Cancer has no Prejudice
Cancer isn’t selective as it strikes the young, pretty and rich.
She just turned 40 and I see the fear in her eyes. You would never know it though if you didn’t know her.
So vibrant with a love for life; a simple life. She doesn’t require a cell phone, LCD televisions, or fancy furniture to make her house a home. She’s happy with second-hand goods and appreciates them like they are new.
All she wants is her friends to be happy and her kid’s safe. Then, the worst thing happened on Easter Weekend, cancer selected her as its next victim. A headache that wouldn’t go away, a cat scan, an MRI….brain cancer.
She was operated on immediately. The paper work was lost in transit, and her chemo was delayed. She took her first chemo treatment like a trooper. She has taken everything with a smile and gratefulness. She says, “It’s a bump in the road”.
She hates that she’s gained weight, her face swollen, and her belly pudgy. She will not show herself off like before. She’s always well covered.
When she started to lose her hair, we went out and purchased a wig. Once the humidity of summer hit, she decided to take it off and keep it off. She walks proud while people stare at her.
“It’s just a bump in the road”
At this time, she’s completed three chemo treatments and knows that her cancer is lymphoma. She knows that this bump in the road could return should she conquer this battle.
However, you can still find her at a baseball field across Southwestern Ontario cheering her daughter on. You can find her gardening in her yard. You can find her writing in the wee hours of the morning. She will never turn a friend away at the door. She’s too proud to accept food or gifts, but we manage to get her to take them.
She’s an inspiration. A force to be reckoned with. She’s my mentor. A friend who I always regarded as ordinary is now extraordinary in my eyes.
I pray that there will be many more birthdays for her. I pray there will come a day that we will throw her a party “Julie” style; bonfires, karaoke, laughs and it all behind us.
“A bump in the road.”
