Saturday, September 20, 2008

T

Back in the late 90’s my cousin J married a really great woman, T. He picked a really good one…a beautiful person both inside and out. She wanted to be a speech pathologist and started attending Linfield College in McMinnville.


They got pregnant a year or two after they were married and were blessed with a little boy. About 6 months after T delivered she found out she had breast cancer. Everyone rallied around her, she went through all the usually treatments/operations and made it through.


Not too long after the breast cancer was gone, the brain cancer came. Luckily we have a cutting edge facility here in Portland where she received the newest surgery to deal with this kind of cancer. It involved having a “stabilizer” of sorts screwed into her head while they cut her open and removed the cancer with a laser. Did I mention she had to be awake during it? The irony is that after the surgery she had some speech aphasia. Still, her attitude was amazing.


About a year after the brain cancer was deemed gone they discovered cancer in her lungs. She and her amazing family dug in and went through the treatments for it.


Yesterday I found out she has cancer in her liver now. I’m trying to figure out what God’s plan is here and I’m really having trouble with it. She is one of the good ones in our family…always has a smile and a kind word at family parties. Never mean or condescending…I do not understand God’s logic here.


On Sunday my mom, sister-in-law, niece and I are walking in the Race for Cure for the Susan G. Komen foundation. We started it when one of mom’s co-workers had cancer and continued doing it through all of T’s cancer. T’s got her own very large team now for the race and her slogan is Attitude is Everything.


We need to find a cure for cancer and we need to do it pronto. If you are reading this and can afford it please give some money to one of the various cancer charities…American Cancer Society, Susan G Komen are a couple that that I can think of at the moment. Even $5 bucks helps.

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