And breast cancer.
Can you even do that? Can you toss a word like cancer into someone's description like you would there favorite color or the place where they went on vacation last fall? There isn't anything sane or remotely reasonable about that word. And yet, there it is.
My friend? She's pretty remarkable.
The last time I saw her, we spoke for a few minutes about this, her new reality. She told me of the port under her skin where the chemotherapy will enter into her bloodstream. She spoke of the surgery that took not one, but both breasts from her body, and how she still struggles to raise her arms above her head. She showed off her new haircut, cut short - a bold, gutsy short spurred by a knowledge that once the chemo starts, her hair is all going to fall out anyway.
I want to scream at the injustice of it all. This is not the reality than any woman 30 years old should have to face. But screaming and the writing of angry words doesn't do anyone any good. Do you know why I know this? It's because my friend told me. With light in her eyes and a smile on her lips, she looked at me and said, "You can lay down and cry about it, or you can get up and say, I'm going to fight this thing."
And so she fights. I'm not sure I've ever seen such resilience - such graceful determination to steadily put one foot in front of the other, come what may. I will fight too - with prayers and optimism and anything else my friend needs me to do. Her chemotherapy starts today. Will you fight with your prayers too? And for goodness sake, look at your normal, healthy, wonderful body, be it short, tall, fat or skinny, and thank God for it. And then, thank Him again.
