Cancer....

Not many singular words can strike the fear in the heart of men and women as the big C can. Cancer, just saying the word can give instant visions of the most unpleasant kind. Cancer runs in my family. My father succumbed to it in 1991 at the tender age of 59, and it was the first really big death I encountered in my life.  The memories are painful and the sight of someone whose body has been ravenged by cancer and treatment shakes me to my core.
My brother suffered through stage 4 colon cancer and won the hard fought battle, but the threat of the war will always remain and he will forever be in the throws of battle ready prep. My Uncle who was my rock during my fathers illness, is now too suffering the wrath of this monster that knows no bounds, young,old,big, little, black, white, boy, girl, rich, poor, father, mother, brother, sister, son or daughter.We all have the monster inside of us.  Some of us are lucky enough for it to remain dormant forever, for others it awakens and begins its ravenous unrelenting journey, consuming all it its path. The physical pain is unimaginable for the victims, and for their loved ones the emotional pain is unbearable.  The helplessness that everyone feels is numbing and the fear at, who, and when it may rear its head again, unnerving. We know it likes families, like most diseases, we tell ourselves it won't happen to us, but secretly fear its unknown arrival, if not with us with family we love. When I listen to the news from Japan about the radiation, it makes me ache a pain that only someone who has faced cancer in their family can understand.  They are faced with something that is not genetic but total blind chance.  Life can be funny that way, the unexpected is really all we can depend on.
We must struggle to live our lives fully and without the predisposition of what may or may not happen.
We are here for a reason, each of us, and we touch the lives of those around us in the most profound ways we can never imagine or understand. I think that is the way it is supposed to be.
We need to seek to embrace our lives and the unknown, the fear and the joy, the sadness and happiness, because life is fleeting, we are here but for a brief moment, and we need to live fully the life we are given.
I like to believe we live many lives in our journey to sit at the right hand of God, each with a purpose and a lesson to be learned. I want to live this life to the fullest and fulfill my journey learning the lessons I am given and leave behind a very small footprint that will cumulatively get me one step closer to my destination.
One small step for me, one giant step for my journey......