The Lucky Ones

Good Morning,

Today I thought of sharing some of my reflections from early in the journey. Many people have been curious how I have kept my attitude and spirits positive throughout this journey. Luckily, I have had a lot of inspirations that have guided me throughout this journey and kept me going. In fact there are three main inspirations that occurred at very important times throughout the journey that gave me the strength to continue. For the sake of space I have broken these into three separate posts, so keep an eye out of the coming week of so for the next two.

The first inspiration came while I was still in Trillium hospital. I had just been diagnosed with Leukemia and my world had completely turned upside down. I was given Lance Armstrong's book about his journey through cancer and I decided to start reading that first. I couldn't put down the book (I finished it in a day :) ). Lance was diagnosed with cancer in his 20's as well, so it was so nice to read about someone else who had gone through this process as well. The crazy thing was, that as I compared my journey through the diagnosis process we had same thoughts on almost everything. As with every cancer patient, when Lance was first diagnosed he received a lot of condolences and well wishes. One in particular stood out to me and burned a lasting image in my mind. Here is the passage:

"A couple days earlier, I had received an e-mail from a military guy stationed in Asia. He was a fellow cancer patient and he wanted to tell me something. 'You don't know it yet' he wrote, 'but we're the lucky ones.'"

I knew having cancer had changed my life but I had never thought of it have a positive impact on my life. I had never thought of being lucky to have cancer. But as I reflected on this passage more and more it excited me. This was a truly inspriring way to look at it, and the more I thought about it the more I realized there was truth to it. My excitement hit its peak while lying on a table getting my heart strength checked (they have to check your heart strength because one of the chemo drugs is hard on the heart). While lying on the table I realized that in a years time, I would have a completely different outlook on life than before and it excited me. I had no idea what this new outlook would entail, but that was part of the excitement. This journey through cancer had a purpose now, although it would be hard it would change me. I didn`t have any inclination what the change would entail, all I knew is my life would be different and probably have more meaning.

From this point on I finally started to see that I was one of the lucky ones and it invigorated me. No longer was cancer a battle against death, but more it was a re-birthing process. It was a second chance at life that truly did make me one of the lucky ones. Now when I meet someone who has been diagnosed with cancer I tell them this story and try to help them see that they too are the lucky ones. I try to make them see this is not a curse but a blessing.

Tomorrow my post might be a little delayed because I have to go to PMH first thing for a follow-up bone marrow aspiration. I hope you has a wonderful day!

Until tomorrow,

Aaron