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09/26/2007: "Pondering the Meaning of Life"
One thing about dealing with cancer in this country is you know that you are not alone. With 500,000 dying each year and one person out of every three being diagnosed, there is a big group of us. I am not sure that makes it any easier. It just seems to disappoint me more than anything.
With as many different people dealing with treatment and trying to survive, there is that many different ways of dealing with it all. How do you choose to live out your life? Where do you spend your energies? What type of attitude do you carry each day? How do you handle the setbacks and disappointments? How do you react to the treatment side effects, which can be worse than the cancer itself?
Living means dying and so it is really just a question of when. So no matter how you go, you will most likely have to deal with the above questions with or without cancer.
My friend Sandy just sent me a link to an ABC News special on Randy Pouch, a professor at Canegie Melon whose pancreatic cancer has spread throughout his liver. He feels great but they have given him 6 months to live. He is my age with three young sons. The web link below gives you a chance to see Diane Sawyer’s interview and his final lecture. He has an amazing attitude and shares his wonderful life.
I appreciate that he has come to terms with his own death and has chosen such a positive attitude about his life. However, I can’t help but mourn for his boys. They lose a wonderful father at a point in their life where they need him most. To his credit, Mr. Pouch is more interested in passing on his values than memories of himself.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/PersonOfWeek/Story?id=3633945&page=1