I Hate Cancer
Do you hate cancer? I do, everyone should.
Cancer effects people from all walks of life. Old, young, children, men and women. Cancer really sucks!
My brother Dave died from cancer 9 years ago today (01-28-2006) so cancer is on my mind today. Dave had a rare form of cancer called Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma.
Diagnosed
Dave was diagnosed with Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma after complaining of ear aches. He went to his doctor and the doctor told him his ears were fine but he kept having ear pain so he kept going back to the doctor. Finally after about 6 months of the doctor telling him there was nothing wrong with him he told the doctor to give him a referral for a specialist because he knew there was something wrong with him.
Dave went to a Ear Nose and Throat Specialist (ENT) and the ENT found a tumor on the base of his tongue during his first exam. Dave then went for a biopsy and it was confirmed that he had cancer. He had a golf ball size tumor on the base of his tongue, which is why he was having the ear pain. He went for surgery and they cut him open from ear to ear and removed the tumor. Once he healed from the surgery he began radiation treatments on his throat.
After 2 years
Dave had a cat scan every 6 months after he finished his radiation treatments and was cancer free for 2 years. After the 2 years he went for a cat scan and they found 12 nodules in the lining of each lung. The nodules were inoperable. He was told that chemotherapy was not effective with his type of cancer so at this point there wasn’t any treatments available. He went to Boston to the Dana Farber Institute to try to get into a clinical trial but they turned him down. But he came back knowing more about his cancer than he did before he went. When Dave died he had over 100 tumors in each lung and tumors in his brain and liver.
Dave was an amazing man, he was always positive and would never let the cancer get him down. He used to say, “I’m not dying of cancer, I’m living with cancer.” he always looked on the bright side of everything. He was such an inspiration to me and everyone who knew him. He didn’t want you to feel sorry for him. He used to say “What’s the worse thing that can happen to me? I’ll be with Jesus!”
Dad passed away
Ten months before Dave passed away my Dad passed away. Dave was my Dads pride and joy, his first son. My parent had 6 kids, three girls first then the 3 boys. Dave was grateful that Dad had passed away first because he didn’t want to put Dad through the heartache of losing a son. My Dad had been sick for a couple years.
Dave had always been a big guy, it was hard watching him get so thin and need oxygen to breath. The radiation destroyed his salivary glands so he had to drink water with every bite of food because he didn’t make saliva. He loved cake with ice cream because the ice cream wet the cake.
My Memories
I have so many fond memories of Dave and some not so fond ones too. He was my younger brother and as kids we did have our fights as kids do. But I choose to remember the fun times, like playing cowboys and Indians and army in the woods behind our house. Like playing hurricane in the shower in my parents bathroom. We used to pretend we were on a ship in the middle of the ocean and we got stuck in a hurricane. We lived in Florida and hurricanes are a fact of life here. When the street would flood we would get pieces of plywood and play skim board in the puddles, we would throw the plywood then run and jump on it like we were surfing in the street. Dave and I played together all the time when we were kids.
There was this time when I think he was about 6 and I was about 8, he was fighting with one of the neighbor boys, Ricky who was his friend. The boys sister, Sharon was my friend. Well Dave was on top of Ricky and Ricky’s Mom was this really big woman and she came to get the boys apart. All I saw was her put her hands around Dave’s neck (she probably just grabbed his shoulders, but it looked like she way choking him to me) and I jumped on her back and started beating on her back yelling “Leave my brother alone!” needless to say Dave and Ricky weren’t allowed to be friends anymore and Sharon wasn’t allowed to be my friend anymore either.
I always felt like it was my job to protect my brother after all he was my baby brother. So you see I HATE CANCER! I couldn’t protect him from cancer. 🙁
Relay for Life
After a couple years I got involved with the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life through work. I did it for Dave and it felt good because I could do something for Him. I got a team started and my team over the course of 4 years raised over $25,000 dollars. I couldn’t do anything for Dave but maybe I made a difference in someone’s life who was battling cancer by being involved with Relay for Life . Even if in a small way.
Relay for Life is held all over the country during the year. Here where I live it is usually in March, April or May.
(Below in italics taken from the Relay for Life website)
Celebrate– During a Relay event, participants and survivors celebrate what they’ve overcome.
Remember – We remember people lost to the disease, and honor people who have fought or are fighting cancer.
Fight Back – The event inspires Relay participants to take action against a disease that has taken too much.
The Luminaria Ceremony
The Luminaria ceremony is the part of the event where all the lights are turned off and Luminaria bags with sand and candles in them are lit. The bags are previously decorated before the ceremony in memory with the names of those who have died from cancer, and in Honor of those who are battling cancer or survived cancer. They turn off the lights and the bagpipes are played and everyone is silent except the bagpipe player. He plays as he walks around the whole track. It’s a very emotional time, but it’s also a very healing time.
Relay for Life lasts the whole night, because cancer never sleeps so we don’t either.
Do you know someone with cancer or who has battled cancer? If you do please feel free to leave me a comment and share your experience.
Deirdre Powell
What a great post! My Mother died in 2004 from colon cancer so I certainly hate cancer too. I think everyone is touched by this dreadful disease. Thanks so much for sharing your story.
Thanks for your comment Shahidah, Sorry for your loss. Cancer sucks! Too many are affected by it.