Some You Know, Others You Don't

At the tender age of 14, I once had a Doctor tell me in somewhat broken english that I had "Lymphoblastic Lymphoma." Yea, okay-and I could only imagine this guy working in a 7-11 somewhere because to tell the truth, I never half-understood him and didn't grasp the situation when I was able to figure it out.

Next think I knew, I was on my way to the National Cancer Institute for what would be a two-year fight with a disease I didn't understand, didn't care about and a journey potholed with people who had needles, "Doctor" in front of their name or "RN" behind it.

After I got past that detour, I started living the life of a regular teenager and it wasn't until recently that I realized that all of the people who worked at that hospital actually gave me my whole life right up until this moment and made it possible for me to get a lot farther down the road of life than many of my friends did-young people just like me who were cut down by another version of the diease I had or, they just didn't have the will to fight. You might think I'm all wrong here, but I can tell you from experience that those who like to wallow in self-pity or have something to hold on to are generally doomed when they are facing a life-threatening disease. Many have lost the battle because they didn't have it within themselves to carry on and lost the will to live.

This is why I really admire people like the Smithfield Police Officer who needed a new liver and finally got one-now he's on his way back to good health and undertaking the rest of his life. A lot of folks were pulling for you, Mr Beech and I don't need to tell you that the rest of your life will be how you thank them-except in your case, how you lived your life before all this happened to you makes people like me wonder why ugly things happen to good people.

I don't know why I survived-according to the Doctors I have since spoken with about my situation at the time I arrived at N.I.H., I was not too far from taking a turn for the worse-and this was before TomTom was ever thought of. Lucky for me I arrived just in time for treatment to start and it started beating back what might have otherwise killed me.

But people like Mr. Beech and I have one thing in common-we have looked down a road that didn't hold a lot of promise, knew we had to travel it and went forward, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. I don't think I was so much bothered with thoughts of my own mortality, but I was worried about upsetting my mother. Mr. Beech was I'm sure more worried about his own family and how they'd cope if he didn't make it than he was about himself.

Certainly the Grim Reaper will come for us all, but it's nice to know that someone as deserving as Mr. Beech got to tweak his nose and make him wait some more-So welcome to the "Keep the Reaper Waiting Club," Mr. Beech-enjoy having you with us for years to come....

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