Letting mortality be our teacher

As you can see, Maria brought her humor to the chemo suite.

People come here for hope and inspiration, so sometimes I’m hesitant to address some of the sad things about this cancer journey. But I’d be lying if I said this is always an easy road.

I lost another friend to cancer this weekend. Maria was the first person I went to when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002. She worked with me and had just finished treatment herself. She was the only person I knew who could explain from experience what chemo and the rest of the journey was about.

Maria possessed the gift of humor. Sometimes it was kind of bawdy and inappropriate, but she kept it until the end. As recently as a month ago, she forwarded me a hilarious email full of pictures of dogs dressed  in awful outfits with the title, “Why dogs bite their owners.”

Today is her funeral and I just thought she deserved a spot on my blog. I always told her I was going to write about her, which is why I asked her to send this picture. So now I am.

Once again I’m reminded how blessed I am to be able to hear and share all the stories in my book.  At times like these when cancer, as my husband said, “is like a battlefield,” we have these stories of hope. I can think of  people like Dave Massey, Mary Jacobson and all the other Miracle Survivors and know anything is possible.

I am grateful to people like author Bernie Siegel, MD, who gave me the inspiration to write about these outstanding individuals, whom he calls “exceptional cancer patients.”  Bernie Siegel is a pioneer in the body-mind-spirit approach and wrote the best-seller, Love, Medicine and Miracles. I highly recommend it if you haven’t already read it.

As those of you know who have followed my blog for a while, I’ve been trying to get Bernie to coauthor my book. He was interested, but his agent didn’t bite. He did graciously agree to offer his comments, which I’ll include on the cover and as a foreword. Here’s some of what he had to say:

“From Incurable to Incredible is a book that everyone should read because it is filled with the wisdom of those who have confronted their mortality and let it become their teacher. When we learn to nourish our lives, we pay attention to our hunger for living. We use it to guide us to heal our lives; curing our bodies is a side effect.

Self-induced healing is not an accident or a spontaneous lucky occurrence. It takes work, and the work is learning to love ourselves, our life and our bodies. When we do that, our bodies do the best they can to keep us alive. I would recommend that you read this book before you are threatened by illness and thereby live a longer, healthier and happier life. Remember life is uncertain, so do what makes you happy and eat dessert first.”