Coping with Cancer: It’s not a Battleground

Hello Sally,

What an inspirational doc you have written.   I would think no matter what type/outcome of a life threatening or other illness or problem someone has, it is good advice that I know from experience my nephew must have taken from somewhere and still shares with us.

I have a twin sister and we are very close.   Some 17 years ago her son who was 23 at the time developed Lukemia and was in remission 3 times over a two year period resulting in a bone marrow transplant from a very thoughtful German lady. (I don' t want to make it sound as if all that time was easy - it wasn't).   That transplant gave him another 14 years to see his son grow up and would probably still have been going if a totally unrelated cancer had not taken his life just before Christmas.   Throughout his treatment and for all those years he never once let it or thoughts of it take over his life enjoying as much as he could every day.   He went back to work as a carpenter helping build the new hospital in Coventry and then when it was opened was kept on there doing maintenance.  We all thought he would have had enough of hospitals but he loved working there.   At one point he was producing way too much iron so used to say things like  "That means I'll have to pop into A3 today, hope that redhead is there".  Nothing fazed him and it wasn't until we had to clear his belongings that we realised just how much paraphernalia he had to have and how many hormones he had to take to stop him gowing breasts (he used to joke about that as well but it is too rude to put on this site).  I would say that he was inspirational and my husband and I have taken a leaf from his book in dealing with his lung cancer, we treat it like the mother in law from hell that you sometimes have to acknowledge!

I hope many people read your blog, put into practice as much as they can what it says and have a glorious life.

Margaret

Dear Margaret

Thank you for your kind words about my paper and especially for sharing your story..

I once read that courage is the reward for acting in the face of fear.  Your nephew was certainly rewarded.

All the best

Sally