millions go into after-the-fact research.  The success rate for remission is increasing. I am not the least bit pessimistic, because progress is made daily. I will let the medical profession guide me on this.
   

• Number 4:  I am convinced that we need to focus on prevention. Many of you have inquired as to how you can be of help to me.  Pretty soon I am going to be asking a lot of my friends.  I am going to ask you to work with me on preventing cancer.
   

• Number 5:  Nutrition and diet is probably the magic bullet.
   

• Number 6: Exercise and awareness of one’s natural surroundings go hand in hand.  The more unhealthful the local environment, the greater the necessity of exercise.
   

• Number 7: Alternative therapies, some of which are a little too far out for me, should be examined for what they are and treated with respect.  Each of our complex eco-systems, called our bodies, responds differently than our neighbors.  What is right for me may not be 100% appropriate for you, but let’s find some common denominators that can benefit the common good.
   

• Number 8:  I will speak to the issue of prayer, religion, spirituality, and a transcendent power as it relates to cancer and healing.  The God of Creation has been witness to a world emerge and evolve that is  vastly different than the Garden of Eden.  The world in which  our children take their first breath today is polluted.
   

• Number 9: The stories of others are important, but ultimately each of us need to take the truth as we perceive it from a multitude of places and create our own cancer prevention, and if need be, though I pray not, cancer strategy.
   

• Number 10:  And finally, each day is a gift.  When you discover that others have put a time frame on your life, though that is being revised continuously with the medical advances we are experiencing, each day becomes a little more precious than yesterday. But, even of greater significance is that family and friends become even more special.